Out with the press-ups in gender-neutral Army fitness test
FOR CENTURIES, young soldiers have been “thrashed” in a hell-for-leather fitness test to prove they are at the peak of physical strength and battle ready.
But in an overhaul of basic training, the British Army has revealed “gender and age neutral” combat training – because the enemy does not care what sex or how old a soldier is.
For the past three years, the military has worked with scientists from the University of Chichester to produce “representative tasks” to replace a regime used for the last 20 years.
While previous tests have varied time limits or requirements depending on age and gender, all of those to be rolled out next year will have a set standard, regardless of age or sex.
Introducing the new standards, Field Army Sgt Maj Gavin Paton said: “I don’t care if you are a man or a woman, I don’t care what you do, and the enemy doesn’t either.”
To recreate the challenges of the modern day battlefield, soldiers in infantry and armoured units will be required to complete six physical tests.
Instead of a focus on aerobic fitness, with press-ups and sit-ups, the new tests demand a greater mix of stamina, muscular endurance and strength.
The university’s human physiology team spent months analysing the different challenges created in modern soldiering combat situations while taking account of changes in scientific knowledge about the human body.
Lt Col Anne Fieldhouse of the Royal Army Medical Corps, welcomed the gender-neutral nature of the tests. “We ups as possible in two minutes. They would then run a mile-and-a-half as fast as they could. The second test was an eightmile march carrying 25kg.
The new test starts with a 4km (2.5 miles) march in full kit, followed by a shorter run and crawl. Soldiers then drag and lift heavy weights as if casualties have been taken. Finally, troops repeatedly lift and carry weights as if building a defensive position.
Soldiers are expected to be exhausted at the end of the session, designed to be more representative of modern combat.
The armies of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US have used similar methodologies. However, the British Army will be the first to use such a scientific approach.
In 2016, David Cameron removed the ban on women in close ground fighting roles.
A year later the first female officer commissioned into a British Army ground close combat regiment graduated from Sandhurst.
Last month, the Royal Marines allowed women to apply for close combat roles for the first time. All combat roles in the military are to be opened up to women by the end of 2018.
‘I don’t care if you are a man or a woman, I don’t care what you do, and the enemy doesn’t either’