AFIT student suggests shorter run, dumbbells

[JohnP]

AFIT student suggests shorter run, dumbbells

By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 14, 2009 21:05:53 EDT

Ditch the 32-inch waist and measure combat fitness. Make airmen run a half-mile, lift a 30-pound dumbbell and do as many pushups as they can, and Capt. Thomas Worden thinks the Air Force will have a better idea of just what shape it’s in to fight.
Worden started thinking about combat readiness on assignment in Afghanistan. He didn’t care whether the airmen piling into his convoy had 32-inch waists. He just wanted to know they could run for cover if the Taliban started shooting.
Too many times Worden didn’t find many airmen up to the task and worried that the Air Force’s fitness test was part of the reason.
When Worden returned in April 2007 from his yearlong deployment with an Afghan provincial reconstruction team, the civil engineer went off to the Air Force Institute of Technology, the service’s graduate school of engineering and management, where he set out to come up with a test to accurately measure an airman’s combat fitness.
What Worden discovered was that the Air Force’s physical fitness test does a good job of predicting who might have high medical bills in 20 years but fails miserably at weeding out who can’t hack it on the battlefield.
So Worden had 86 airmen take the Air Force’s PT test and do nine activities that the Marine Corps and Army use to test fitness.
The activities — six from the Army, three from the Marine Corps — included the half-mile, mile and 1.5-mile runs; pushups; sit-ups; 30-pound dumbbell lift; standing long jump; power squat; shuttle run; and fireman’s carry.
Worden then crunched the numbers. He found that the half-mile run, 30-pound dumbbell lift and pushups did the best job of determining an airman’s combat fitness.
The Air Force’s PT test, on the other hand, was accurate 23 percent of the time. The pushup and sit-up portions did the best job of testing fitness, but the waist measurement didn’t give much of an indication. In fact, the airmen who failed the most combat fitness activities had small waists.
“Instead of penalizing those with larger waists via point deductions, the Air Force should consider either removing these measurements altogether or else require those with smaller waists to ensure that they are in fact strong enough to carry out normal combat tasks,” Worden wrote in his report.
The study came out in March as Air Force leaders were discussing major changes to the service’s fitness program. Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has said he expects the changes to be announced this summer.
Although Worden said he thinks more research is needed, he also said he is convinced the Air Force — like the Marine Corps — must include combat fitness in its fitness program.
“The most important thing is that our test measures how capable you are in combat,” he said. “That’s great if you are skinny and look great in a uniform, but the question when I go out there is: Are you who I want sitting next to me in my truck?”

Finally someone who is looking at the total picture.

I find it tough to believe that a 32 inch waist was a requirement. If that was the case, the Air Force would have booted me out before my 1st enlistment was up. Since I was 21, I’ve had a 36 inch waist; now top that with a 46 to 48 inch chest and a 325 pound bench press and a 5.25 minute per mile run at 5 miles.

One of my good friends at Bragg was the 3rd strongest man in the military from 1983 to 1989. He was short, squat and powerful and to top it off a black belt. He led PT 3 days a week and passed the AFQT. He consistently scored 300 in the Army’s PT tests, yet he didn’t have a 32 inch waist. I dare anyone to state that he didn’t look good in his uniform.

The Air Force is constantly looking for ways to fit everyone into the same mold. It is time to look at our sister services methods and get the best ideas. We need to start at boot camp. I was TDY to San Diego in mid-1990 and had the privilege of eating at the MCRD. I witnessed the best methods of indoctrination for new recruits. I believe in the standard that everyone is a rifleman 1st and a specialist 2nd. In today’s flexible battlefield and especially in Iraq, where there is no front line, you need to depend upon the troop next to you. You need to know that person is trained to use the weapon and trained to react to the situation.

Good for you, Capt. Thomas Worden. I hope you ideas are used!

[CAPSmith]

Originally Posted by JohnP

I find it tough to believe that a 32 inch waist was a requirement. If that was the case, the Air Force would have booted me out before my 1st enlistment was up.

John, the 32 inch waist measurement is what gets you the maximum number of points for that portion of the AFPFT. If you have a 34 inch waist you lose a few points.

[HairyEyeball]

It may be a step in the right direction - and John, 'the tale of the tape' is spoken with a forked tongue anyway - but let's look at a few practical points: I don't care how fast you can run, whether it's a half mile or three miles - you're not going to outrun a bullet. You are highly unlikely to encounter a 20-foot wall with a convenient rope hanging from it on any battlefield you're likely to fight on. We didn't in Nam, we didn't in Kuwait, we didn't in Afghanistan nor Iraq. And if we did, we would either go around it or reduce it to rubble (along with any defenders cowering behind it). You will not win a pushup or sit-up competition with an armed enemy - you will either shoot him, or he will shoot you.

I am in favor of making all services pass a 'combat readiness course' - as John points out, the days of any distinction between 'front-line' troops and those 'in the rear with the gear' are fond memories from a bygone day: You are either a 'warrior' or you might as well be a civilian. The training you're tested on should reflect what your life - and every other life in your unit - will depend on in combat, should be practical and 'real-world' applicable, and should be 'scored' on 'survival' points, not 'style' points.

Whether your waist measures some office pogue's 'ideal' is as relevant as your mother's maiden name: Do you look 'squared away' in your uniform, or do you look like a sock full of rocks? Can you pass a practical 'combat fitness' course - both physically and mentally? If yes, then what's the problem? If not, you are the problem.

[JohnP]

Originally Posted by CAPSmith

John, the 32 inch waist measurement is what gets you the maximum number of points for that portion of the AFPFT. If you have a 34 inch waist you lose a few points.

What you're telling me is that because I wasn't as thin as a pencil, I would never be able to max out the AFQT?

That has to be the dumbest concept I ever heard. Why don't we genetically test all personnel? Let’s all live in a world like Gattaca, where children of the middle and upper classes are selected through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to ensure they possess the best hereditary traits of their parents.

This idea is as dumb as the bicycle test in the 1990’s. You’re hooked up to a breathing machine and told to ride a stationary bike. If your heart and breathing is sustained at a set standard then you pass; if not you fail. I witnessed a marathon running, Wing Commander fail; while his overweight clerk passed. He couldn’t get his heart rate up and it took only seconds for her to get there and maintain it. (She slowed down her pedaling when she became tired.)

It’s a wonder how we get ourselves in these predicaments.

Of course, Hairy and I are answering at the same time again. Your points are valid and true.

The next question should be, should we combine our basic training and make everyone maintain a higher standard?

[HairyEyeball]

Should we continue our basic training? Of course. Should we raise the standard back to pre-Vietnam expectations? Of course - lives depend on it. Should all basic training be 'standardized'? Not necessarily, we're not all going to be Marine Recon - but we should demand that every individual completing basic training has the physical fitness and elementary 'survival skills' demanded by today's 'battlefield', and that a minimum standard is regularly tested for and met: Failure is not an option here, either. I don't care if you're a boot E-1 (or O-1) at your first duty station or a seasoned senior SNCO or crusty old Colonel - if you don't meet the requirements the first time, there will be a penalty, and it will be severe enough to matter. If you come up short on a retest, the penalty increases...and you will continue 'practicing' - on your time - and retesting, and incurring penalties, until you do pass.

The unfortunate first rule of war is that good people die. That is unequivocal. The fact that some die because they are unfit, or because the next man who should have been 'covering' was unfit, is unacceptable.

[JohnP]

Originally Posted by HairyEyeball

That is unequivocal. The fact that some die because they are unfit, or because the next man who should have been 'covering' was unfit, is unacceptable.

The primary out brief was that training in combat arms was required at all levels.

This is a glaring example of how the 4 hours in Air Force Basic Training does not train you in anything. Air Force Basic is 6 weeks long with weekends and holidays off. There is an introduction into the basics of Air Force life, history, uniforms, dress and ceremony. This is not military training. This is also not the 1st time in Air Force history that lack of training has left a black eye on the system.

At Kimpo Airbase in 1951, the base was overrun by Chi-Com forces, the aircraft were the only things to escape leaving all base personnel to fend for themselves. No one was left alive. The surviving men were taken to the hangers and hung on meat hooks. When the base was recaptured they found weapons with the bullets put in backwards; unused machine guns and grenades; the Air Police (forerunners to the Security Forces) were only trained to use rifles and pistols and were not trained on heavy weapons. The rest of the personnel hadn’t even seen a rifle unless they were prior service in the regular Army. I’m not saying that having them all trained as riflemen would have stopped the base from being overrun but it would’ve sent more Chi-com soldiers to Hell.

During the Tet Offensive of 1968, the United States Air Force 377th Security Police Squadron at Ton Son Nhut Air Base in Viet Nam was in danger. Four USAF Security Policemen lost their lives at Bunker 051. The Security Police, despite being outnumbered, with help from the United States Army Helicopter and ground units, killed nearly 1000 enemy combatants. These troops had special training prior to going overseas. Supplemental troops could’ve been ‘recruited’ had the maintenance units been trained to be riflemen 1st.

I agree that we shouldn’t have to bring the standards up to that of Marine Recon or Army Rangers, but basic combat training with a graduation exercise similar to the Crucible should be the standard.

[DaveIn3D]

The Air Force is still just looking for a quick fix. You can have whatever PT test you desire. You can have every exercise in the book on it. The fact of the matter is that without a good DAILY pt regimen, you are only getting troops training for the test, not being fit year round.

Take the Marines for example. 3 miles, 20 pullups and 100 crunches is the PFT. Anyone can start training for that just one month out and do good on it. Unlike other branches, the Marines dont use the test to show how fit the troops are. We use the test as a baseline. It is the minimum standard. We routinely run 5 miles a day and do the Marine Corps daily 16 that would make hercules pass-out. It can be easily bragged that the Marines PFT is harder than any other branch. To us it's cake compared to what we do everyday.

If you want to look at it another way...the "new" Air Force PT test is only a basic level crossfit course. My pregnant wife puts more effort into getting out of bed every morning than any Airman doing this test. The Air Force needs to get out of dunkins, dump the starbucks and hit the pavement. Nuff said.

-3D

[JohnP]

Originally Posted by DaveIn3D

The Air Force is still just looking for a quick fix.... The Air Force needs to get out of dunkins, dump the starbucks and hit the pavement. Nuff said.

-3D

This sums the Air Force's Warrior problem and fix up in 2 quick sentences.

[Warsong]

Originally Posted by DaveIn3D

It can be easily bragged that the Marines PFT is harder than any other branch.
-3D

Then you never went to Ranger Indoc.

All that aside, John, the normal Army APFT doesn't do much either...which is why we put on our IOTVs and walked up and down the mountains here in Afghanaland until we got acclimated...then kept doing it.

I'm not the smartest Joe jumping out of a plane, but I really don't see much beyond what RIP did that actually improved me, even in the Infantry. Yeah, we run forever, do fireman carries up hills and there are days I can barely walk afterwards, but running around in a PT uniform didn't prepare me physically for this.

Something else I learned through the Army was that a person's physical shape wasn't always a perfect indicator of how they'd do, it will also come to motivation. I've already had a mechanic and a supply clerk boast that they wanted to be Infantry after being with us for short while and then getting broke off as soon as, in the words of my platoon sergeant "Everything that looks cool in commercials actually sucks to do" they learned what it was like to be wet and cold.

I'm not really implying spraying people with hoses and making them low crawl through mud to be an accurate test of their physical and mental conditioning, but I'm going to go ahead and say doing anything in a PT shirt and shorts with running shoes from Nike isn't really prepping you for the real deal, either.

[DaveIn3D]

Originally Posted by Warsong

Then you never went to Ranger Indoc.

I'm not really implying spraying people with hoses and making them low crawl through mud to be an accurate test of their physical and mental conditioning, but I'm going to go ahead and say doing anything in a PT shirt and shorts with running shoes from Nike isn't really prepping you for the real deal, either.

Your right. I have never been to RIP, BUD/S, Recon or the Q-course. But I'll leave those sleeping tigers lie because I am pretty sure those guys get their daily PT. For the regular forces, the Marines got it.

The gunclub is currently doing something more of a real-life fitness test these days. We still have the old PFT but now you ahve to do the CFT (combat fitness test) also. There is boots and utes running, buddy carries, low-crawling and if it happens to be raining that day, water and mud. Personally I would like to see the test include rifles and a range immediatly following but there are POGs out there who would probably shoot someone if they had to exert any energy before they fire their rifle....

I wonder if any of the A.F. spec ops guys are laughing at this attempt by the A.F. to make itself seem "warrior-like." I say have all A.F. enlistees either go to Parris island or FT. Benning for boot. Upon graduation of REAL military training, they get to go to lackland for their Blue suit "not quite civilian but not really military" training...

-3D