Editorial: Work harder on fitness - Air Force Community - Air Force Times

Editorial: Work harder on fitness

When the Air Force overhauled its physical fitness test four years ago, the goal was to ensure more airmen were “fit to fight.”

Some of those changes have helped do just that — particularly the switch from a bike test to a 1.5-mile run.

But despite the fact that 97 percent of airmen are passing the test, too many are overweight or unfit for the rigors of combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Air Force’s experts — physical training leaders in every squadron — say the new system is broken.

The test should be tougher, they say, and it must be fair. It should prepare airmen to be able to operate in the war zones, weighted down by body armor and enduring extreme heat.

The exercise portions of the test — the run, push-ups and sit-ups — are too easy, they say. They emphasize running at the expense of strength.

The body-fat portion — based on the absurd notion that everyone ought to have a waist of 32 inches or less — is unrealistic and unfair. It penalizes taller and older airmen. The body mass index, used as a backup to the waist measurement, is generally debunked by fitness experts. It penalizes those with greater muscle mass.

All of these factors combine to favor skinnier and even weaker airmen.

Air Force auditors are reviewing the effectiveness of the test, and are due to report on their findings by the end of the year.

Air Force leaders should be ready when they do.

Although the current PT program is better than the one it replaced, it is still fatally flawed.

Fit to fight may be the goal, but the program isn’t getting the Air Force what it needs. The program merely adds fuel to the fire of a negative stereotype: airmen as pencil-necked geeks.

If the Air Force is going to be truly fit to fight, it needs demanding fitness standards that are worthy of real warriors.

DISCUSS: Current program not meeting “fit to fight” goal?