If you're out of shape fix-it, NEW AF PT TEST

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If you're out of shape fix-it, NEW AF PT TEST

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agonyea

Posted 8/8/2003 6:16 PM

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Issue Date: August 11, 2003

‘If you’re out of shape, fix it’
New PT begins in January, says chief of staff

By Diane Tsimekles
Times staff writer

Get ready to sweat. Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper has given notice that a servicewide physical fitness program will begin in January.
“Be ready,” he advised in his July 30 Sight Picture on the Air Force Web site.

Details were scant, but one thing is clear: Jumper wants airmen’s physiques to match their warrior mentality.

He praised airmen for their performance in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, but noted there was room for improvement in fitness.

“The amount of energy we devote to our fitness programs is not consistent with the growing demands of our warrior culture,” Jumper said. “It’s time to change that.”

And what a change it will be.

Jumper’s vision includes a program that gets “back to the basics” of running, sit-ups and push-ups — on a regular basis. The specifics remain to be seen. Personnel officials said the details are being worked out, so no one at the Air Staff is ready to talk. But Jumper’s statement left little doubt that big changes are on the way.

“When looking at our Air Force overall, I am very pleased,” the chief wrote. “One aspect of our Total Force that does need improvement, however, is our physical fitness.”

That attitude is nothing new. When Jumper sat down for an interview with Air Force Times in April 2002, he made it clear that some form of a physical fitness routine would be introduced.

“I’m sure that [PT] will be part of the formula,” Jumper said. “I’m a PT kind of guy.”

Still, the announcement of this new fitness program has been expected for more than a year.

When Jumper became chief in September 2001, one of the items on his things-to-do list was to implement a mandatory fitness test that added push-ups and crunches, which measure strength, to the cycle ergometry test by Jan. 1, 2002.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks pushed the fitness test toward the bottom of Jumper’s list, but it has worked its way back to the top. In this version, however, the stationary bike has been cast aside — for most airmen, anyway. Airmen who can’t run for a “legitimate” reason will be accommodated, Jumper said.

Airmen also will get a new look along with the their new fitness program. Jumper announced that “physical training [PT] gear” will be issued, though details of what that clothing will be — along with details of the actual PT program and its standards — won’t be released for now.

That could come sometime in the fall, said Jennifer Stephens, an Air Force spokeswoman.

No longer standing alone

When airmen start taking the strength tests in January, the Air Force finally will be in compliance with a July 1995 Defense Department directive that orders the services to measure strength in addition to body fat and endurance.

Until then, the Air Force is the only service that doesn’t meet that requirement.

The service began voluntary testing of crunches and push-ups two months after the May 2000 announcement that strength tests would be added to the overall test. In April 2002, Air Force Times reported that only 62 percent of 185,297 airmen passed fitness tests that included include crunches and push-ups. All participants volunteered from 83 bases between February 2001 and February 2002. More than half failed to do the minimum number of crunches in the required two minutes, and more than 30 percent failed the push-up portion. The number of crunches and push-ups varied by age and gender.

Officials downplayed the results, saying that the airmen were taking a voluntary test and that different results were expected once the tests become mandatory.

Commanders and senior noncommissioned officers will bear the burden of making sure their troops can pass the tests, Jumper announced.

“I expect this effort to be led from the top, starting with the commanders and senior NCOs,” the chief wrote, “and I expect those who have trouble meeting the standards to be helped by others in their unit until they do meet the standard.”

Many commanders already are focused on fitness and try to lead by example. Gen. William J. Begert, who heads Pacific Air Forces, starts most days at the gym. PacAF’s Fit to Win program encourages the command’s leaders to make time for fitness during the workday.

Air Force Space Command has its own program, WarFit, which requires airmen to attend five exercise sessions a week if they fail their fitness tests.

Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Gerald Murray is a morning regular at the gym, too, even when he is on the road. He tries to block out some time for a workout in the gym of whatever base he is visiting.

Airmen who cannot run for medical reasons have Murray as their champion and a reassurance that the stationary bicycles won’t completely be tossed aside.

“I have had three knee surgeries,” Murray told Air Force Times in October. “I’m not going to risk another one anytime soon.”

The cycle ergometry test may be an option for airmen who are not medically cleared to run, Jumper wrote.

Points for fitness at Eglin

When Jumper says he wants fitness to be a part of the Air Force lifestyle, the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., could be the example.

The wing runs Fit for Test, a PT program that spans the 18 bases where its subordinate units are located.

Airmen who sign up for the program log their activities on an intranet Web site that calculates how many calories they burn for a particular exercise, whether that activity is 15 minutes of running, 18 holes of golf or an hourlong yoga class, said Master Sgt. Allen Ajaye, who runs the program when he isn’t performing his job as an F-15 avionics specialist.

Airmen are awarded points for their activities. The wing, on a quarterly basis, recognizes the airmen, squadrons and civilians with the highest point totals. Their names are engraved on a plaque in the wing headquarters, Ajaye said.

Airmen are encouraged, but not required, to participate. Of the 1,800 airmen assigned to the wing, 1,709 people are registered, said Tech. Sgt. Carole Steele, an Eglin spokeswoman.

The reason so many people participate, Ajaye said, could be that the command gives airmen three hours during the workweek to head to the gym or go for a run around the base.

“Having the time to do it during the day is convenient,” said 2nd Lt. Kate Metzger, who is taking night classes for her master’s degree.

If she had to find time on her own, Metzger conceded, her workouts would not be as regular.

“It’s a nice break during the day, especially if you work at a desk,” she said. “It helps keep you awake during the day.”

The wing command gives another high-profile nod to fitness on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the wing staff does unit PT. Subordinate units are encouraged to do so, too.

Metzger joins the members of her unit, the 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron, for mandatory PT at 7:30 a.m. each Tuesday and Thursday for an hour of calisthenics and running. On some days, they do aerobics or play flag football. And they still get three hours for other sports or fitness activities during the week.

The mission comes first, she said, but usually about 60 people show up in the morning.

Though Metzger appreciates her leaders’ emphasis on fitness, the soon-to-be mandated focus on conditioning may not be welcomed by all, said retired Gen. Billy Boles, a former commander of Air Education and Training Command.

“You can’t 100 percent define the benefits in clear, quantitative terms,” Boles said. “And so you’ll have some people who say, ‘Why change?’

“And like anytime you make a change, there will be a perception that some people are advantaged, and some people disadvantaged.”

Still, Boles said, Jumper is justified in seeking changes — and not just because of interservice teasing about soft-bodied, desk-bound Air Force troops.

“In the minds of the senior leaders at the Pentagon and in the medical community, there is a belief that Air Force people — and this is a generalization — are not in as robust a condition as they should be,” he said.

Jumper takes the lead

Come January, Jumper will set an example for his fitter force.

In addition to being a “PT kind of guy,” Jumper is also a no-excuses kind of guy. He passes his fitness tests, he has said, so there is no reason why others can’t pass theirs.

“You can use me as a benchmark,” Jumper said.

In his July 30 statement, Jumper noted that he has had abdominal surgery. He won’t be able to run until mid-August and he won’t be able to attempt sit-ups for a month.

Watch, he said, because in that first week of January, he will lead all general officers in the Washington, D.C., area in the PT test. Murray will do the same for the command chiefs in the area.

Colonels in the area will do the same, then the chief master sergeants and so on. He expects major command leaders to do the same at their level.

“I think all of us can agree that we were disappointed with the fitness standards we found when we came into the operational Air Force,” Jumper wrote. “Let’s not disappoint ourselves any longer. The message is simple: If you’re out of shape, fix it. If you have people in your squadron who need help, help them. January 2004 is the date. Be ready.”

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Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn't even be there, Eighty are just targets, Nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back." - Hericletus, circa 500 BC

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