> An early version of the ACFT held male and female soldiers to the same physical fitness standards, regardless of age. In 2019, initial testing showed that 84% of women who took the test had failed while men across 11 of 63 battalions had a 70% pass rate. The test trials prompted criticism from the Service Women’s Action Network, which called the Army’s implementation “rash” because “too many otherwise qualified soldiers are failing elements of the test.”
That's actually pretty striking. Only 30% of men fail vs 84% of women. And I am assuming women probably train harder and more intentionally.
It would be interesting to see which events caused the most failures for women.
I imagine that it is the push-ups, backwards throw (which they removed), and Sprint drag carry (in that order) but would like the data.
Looking through the actual requirements, most reasonably fit young men should be able to pass without much effort (e.g., 10 pushups in 2 minutes, 2 miles in 20 minutes, plank for 75 seconds, etc.)
It's just across the board - no single event. Even the events where you are using your own bodyweight they did worse on, so it's not just a matter of them on average being smaller.
That's actually pretty striking. Only 30% of men fail vs 84% of women. And I am assuming women probably train harder and more intentionally.