Gender Issues: Improved Guidance and Oversight Are Needed to Ensure Validity and Equity of Fitness Standards

摘要

DOD's guidance requires that the services establish a physical fitness and body fat program that includes fitness requirements for all servicemembers. This guidance requires annual testing, regardless of age, of cardiovascular endurance (measured by activities such as running a certain distance within a specified time limit), muscular strength and endurance (measured by activities such as sit-ups and push-ups), and maintenance of body fat within a certain percentage range. The guidance does not specify particular testing activities or minimum required levels of difficulty. Each military service is required to design its own fitness program and provide DOD with annual reports that assess the program. The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy within the Office of the Secretary of Defense is responsible for monitoring the program. In response to rising problems with the existing policy, the Assistant Secretary established a joint service working group in September 1996 to study these problems, and the National Academy of Sciences was also requested to help analyze the complex research available on fitness and body fat issues. The Academy's report was issued in March 1998.