I'm sorry, but you're just never going to change my mind: there should be ONE standard for both males and females on the Army Physical Fitness Test. Period.
Tracking: there exist undeniable physiological differences between men and women and the development of their musculature. Yet war does not discriminate. Moreover, it's becoming painfully obvious that when given the opportunity, women consistently rise to the challenge... and excel.
It's been about five years since the United States Army Ranger School launched its pilot to test the integration of women into its classes, and the Army Times has a really uplifting article about those pioneers' experience as the first female Rangers. It's hooah-inducing.
CPT Kristen Griest and CPT Shaye Haver are tough. WAY tougher than I. Because four years ago, I began my own pursuit of the Tab, and even timed it such that I would graduate from my unit's Pre-Ranger Course perfectly positioned to join that historic class with the first female Ranger candidates. But on the last day of PRC, I tore my meniscus... and although I managed a pitiful limp across the graduation stage, the resulting surgery ensured I wouldn't make it to Fort Benning to witness these ladies' moment alongside them. (Insert cry-face emoji here.)
What that injury denied me was the chance to watch a whole slew of men compelled to accept that the females beating their ruck times, their run times, their sit-up scores, were not getting the benefit of some lowered standard. Rather, they were getting the benefit of raw tenacity and strength unleashed by the motivating power of doubt. And they did it. They did it. Here's the money pull-quote from the article:
[The] women’s ability to destroy men on a PT test lent them a credibility that no one in a physically competitive unit would question.
“As soon as you take an [Army Physical Fitness Test], the conversation stops. If you beat everybody on the APFT, they cannot say anything to you. And a lot of guys came up to me afterward and said, ‘You know, ma’am, I wasn’t sure about this, but you smoked me on the APFT, so I guess I can’t say anything.’ "
Ain't that the truth. Preach, sister.
Look, I get it; maybe in the aggregate, it's harder for women to rack up the same top APFT scores as their male counterparts. But if that's truly the case, the solution is to introduce a single standard scale that lowers the maximum (enabling more women to achieve elite status) but raises the minimum, since it's clear that these girls can run with the boys and there are WAY too many men who can't even meet the minimum standard. Why sell our Soliders short? A broad reassessment as to whether our minimum standard is sufficient is probably in order.
I can't wait to meet the first U.S. Army Judge Advocate to whom I can say, "that's a good-looking Tab, ma'am!" Maybe someday the legion of couples in our JAG Corps will even feature a duo who can both recite the Ranger Creed when they're dirty-talking late at night... (#NoSHARP)
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UPDATE:
- Check out the Army Times article asking whether the end of gender standards is near, with an interesting preview of the Army Combat Readiness Test and the Soldier Readiness Test.
- Scope Ret. Lt. Col. Kate Germano's comments in The New York Times as pertains to females in a sister service, to wit, the Marines. "No one believed the women could do better . . . I desperately want female Marines to understand just how capable and competitive they can be."
- 12 Female Soldiers Have Now Graduated Army Ranger School (9 April 2018)