Females in the Army
By Jake Fortney
Original Post
The topic I want to discuss this week is something I heard during my Army Physical Training test this week. I am in Army ROTC and this week we took our PT test on Thursday. Our PT test includes 2 minutes of push-ups, 2 minutes of sit-ups, and a 2-mile run. That day one of our cadets responded to a female cadet commenting on how well she did on the push-ups portion of the PT test. For reference, the female max score is 42 and it is 71 for males. She apparently did 41 push-ups which is one away from maxing and a male cadet said “that isn’t even enough to pass for us. I can’t wait until the new PT test comes out so all of these girls can get kicked out.” He was referring to the new “ACFT.” This test will have no “handicaps” for the females (males and females minimums and maximums will be equal). I think this perpetuates the idea that women are inferior to men in terms of physical fitness. I think this is a big problem in the Army. Treating women as physically inferior can lead to getting a general sense of women as being inferior. I’ve seen this lead to a situation of the One and the Other for the Army. Women are already outnumbered significantly by the men. I think allowing this sort of discourse only furthers the wedge between males and females in the Army.
Afterthoughts
I think I explained the situation pretty well the first time around so I left it in as well. To better understand what I meant by ACFT I have attached this article: https://www.army.mil/acft/. You can click on different things to view different parts of the test. Long story short: the current test allows different standards for gender and age. With the new test, there are no “handicaps” for gender or age. I think overall this is an attempt to equalize the PT test across the entire Army. I do think it is fair for everyone however, I don’t think the organization should be allowing this sort of discourse, as I mentioned above, to be happening. Since my last post the person in question was actually punished for what he said. I think the Army does a good job creating a good atmosphere for everyone these days, and I hope it continues!
New ACFT Events
Hi Jake,
Your post is very thoughtful and I think that the situation is explained very well. Firstly, I must disagree with making physical requirements the same for men and women. To be truly fair, requirements would have to be determined on a person-by-person basis and take into consideration their genetics and lifestyle as well as their gender and age. Secondly, the intent behind the comment your colleague made is unclear but it certainly shows a lack of understanding about the benefit of both sexes working together by using complementary strategies. It is interesting to think about how the comment creates a group of “unwanted” (women) and a superior group (men) specifically in terms of physical differences.