I agree with Razor,.
The APFT also allowed us as instructors to quickly determine if a soldier was "ready for training". In Thailand or Columbia, seeing a soldiers cross the finish line with a respectable time of 13 minutes for a 2 mile run, who looked confident enough to do it again and pull the same time. Who smiled when he maxed the push-up event in under the 2 minutes, and clicked off a few extras before the time was up. Each time a soldier presented themselves with confident attitudes, honest effort and measureable performance, I said, "We can work with that".
I used Thailand and Columbia as examples because serving in those armies meant significant risk to thier families, especially if they worked in drug interdiction.
Other countries, were service may be for economic benefits, tended to be laxed if not lazy, with the exception of Israel, (which was very motivated to kick ass), the APFT was a gauge we used to select those candidates who we choose as host nation Cadre.
Funny story, our ODA was conducting an Airborne Jump Master Course for the Thais.
One Thai soldier while doing push-ups, stopped, rested in a one arm pushup position, and reached for a large yellow-gray scorpion, 3.0" in length, just inches from where his face was while in the down position. He quickly picked it up by its stinger, and ate it whole, pinching off the stinger, discarding it with a gentle toss out of the way of others and continued with the push-up event, total time lost, 15 seconds, total push-ups, 90+.
Could I have stopped the event for braking form? Sure, would it have helped build a relationship with these soldiers? No.
His Sr. NCO, came over and asked me if his soldier needed to retake the test. I said he had made enough correct push-ups before he raised his hand off the ground, retesting would not be necessary. I informed the Sergeant to have him report to the sit-up instructor for testing.
I later learned that the soldier had been an orphan living on the streets until he was old enough to enlist. His father was killed by drug thugs up north, his mother went missing. He raised his little brother all by himself.
Sorry for the lengthly side bar story, but the APFT test is fine by me, it serves as a matrix before training begins.
WD
Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor
Actually, the APFT (which is not the "system", but often becomes the focus of the system because its easy to plan towards) does exactly what it was planned to accomplish--it allows for easy testing protocols that require very little equipment. Whether that design parameter is the correct one to use when creating an effective fitness program is another discussion altogether.
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