Army Combat Fitness Test

Bottom Line: The ACFT became the Army’s Physical Fitness Test (PFT) of record on October 01, 2020 even though the Army continues making adjustments to the test. The premises undergirding the ACFT are that every soldier is a warrior first, that superior physical fitness is singularly critical in battle and so is demanded of every soldier whatever their MOS. The Army launched the ACFT before thoroughly studying how its intensified emphasis on testing individual fitness would affect reserve and guard components; training for other critical combat skills or the test’s impact on older soldiers, women, and others who scored well on the old PFT and who have proven themselves in battle over the past almost 20 years. The Army is continuing its after-the-launch evaluation of the ACFT through March of 2022.

The Basics: The ACFT consists of six components (see addendum) chosen because the Army deems them predictive of each soldier’s potential to meet the level of physical fitness needed to perform five regular, recurring combat tasks: 1. Moving on foot under load, 2. Preparing a fighting position with sandbags, 3. Moving under, around and over obstacles, 4. Reacting to man-to-man contact, 5. Dragging and extracting casualties. The six ACFT events serve as proxies for an individual’s ability to perform the five common combat tasks above making the ACFT a hybrid of a Physical Fitness Test (PFT) and an Army Occupational Standards test.

Current Status The Army fielded a revision (Version 3.0) of the ACFT in March 2021 which made several needed changes to Version 2.0:  A. The minimum standards for passing the test events are no longer tied to a Soldier’s MOS. The minimum passing score remains gender and age neutral, applies to all soldiers and requires that a soldier score a minimum of 60 points on each event for a total minimum score of 360 points. B. Numerical scores are then converted into 5 color bands (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Green) on two separate sliding scales––one for men and one for women. C. Scores will be reported only by color band, numerical scores will not be reported. D. Low plank is now a permanent alternative to the Leg Tuck.

Problems Remain: Many soldiers have had difficulty passing at least one of the test’s components. Among other reasons, this is because the test events were chosen and normed (i.e., determining the number of repetitions, time limits, etc.) using a smallish group of mostly young, male soldiers (<85% male, average age 22). This could indicate a flawed test design since soldiers of both sexes, many ages, different service components and MOSs––who are successful performing their duties––now most pass a test normed on a limited, unrepresentative group of soldiers. The Army is attempting to fix the flawed test design after the fact; but only 8% of the data used in developing Version 3.0 of the AFCT events came from women soldiers. Attention must also be paid to collecting statistically significant data on the test results of older soldiers, reserve and Guard component soldiers and from each Army MOS. Additionally, the validity of six test events themselves must be confirmed by testing them on a group comprising statistically significant numbers of soldiers of all ages, both sexes, from many MOSs and from all three organizational components.

ACFT Event Addendum

Event 1 - Deadlift - Minimum to pass: 140lbs., three lifts.

Event 2 - Standing Power Throw - Minimum to pass: Throw a 10lb. medicine ball backwards overhead for at least 4.5 meters––best of two throws.

Event 3 - Hand-Release Push-ups - Minimum to pass: 10 repetitions in two minutes. Begin with full body on ground, elbows bent, hands on ground, push-up, return whole body to ground and move arms to T position.

Event 4 - Sprint, Drag, Carry - Minimum to pass: Do five 50-meter shuttle runs in three minutes.   1. sprint, 2. sprint dragging sled, 3. lateral shuttle sprint, 4. sprint carrying two 40lb kettle balls, 5. sprint.

Event 5 - Leg Tuck or Low Plank.

A. Leg Tuck - Minimum to pass: One leg tuck. Equipment: a 7.5 ft high, 5 ft wide pull-up bar apparatus. Begin under and perpendicular to horizontal high bar, grip the high bar with both hands–dominate hand closest to head (can use a step or assist to reach bar). Starting position: The soldier must be fully extended in straight arm position, legs and/or feet must not be crossed. At the command “Go,” the soldier must flex at elbow, knees, hips and waist to lift the knees so they touch the left and right elbows and return under control to the straight arm position.

B. Low Plank - Minimum to pass: Hold the low plank position for 2 minutes and nine seconds

Event 6: 2 mile run - Minimum to pass: Complete the run in 21 minutes.

Note: Although the AFCT became the physical fitness test of record on 01 October 2020, it will not be recorded in evaluations until April 2022.  The Army is using the time between now and then to continue evaluating the test. Data gathered in this time will be used determine if additional changes are needed to the test.