The Army earlier this spring enacted the latest version of its Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) in response to concerns that women passed an earlier version at a significantly lower rate. But the new standards have attracted controversy, and now GOP members of Congress are pushing for further revisions as part of the reauthorization of a key defense spending bill.
The Senate Armed Services Committee is seeking to create additional testing requirements that measure the physical fitness of service members likely to face combat, Army Times reported Wednesday.
The proposed supplemental standards would be included in the reauthorization of the National Defense Authorization Act, the Times reported. The sweeping legislation that specifies the budget of the Pentagon also includes policy changes.
“Absurd that @GOP is even considering advancing a bill that harms military readiness by ignoring biology—data shows on average among volunteers that males are more effective in combat,” Texas Representative Chris Roy wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
He specifically raised concerns that women could be eligible for the draft under the most recent version of the act and cited numbers that female soldiers have been unable to pass Army physical fitness standards.
The Army in 2018 expanded the test to include flexibility, balance and agility that officials at the time said would be a better indicator of combat success. Women would be expected to complete the same test as men.
But in 2021, nearly half of female soldiers still fell short of the standards more than seven months after the launch of the ACFT, according to Military.com. Army figures showed 44 percent of women failing the test compared to 7 percent of men.
“The revisions to the ACFT are based on data and analysis, including an independent assessment required by Congress, Secretary of the Army Christine E. Wormuth said in a statement in March. “We will continue to assess our implementation of the test to ensure it is fair and achieves our goal of strengthening the Army’s fitness culture.”
Since, the Army began revising the fitness test to use a “a performance tier program that accounts for the physiological differences between the genders.”
The most recent updates to the test have also faced criticism. A report from the RAND Corporation in March determined that more evidence is needed to prove that the test adequately predicts combat performance or reduces injury.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton in May blasted the new standards in an exchange with Wormuth, calling them “pathetic.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Senate Armed Services Committee and Cotton’s office for comment.
