Sergeant Major of the Army Grilled By Congress on ACFT Gender Bias
Unfortunately the Army senior leadership brought this criticism on themselves. Everyone outside of the Pentagon could see this train wreck coming:
The chairwoman of a House Appropriations Committee subpanel slammed Army officials at a hearing Monday over what she called insufficient answers to questions on how the service is combating gender bias, specifically with its new combat fitness test.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., grilled Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston on why so many women are unable to pass the service’s new combat fitness test.
“The test shouldn’t be structured in a way that is unfair and makes it so lopsided that it’s impossible for women to really be able to succeed and that definitely will reflect in your recruitment and retention efforts. So it looks like you have a problem and I hope you recognize that,” Wasserman Schultz said during a hearing of the subcommittee on military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies about Army quality-of-life issues and installation updates.
The Army Combat Fitness Test has long been criticized by Congress for its design, which lawmakers say comes at a disadvantage for women who struggle to pass the test. Data revealed in April shows 44% of women failed the ACFT, compared to 7% of men, Wasserman Schultz said.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but the Pentagon’s efforts to create a gender neutral test caused them to become gender blind on what that would ultimately mean. You can’t implement a test that disadvantages females and think Congress is going to go along with it. The updated ACFT 3.0 eliminates the gender neutral elements of the ACFT which was one of the main reasons the test was created in the first place.
The way I look at this is that very few females want to join combat arms. Do I really care if for an example an Army nurse or a truck driver cannot do a leg tuck and instead does a plank? No I do not, so why kick this person out of the Army? The Army could not function if it kicked out the amount of females that the ACFT in its prior format would have removed from the force.
Interesting, they updated the article to remove the quote from our esteemed congresswoman saying something to the effect “If the women can’t pass the test, does that mean they shouldn’t be in the Army?” On another website that quote was copied and pasted into several responses from full blown woman hating Neanderthals to well stated comments stating that perhaps despite the efforts of the Army the test may need to have gender differences. Of more concern to me is the older sergeants and officers that actually to take the PT test with the unit, are they going to be able to pass this test? I believe every overweight and out of shape SGM/CSM and senior officer will “take” the test away from their unit as they will be “too busy” test day to waddle out there and take the test, but their scores will be in the Training NCOs box the next day, just like it is now. I highly doubt we will ever see the SMA or CoS ever in a PT uniform, much lass taking the test.
@2ID, the lack of alternate events for people with profiles is still an issue with the test, especially with all the muscular skeletal injuries older soldiers have accumulated over the years. The SMA has taken the ACFT, he posted it on his Twitter before. Grinston is actually very fit. I don’t know if the CoS has taken it, but he looks fit. The person I wonder about is if the Chairman can pass.
“The Army could not function if it kicked out the amount of females that the ACFT in its prior format would have removed from the force.”
Some would argue that it would function… better.
Whatever the opinions on this may be, real or imagined, in seriousness or jest, perhaps there is a deeper plot afoot.
Perhaps these slots need to be freed up to allow an influx of angry young men without skills, jobs, or hope to insure their anger is channeled outward rather than at those responsible for creating the soul-crushing dystopia of 2020s America.
History is being rewritten and the propaganda has started… and soon, even the most rabid NeverTrumper will be openly blaming the Chinah Virus on the Wuhan Lab’s carelessness as if it has always been common knowledge.
We have always been at war with Eastasia.
Also, perhaps when discussing women losing their employment position, there is more ideal phrasing than “freeing up slots”. I will consider this further.
The apparent goal is to have an army composed solely of non-white, non-binary, non-fit, non-threatening to China, Russia, Iran, or the drug cartels. NATO should have rearmed according to Trump’s suggestions. Harris’ Bidet will probably not sell them anything that might make Moscow or Tehran upset
BTW, here’s a view of “Lady Marines” from 1944:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0VbtasZoFs
Not the same Department of the Navy…