APFT Changes to Benefit Redeploying GIs

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APFT Changes to Benefit Redeploying GIs
November 09, 2009
Army News Service|by Kristin Molinaro

FORT BENNING, Ga. - Army Regulation 350-1 is being revised to give more Soldiers a chance to excel in Army training.

According to a Department of the Army memo released in October, Soldiers attending professional military education and functional training courses shorter than eight weeks will no longer be administered an Army physical fitness test as a course requirement. Soldiers enrolled in courses longer than eight weeks who fail the APFT will graduate but their DA Form 1059 will state they've marginally achieved course standards and failed to meet APFT standards.

"Soldiers are coming to the schoolhouse straight out of theater who may or may not have had an opportunity to do good physical fitness training," said Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Walker, commandant of the U.S Army Infantry School. "Guys just coming from the fight don't have the chance to get back in the shape they need to be in such a short period of time."

As a result, Walker said record physical fitness tests are no longer used as an evaluation tool in military courses less than eight weeks long.

The APFT requirement will be waived for Soldiers returning from a combat deployment and reporting directly to a course within 30 or fewer training days.


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