@Overmind One i and thousands of other men and women currently in the army and marines agree with you and with the orig article you posted
i also know, from ppl still in or those who have stayed on as civilian employees, that like all other things 'newsworthy' the news is often behind and often wrong or distorting
the army and marines are already working on fixing this issue.. looking like the ACFT will be more of an assessment tool - like we used to have a skills qualification test for your MOS each yr and a Common Task Test for basic soldier tasks each yr both used to assess what further trng a soldier, section or unit needs to improve efficiency and lethality - not to kick someone out of their MOS or the military
it also seems as if the current APFT of pus/su's and 2 mile run will be getting tweeked to erase separate gender standards with the only categories being that of age--so a 18 yr old female and male soldier will have to do the same MINIMUM in each event
as women DO HAVE a weaker upper body, the pu minimum will probably drop a lot. but, as women often out perform men on sit ups, it will probably stay the same
2 mile run min time will lower as well to match up more with a mid range female time
but none of this is official yet
and, lastly the biggest damage to physical readiness in the military today is two fold:
1- on accession to basic, kids are far less physically active, even if they are skinny, they cant run much. basic trng has been lengthened a bit to allow more time for physical capability trng
2- the never ending wars and deployments have severely damaged soldier and marine physical fitness.. oddly, the troops who are able to stay the most fir on deployment are the clerks, admin, logistics and other support personnel on large fwd operating bases where there are well equipped gyms and paved secure roads to run on.. while combat troops are in remote outposts or on daily road patrols that there is no time, gear or safe place to exercise
no one wants to drop their near total body Interceptor armor system in a hostile area when shit could happen at any time just to do some sit ups
ergo.. the best variable in improving physical readiness and fitness is PEACE and at home base down time
I know about artillery. My fleet MOS was Avionics 0611 but then changed to FABM, MOS 0811 my last year.