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Passing PT Tests Now Optional in the Navy
[LegalInsurrection] In Latest Blow to Military Effectiveness, U.S. Navy Will No Longer Require Sailors to Pass Physical Fitness Tests.

Old standard forcing sailors out after 2 failed PT tests rescinded; Navy claims new rule has nothing to do with recruiting challenges
Uh huh. Pull the other one
Not having a failed PT test noted on a sailor’s annual evaluation is HUGE: This means promotion boards might now be promoting sailors to leadership ranks and positions who are fat and out-of-shape. Who cares, I guess.

And why the big push now to drop the “get in shape or get out” requirement? Does it have anything to do with the Navy’s abysmal recruiting (“U.S. Navy, Faced with Recruiting Nightmare, Begins Accepting High School Dropouts“) and retention numbers? Of course not!

The change, according to the message, is part of the Navy’s push to revamp its culture of leadership and service and is an effort to modernize “our PFA policy to acknowledge our diverse population, increase sailor trust, and enhance quality of service.”

I’m not sure if this new policy enhances the “quality” of a sailor’s service when they suffer no ill-consequences of being fat and out-of-shape to the point of not being required to pass the PT test (twice).

And what does it mean that the new policy “acknowledges” the Navy’s “diverse population”? Are they saying that minority sailors can’t pass the PT test? Sounds pretty racist to me.

And, while the previous policy might seem a bit onerous, it has already been loosened up over the years in a number of significant ways:

It is the latest in a series of changes to the fitness test that has come in recent years.

In February, the sea service announced that it was resetting the counter on PFA failures fleet-wide, enabling up to 1,500 sailors to keep serving.

In November, the Navy decided to ditch a postpartum PFA that new mothers would typically be expected to take less than a year after giving birth.

Ever since emerging from the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Navy has also kept to the pandemic-era change of conducting only one PFA per year instead of two. Tuesday’s message also continues this trend into 2025.

Posted by: Gloluns Turkeyneck4904 2024-06-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=702446