We're teasing a story here that'll run tomorrow morning in full as the lead story on Military.com:
For the first time in more than 20 years, the Army is gearing up to change its fitness test for every Soldier and recruit in the force.Gone is the simple push up, sit up and run routine and in its place comes a battery of sprints, jumps and rows.
And just when you thought you’d have a breather, the service is introducing a grueling battery of slalom runs, balance beam walks, casualty drags and ammo carries it calls the Army Combat Readiness Test – a totally new evaluation that simulates the kind of body crush Joes are seeing on deployment.
“The key difference is between ‘readiness’ and fitness,” said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, the Army’s deputy commanding general for initial training, during a March 1 phone interview outlining the new tests.
“It’s one thing to be fit … it’s quite another thing to be ready for the things we are being asked to do,” Hertling added. “And in our case, it’s becoming a ‘tactical athlete.’ ”
The Army will likely implement the tests service wide by fall or winter.
The APRT is good, but the ACRT is like the Corps' Combat Fitness Test adopted in 2008 but with one major caveat. The CFT is meant to be administered in CONUS or in the AO; the ACRT has some equipment associated with it so it's likely to be run as a pre-deployment for Joes heading to The Box.
One thing's for sure, there's no getting around this one. You'll have to be all Cross Fit nowadays to keep in the game for promotion -- and for readiness.
Make sure to stop by the Military.com Fitness Center for some expert tips on how to prepare for stuff like this...it's gonna be a killer!
