Certain active-duty Army combat soldiers will soon be required to pass a new physical fitness test consisting of seven back-to-back events with no rest in between, or risk losing their jobs.
As part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s directive for combat speciality service members to return “to the highest male standard,” soldiers in 24 specific Army combat specialities, such as special forces or artillery officers, will need to complete the new combat field test within 30 minutes
Soldiers who fail the test will be enrolled in reconditioning training and given 90 days to pass. If they fail a second time, they may be involuntarily separated from the Army or reclassified to a noncombat position.
The test consists of:
- A one-mile run
- 30 dead-stop pushups
- 100-meter sprint
- 16 40-pound sandbag lifts onto a 65-inch platform
- 50-meter carry of two 5-gallon Army water cans (each weighing 40 pounds)
- 50-meter movement drill consisting of a high crawl for 25 meters and a 25-meter 3-5 second rush
- Another one-mile run
The new combat field test is separate from the Army’s Fitness Test and does not replace it.
Active-duty combat specialty soldiers will be required to pass both the new combat field test and the Army Fitness Test each year. National Guard and part-time Army Reserve soldiers will need to pass one of the two tests annually, with the tests alternating.
Since taking over the Defense Department, Hegseth has taken aggressive steps to return the military’s image to a male-dominated force. He has implemented stricter grooming standards and higher physical fitness standards.
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” Hegseth told a room filled with hundreds of top military officials in September.
Last year, Hegseth ordered the Army to implement a “sex-neutral and age-normed” physical fitness test, after emphasizing that women service members would have to meet the same standards as men.
Hegseth has a history of making negative remarks about women serving in combat roles. In his book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, Hegseth said women “cannot physically meet the same standards as men.”
During a November 2024 podcast, Hegseth admitted, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.”
Women who are combat veterans have pushed back against the defense secretary’s claims and insisted women are already required to meet the same standard as men.
While the implementation of the new combat field test is effective immediately, the Army is giving soldiers one year to pass the test before taking adverse administrative action against those who fail.
Soldiers who cannot meet the standard can voluntarily request reclassification to a non-combat specialty within the year.
Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll said the new combat test was a “critical step forward in ensuring our Soldiers serving in the most physically demanding specialties have the specific fitness required to dominate on the modern battlefield.”
