Changes to fitness test keep AF sharp

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Eric Roth
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Judge Advocate
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  If you haven't heard yet, the Air Force has made some significant changes to the physical fitness test. In order to achieve a maximum score in the test, Airmen are going to have to do more push ups, more sit ups and run faster.

Another big change is the test will now be centrally administered and mandatory twice a year. Finally, if you fail any of the strength or endurance components, you fail the entire test. Overall, I believe these changes are spot on and a start in the right direction. Senior Air Force leadership has prepared the battlefield and now it is time for the rest of us to join the fight.

The Air Force core values are "Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do." When it comes to physical fitness, I believe we are failing to live up to our core values. I often overhear Airmen talking about what score they need on a physical fitness test. Unfortunately, 90 percent of the time, they are talking about the minimum score to pass. This is unsatisfactory. The physical fitness test is not exempt from Air Force core values. Leaders cannot demand excellence of their troops in some areas and not others.

Excellence is a way of life. We must strive for excellence in all we do. Some will not reach the bar every time, but they will continue to improve as they strive for excellence. Nobody is going to improve shooting for the minimum standard. No matter what your rank is, you should absolutely strive for a perfect score, then you can set the example for your peers, your superiors and your subordinates.

Whether you are planning on staying in for one enlistment or a thirty year career, you have plenty of time to improve, and it doesn't matter what your Air Force Specialty Code is -- the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown that the modern battlefield provides mental, physical and emotional challenges for every career field.

Good physical fitness enables you to do your job better even if it entails very little physical work, but even more importantly, in order to get into good shape, you have to push yourself and make your body hurt.

You have to tenaciously and aggressively attack this mission. Tenacity is a battlefield trait that in the final analysis may be the only thing that ensures American victory - there is no better place to practice this trait than on the physical fitness test. It is no mystery why competitive sports and physical fitness have been a hallmark of military training since the times of the Roman legions.

As Gen. Douglas McArthur once said, "On the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that on other days and other fields will bear the fruits of victory." Team Travis - time to step up!