Army News

3-28-2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has launched a revised Army Combat Fitness Test based on feedback from Soldiers, an independent RAND study (Army Research Division), review of nearly 630,000 ACFT scores and more than three years of ongoing analysis. Implementation of the ACFT will enable the Army to maintain a high level of personal physical fitness, which is important to each Soldier’s holistic health and will support the overall readiness of the Army. The latest revisions to the ACFT maintain the Army’s strong commitment to a culture of physical fitness while ensuring fairness in the transition to a new fitness test of record.
Key changes include implementing the ACFT as a general physical fitness test with age and gender performance-normed scoring scales, which account for age and gender grouped performance observed in ACFT test scores. This allows Soldiers and leaders to tailor physical fitness needs to promote the physical fitness level of each Soldier as a component of their overall holistic health.
The Army is also eliminating the leg-tuck exercise, while implementing the plank as the required core strength assessment; the 2.5-mile walk is also added as an alternate aerobic event.
The Army will incorporate the ACFT into personnel policies in a time-phased, deliberate manner to ensure all Soldiers can train and adjust to the new event and scoring scales before scores are used for personnel actions. Soldiers will begin taking diagnostic tests with the revised ACFT in April 2022.
Record scores for the Regular Army commence in October 2022, giving active duty Soldiers 6 months to train for the revised test. Record scores for the National Guard and Army Reserve commence in April 2023, giving Reserve Component Soldiers a year to train for the revised test.
By implementing this revised approach, the ACFT will provide an accurate assessment of a Soldier’s physical fitness level and sustain the Army’s efforts to maintain a physically fit force capable of a wide range of missions.
Implementation of the ACFT with regular feedback and ongoing analysis will verify the test continues to meet the needs of the Army.
To accomplish this, the Army has established a new governance structure to regularly assess test performance data though initial implementation, assess any disproportionate impacts to elements of the force and work with stakeholders to identify and recommend any future modifications to Army leadership. RAND will continue to provide analytic support to the Army’s ongoing assessment.
The governance body’s initial comprehensive report to the Secretary of the Army will be provided in April 2023.