I was on active duty from 1966 until 1990, and to be honest, for most of those years I paid little to no attention to physical fitness. As an officer in the Medical Service Corps, I had to at least look like a fit officer, but for a good part of those days I was a heavy smoker who couldn’t have run a mile if my life depended on it. Even in those days the Army took fitness seriously for the combat troops, but not so much for those of us in the support services, especially medical. Many of the “units” I served with in my first dozen or so years in the service didn’’t even bother running the PT test for the enlisted folks, it was just ignored. About halfway through my years in the Army I quit smoking and became a fanatic runner. Then I actually looked forward to the semi annual PT test of pushups, sit-ups and the two mile run.
Looking at the videos of the new PT test, I wondered if it would be actually enforced for the entire Army, or just for the infantry. Demanding that level of fitness for doctors, dentists, lawyers and chaplains might be next to impossible, or possibly the Army is planning on getting along with far fewer of these people than it has in the past. Some top notch surgeons that I worked with, who saved the lives of many a soldier in Vietnam, could not have come close to passing this new test and had we been without them, many more young men would have died. I wish the Army good luck with this program, but I have my doubts.
IIRC, the fastest guy in our class did it in a little under 40min. :shock:
