[FoxNews] 5-event test holds combat soldiers to 'sex-neutral' standards
"Army Strong" is more than just a tagline — for soldiers, it’s a requirement for duty.
The U.S. Army requires that all active-duty soldiers prove their physical prowess by passing a rigorous fitness test. There have been multiple versions of the test over the years — and the Army recently announced that a new version has been adopted.
On June 1, 2025, the military branch will roll out its new Army Fitness Test (AFT) as a replacement for the current Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT).
The new test — based on "18 months of data analysis and feedback from thousands of test iterations" — will introduce updated scoring standards that emphasize "readiness and combat effectiveness," according to an Army press release.
Soldiers will have until Jan. 1, 2026, to meet the new AFT requirements without facing "adverse actions."
AFT scores are recorded during basic training for soldiers and initial training for officers, the Army states on its website.
Active-duty soldiers are required to complete the test twice a year, while soldiers in the Army Reserve and Army National Guard must record scores once a year.
5 COMPONENTS OF THE TEST
The AFT consists of the following five events, as described on the Army’s website.
1. Three-repetition maximum deadlift
In this challenge, the soldier must lift the maximum weight possible three times using a 60-pound hex bar and plates.
2. Hand-release push-up
The soldier must complete as many hand-release push-ups as possible in two minutes, using proper technique.
3. Sprint-drag-carry
With the sprint-drag-carry (SDC), the soldier is tasked with completing five 50-meter shuttles (sprint, drag, lateral, carry, sprint) as quickly as possible, using two 40-pound kettlebells and a 90-pound sled.
4. Plank
The soldier must maintain a proper plank position for as long as possible, testing muscular endurance and balance.
5. Two-mile run
The soldier must complete a timed two-mile run on a flat outdoor course in a test of aerobic endurance.
The standing power throw event, which was part of the previous version of the test, is no longer included as a requirement.
#2
Skidmark: These are the details of what I just put in.
FoxNews Anchors Continue to Dance Around the Big “O”
[The Ingraham Angle 5/23/25 – Segment starts at 46 minutes in - verbatim]
Lisa Boothe anchors. A clip is shown of The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart [YouTube Podcast – Thursday 5/22/25 Entitled OBAMA BRO: I WANTED BIDEN TO WIN]
Lisa: A former Obama aide was admitting why he wasn’t honest about Joe Biden’s mental decline.
Aide: It was April and he was rambling and was hard to follow and repeated a story, but we were assured that he was just exhausted by the people around him.
I remember feeling I want to talk about this as a hugh liability, I want to talk something that Joe Biden can overcome. But I think that Joe Biden must drop out – he’s too old to be President, but I don’t know exactly what was going on behind the scenes.
If Joe biden is the candidate, I want him to f__ g win! Because I care about the country.
Lisa then interviews Jason Rantz, the Auto Radio (?) host and Terry Schilling, the President of some organization.
Jason: They lie about Donald Trump so he loses. They will say and do anything if it satisfies some sort of political agena of theirs.
I think you’ve got the point here. I wonder who writes this guy’s speeches.
[Related: Rantburg 2025-05-21, see comment #5]
https://rantburg.com/poparticle.php?D=05/21/2025&SO=&HC=4&ID=760913
[FoxBusiness] President Donald Trump is demanding that iPhone production takes place in America and accuses European Union of $250B trade deficit
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to impose fresh tariffs on both Apple and the European Union, saying that the iPhone manufacturer and the trading bloc have not heeded to his previous demands.
In two quick-fire posts on Truth Social, Trump warned he would slap a 25% tariff on imported iPhones if Apple refuses to make the smartphones in the U.S. The move comes after Trump met with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the White House on Wednesday, Fox confirmed.
Trump also threatened the EU with a straight 50% tariff, writing that the bloc has been very difficult to deal with in trade negotiations.
"I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else," Trump wrote.
"If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Bringing back manufacturing jobs to the U.S. is a cornerstone of Trump’s "America First" agenda, with Trump also calling out Cook last week in Qatar, saying that he had a "little problem" with the tech giant using facilities in India to make iPhones for sale in the U.S.
Apple has been turning to India for more future production of phones destined for the American market to try to reduce its dependence on China for manufacturing and deal with tariffs, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Trump accused the EU of exploiting the U.S. through trade barriers, taxes, penalties and lawsuits.
He said the U.S. has a trade deficit of more than $250 billion and that current trade negotiations are "going nowhere."
Trump is proposing a 50% tariff on all EU goods starting June 1, unless they are made in the U.S.
"The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with," Trump wrote.
"Their powerful trade barriers, vat taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies, and more, have led to a trade deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable.
"There is no tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
[JustTheNews] Top oil and gas executives in Canada and the United States confirmed Alberta's top industry companies would love to get past any tariff issues and begin building pipelines.
Amid high-stakes U.S. trade negotiations and internal secession rumblings, Canada's energy-rich province of Alberta is signaling to President Donald Trump it is ready to move further from China and embrace new partnerships and pipelines with America.
"It turns out that China is not developing the way we thought," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told Just the News in an exclusive interview Thursday night.
"They're not becoming a more democratic jurisdiction, and they're using capitalism against us to hollow out our various industries. So I think that there has been a lot of re-calibration that has had to happen about our relationship with China, and certainly the U.S. president is causing us to have that rethink," she added.
Smith is Canada's most prominent conservative after liberal Mark Carney won the election last month to become its new prime minister.
During a wide-ranging interview with the Just the News, No Noise TV show, she addressed the impact of Trump's tariffs, the growing movement within her province to hold a vote on seceding from Canada and its more liberal provinces, and the disappointment and harm former President Joe Biden created when he canceled the Keystone pipeline that ran between the two nations.
She said she believed it was possible for Alberta to strike a new energy partnership and build new pipelines to the United States even in the midst of a tariff dispute between the U.S. and Canada so that both countries could capitalize on the energy-thirsty Artificial Intelligence revolution
…a critical point, that…
and to expand North America's booming liquefied natural gas exports to Europe.
"We're looking to see if we can normalize our partnership, so that we can get into talking about what those new pipelines might look like," Smith said of the relationship with Trump. "Not only would we be able to have, I think, a bitumen heavy oil pipeline that would link our heavy oil to the heavy oil refining capacity in the US Gulf Coast, but also the opportunity for us to continue to provide additional supply of gas so that it can feed some of the European markets."
Top oil and gas executives in Canada and the United States confirmed Alberta's top industry would love to get past any tariff issues and begin building pipelines southward.
"It's being talked about behind the scenes," Mike Rose, the CEO of Tourmaline Oil, told Just the News when asked about new oil and gas pipelines that would traverse Canada and the United States.
"We can increase our exports of natural gas, certainly, and Canada is just about to enter the world LNG market," Rose explained. "We've been shipping gas to the Gulf Coast for over two years now, to the liquefaction complex down there, and then AI on both sides of the border is an added sleeve of demand that, to be fair, I don't think you know really, most of us on the producing side were thinking about two years ago."
Brendan McCracken, CEO of the natural gas company Ovintiv, said Americans are uniquely positioned to further grow their ties to Alberta because they are allowed to buy Canadian oil and natural gas at a huge discount compared to other countries.
"Looking over the past several years, the interconnectedness of our energy systems has meant that the U.S. gets Canadian oil at about a 20% discount and Canadian natural gas at up to a 60% discount to global prices," he said. "So it's been a really powerful part of the economic engine for Americans."
Pete Hoekstra, the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, said while much work needs to be done with Carney to get a deal, he is optimistic one will be reached, in part because the Alberta-American energy alliance makes so much sense.
"For much of the last four or five months, the only thing that you've heard in Canada is people being very critical of the United States and not talking about the economic strength of the relationship benefiting both countries," Hoekstra said, praising Smith's focus on the benefits of the US-Canada relationship.
"Prosperity for our people and confronting the threat from China — it's an important message for all Americans to hear, but also for all Canadians to hear," he said.
Smith signaled one advantage Trump and his energy-friendly policies hold with Alberta: many in her province chafed at the impact of liberal policies over the last decade, from Biden canceling the Keystone pipeline to ex-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's climate agenda holding back energy production.
"There's been a lot of damaging policies that have come in that have chased away tens of billions, indeed hundreds of billions of dollars worth of investment," she noted, saying such economic repression has driven a growing number of Albertans to seek a vote to secede from Canada.
“America's production has grown dramatically, whereas Alberta has stayed stagnant, and that's because of the policies of the federal government,” she continued. "... So I think that that is at the heart of some of the frustration that you're seeing. I believe that we can make Canada work. That's what I'm working towards."
[JustTheNews] Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts on Friday approved the Trump administration's request for an administrative stay in a lawsuit seeking documents about the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) operations.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed the request on Wednesday, one of the many emergency requests he's made since January, which asked the high court to stop DOGE from being forced to release records to the watchdog organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, through its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Sauer argued that DOGE should be exempt from complying with FOIA requests because it is a presidential advisory group. The White House has also tried to argue that documents procured by DOGE are presidential records, and thereby exempt from FOIA.
Roberts made the decision alone because he handles all emergency appeals that arise from Washington, D.C., and the pause will remain in effect until the Supreme Court decides whether to make it permanent. Roberts can make that decision alone, or the full court can weigh in, per The Hill.
Is DOGE uncovering some things that really need to be kept hidden for now? Things that would tip off lawbreakers, allowing the movement/hidding of illegally obtained $$$$ before arrests.
Or did DOGE uncover some R's and RINO's milking the system?
Or heck, Since Roberts suddenly sided with Trump on something, give his general Anti-MAGA record. Maybe the SCOTUS Liberals playing politics for rewards.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Military parades are hallmarks of authoritarian regimes. The voice of experience...
Doesn’t Russia have a big one every year in Moscow?
Washington is preparing for a major military parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the US Army.
Preparations for a massive military parade in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army on June 14, which also happens to be President Donald J. Trump’s 79th birthday, are in full swing this week at Fort Cavazos in Killeen, Texas.
Soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Armored Corps were seen loading 28 M1126 Strykers armored personnel carriers, 28 M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 28 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, and seven M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzers onto rail cars at Fort Cavazos bound for Washington.
Next month’s parade in D.C. is expected to be the largest and most expensive military parade in the nation’s capital since the June 8, 1991, National Victory Day celebration that marked the end of the Gulf War, with the cost estimate for the parade ranging from $35 million to $45 million, according to Pentagon officials.
The parade will also be the first in decades to feature tracked armored vehicles like tanks on the streets of Washington, D.C., with the Defense Department promising to place steel plates on the roads and equip the vehicles with rubber boots to prevent damage to roads and bridges along the parade route, one of the main concerns raised by city officials in both Washington and Arlington, Va
Lucky dogs! I was told at the time that planning norms for the 1970s was that CONUS armored units expected only half the tanks (M-60A1) to make it to the railhead.
[NBC via MSN] A recusal by conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has ensured that Oklahoma taxpayers will not have to pay for a religious public charter school.
No doubt this issue will come up in another case in the near-ish future.
Coney Barrett would have broken the 4-4 deadlock reached by the Court Thursday. Although she did not give a reason for her recusal, The New York Times speculated that the justice's "close friendship with Nicole Stelle Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who was an early adviser for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, the school involved in the dispute," may have contributed.
"The decision by the evenly divided court means that a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that said the proposal to launch St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School violates both the federal Constitution and state law remains in place," NBC News reported.
Coney Barrett is an extremely conservative and religious justice who analysts expected would have supported the school's case.
The lack of a majority vote means the court did not issue a written decision.
[FoxNews] Revolutionary War vessel was studied for 14 years before New York State Museum exhibition
A lost Revolutionary War-era ship that was unearthed at the site of the World Trade Center will finally be exhibited in a museum over a decade after it was found.
The New York State Museum announced in a mid-May press release that the ship will be housed in its Albany headquarters. The 18th-century vessel was found during an excavation of Ground Zero in July 2010.
But details about the boat have perplexed historians until now – just in time for America's 250th anniversary.
With help from Texas A&M University historical preservationists, experts have been working for 14 years to gather facts about the ship while preserving it carefully.
The ship, which measures 50 feet long and 18 feet wide, has been identified as a "rare" American-built gunboat.
The vessel was likely built in the Philadelphia area in the 1770s.
It was used during the Revolutionary War but was decommissioned after roughly two decades.
"[B]y the 1790s, the ship was out of commission and repurposed as landfill to expand New York City, ultimately ending up beneath what would become the World Trade Center," the New York State Museum said.
"Today, it stands as one of the few American-built Revolutionary War ships to be identified, studied and preserved in New York State."
In total, 600 pieces of wood and roughly 2,000 artifacts were found at the site, including musketballs.
After years of carefully preserving each piece of wood and artifact, the preservation team began the process of reconstructing the vessel at the New York State Museum on May 14.
In a statement, New York State Historian Devin Lander said, "We’re not just unveiling a ship – we’re resurrecting a lost relic of the American Revolution, right before your eyes," Lander said.
"New York stood at the epicenter of our fight for freedom, and this gunboat is a physical reminder of that courage and grit."
The historian added, "To watch it rise again, plank by plank, is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness the intersection of archaeology, storytelling and national identity."
* Add to that the 1993 basement bombing.
* Then the collapse on 9-11.
* Then the 10+ year 9-11 aftermath cleanup.
* Then usual effort in mid-1700's haul, dump/bury of this ship to any location.
* Then to discover it 200 years later after all this.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
