Operational fitness test

[On_The_Top_Bunk]

Well......

Fully implemented by Apr 06

All ranks and trades to take part except the rocks beacause they do their own presumably.

4 representative tasks will be tested. (representative for who exactly)

1. A single lift of a 25kg ammo box to a height of 1.45m (can't see many injuries from this one) :ok:

2. A 20kg sandbag to be carried 30m and placed on a 1.1 m platform 15 times in 10 mins.

3. A 22 meter run follwed by a 3 meter leopard crawl 8 times in 3min 10 secs.

4. A digging test :D shovel 0.125 m of sand through a hole in a wall at a height of 1 meter in 6 minutes 30 secs.


On the day of the test in CS95 with all the trimmings.


a. Realistically how many will pass / fail if it is as stipulated for all ranks / trades?

b. By not passing will you be unavailable for deployment? :hmm:
Somehow I think NOT.

I'm sure this will enable us all to carry out our duties more effectively
:rolleyes:

Remember a day out of uniform is a day wasted........

[BEagle]

Now the lunatics really are in control of the asylum........

There may be the odd dog turd on the grass this side, but nothing like the pile of $hit on your side, chaps!

But then most of the time you don't even have any grass...

[pma 32dd]

Apart from (3), it appears remarkably similar to a weekend gardening.

[BEagle]

Well I'm b£oody glad I don't have your garden then, pma32dd!

I hope that a few people will lift their 55lb 'ammo box' (whatever that might be) to the regulation 4'9" and then drop the b£oody thing - onto the adjudicating jockstrapper's foot!

Should keep the Defence Medical Service busy though - good job that was never cut...:(

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

Please don't take this the wrong way but I do wonder how the girls are going to get on with this.

My water softener salt tablets come in 25kg bags and my wife, fit as robbers dog in more ways than one and still playing competative netball at 44 would never be able to lift one of those up to shoulder height.

As for carrying a 20kg bag 30 mtrs blah blah she struggles as it is with the shopping, not because she is unfit but because, like most women she does not have the upper body strength to perform such tasks.

Should be interesting to see the outcome of this and I wonder if the "bar" will eventually be lowered.

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

[Two's in]

Even as an ex-pongo whose best quality was my blind obedience, I struggle to see how this particular little bit of fun and games would help the team get Bloggs (no offence Bloggs) over the target in a more cost effective and business-like manner. I can see how it would help people with a bit of resettlement training, if they ever decided to work on a road gang, or even rebuild the levees in New Orleans, but support military flying operations; you've got me there. Maybe it's a trick, and if you don't understand why you have to do it, you are not really cut out for the Air Force - who knows?

[Pontius Navigator]

One evening, watching one of the b&w films of the air war there came a cry from this Flt Lt armourer "Hey, that's me".

Sure enough there was one SAC Fitzmaurice loading a 100 lb bomb onto a Fairey Battle. The technique was simple. Fitzmaurice crouched on hands and knees. Two men lifted the bomb onto his back. He crawled under the wing and then did a pressup pushing the bomb onto the crutch.

Now that was a combat fitness test.

A more modern one would be:

FS, take 10 men, fill 150 sandbags.

FS, take 10 men, stack 150 sandbags on that platform - you have 10 minutes.

FS, grubs up, the wagon is over there and leaves in 3 minutes and 11 seconds. Crawl the last 24 yards.

FS, here is all your kit, load it on that 4 tonner, you have 20 seconds.

[bayete]

Perhaps the test should be type specific...
Eg. the Truckie fleet should have to:
1. Sit sown for 7hrs eating pies and drinking coffee, then..
2. Sit around waiting for MT for 3hrs, then..
3. Squeeze 10 crew members + Samsonites into elevator and ascend/descend a random number of floors, search for a room, sh1t, shower,shave and make it back to lobby bar within 7mins!
4. Get p11sed for indeterminate number of days while waiting for ac spares to arrive and clear customs.....
5......fill your boots.....

[FOMere2eternity]

As well as mission creep in Iraq and Afghanistan I've spotted a new phenomenon: Fitness Test creep. Some genius with not enough to keep him busy decided the existing number of pre-out of area hurdles was insufficient, so now you have to do your Annual Fitness Test as briefed, followed by the shuttle-run bit 7 and 1 weeks prior to putting your life on hold for 4 months - that is if you're TELIC-bound.

As well as all the other bolleaux there is a real cottage industry developing for those in the OOA trade.

I think we should do daily fitness tests - in fact no, hourly. I'm more and more convinced this is all designed to p1ss the boys off until numbers reduce - survival of the weakest, you could say...

[Logistics Loader]

Any H & S issues with this...???

Namely lifting !!!

Believe max weight for single person (PC Term) is 37lbs !!!

I know the weight varies fron the height it is lifted from...
Just an observation from experience...

[Art Field]

In days of yore, before PC [Physical Correctness] who were always asking you to take their trips, [gob a colb, broken ankle, arm in a sling] why the Jock Strappers of course. Who filled in for the grotty trips, why the KOS's who were always ready to fly.

[LFFC]

"Bloggs, you're aged over 40, so get on that execise bike - and mind you don't exceed 120 heartbeats a minute or we'll have to stop the test"!
.
.
.
.
"Well done Bloggs, now get outside for that OFT"!

[BEagle]

Quite so, Art Field! I don't recall you, I or any other of the Athletics Anonymous* members from losing a day's flying through fitness.

But that was when there was more Air in Air Force, perhaps?

By the way, the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, which came into force on 1 January 1993 come under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act) and they implement European Directive 90/269/EEC on the manual handling of loads. This Code of Practice has been approved by the health and Safety Commission, with the consent of the Secretary of State, under section 16 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for the purpose of providing practical guidance with respect to the provisions of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 and Sections 2,3 and 4 of the 1974 Act. The maximum a male operative can lift is 25kg and a female operative is only allowed to lift a maximum of 17kg (a third less than a male).

Equal Opportunities? And why are people being expected to lift the same as a manual labourer? Can a manual labourer fly an aeroplane as well as you can?


*AA - think about jockstrapping and ring a mate to talk you out of it!

[rej]

Prior to doing the test we will probably all have to undergo pre-employment training in the form of a 'manual handling course'.

The trouble is that it won't be available from Service sources so we will pay millions for someone else to provide the training for us, probably the NHS since they will be treating us for injuries sustained in the test.

[LunchMonitor]

4. A digging test shovel 0.125 m of sand through a hole in a wall at a height of 1 meter in 6 minutes 30 secs.

Now who is going to provide our new junior Officers with the necessary skill sets for this task?

The use of a shovel is very complex and incorrect use without specialised training could cause a nasty back strain.

The litigation costs and days lost through backache could be huge!!

[truckiebloke]

I'm sure this has been thoroughly thought out, as with most new ideas in the RAF today.....

ABIW - very fair point about the ladies...

bayete - cant speak for the truckie fleet as a whole, but i assure you the loadies work fookin hard when deployed on the herc j , especially in Iraq and rarely get a chance to dry out as they are working hard all day....

Just another crazy idea, to take up more of our reducing free time...

p.s when was the last time aircrew wore webbbing?? mine is collecting dust in the garage!!

[Big Unit Specialist]

I am of the Regt type so I expect to lift heavy things and run/stagger long distances (retiring with knackered knees and lower back - but that's what I expected when I joined) and crawl from the bar after too many guinness however, this is bolleaux....... sheer work creation bolleaux!

This will just irritate the hard-working and give the work-shy another reason to be a war-dodger...........

I would love to have a quiet chat with the person who dreamed this up - If you're out there 'fess up on this forum if you dare!
:}

[Trumpet_trousers]

...this could be tailored to specific trades:

e.g.

1. Movers could lift a 25Kg box up to 1.45m (say a cargo ramp sill) ...and then drop it, f*cking the box + contents.

2. Carry a 20Kg sandbag for 30m, ripping it open on the way, losing the bag and then denying they were given it in the first place.

3. Do a 22m drive with a forklift, spearing an aircraft with the tines, then:

4. Find a shovel, collect spilt sand from test 2, return to speared ac in test 3, and shovel sand through split.

:E

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

Priceless TT absolutely pricelss:ok:

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

[Low and Slow]

Agree with Big Unit Specialist:

That's the most idiotic OFT I have ever seen.

Process based and a nightmare to admin and conduct. Designed by someone out to make simple, as complex as possible.

If you can run 3 miles in <23 mins, and under 30, then you're fit enough to be serving.

...and what if you fail? What happens?

[Yeller_Gait]

FOMere2eternity,

Another useless piece of unnecessary paperwork for your list that has just appeared here, and I guess will be visiting the rest of the RAF (and other services?) in the near future, is the medical declaration form prior to going on ANY det/exercise etc.

Something along the lines of the old annual fitness test declaration, given that all aircrew, at least, are signed up annually for our aircrew medical, why do we now need to fill in this additional paperwork? Is it just a case of the medical branch trying to cover their own a£$es, or are they on a job creation scheme like the rest of the Royal Admin Force?

Apparently each individual going on det/ops/exercise away from home base has to sign one of these declaration forms before being allowed to go. Interesting to see what happens next time someone gets a short notice (weekend) call to go, will the medics be there to check your paperwork? .......... No I thought not

[An Teallach]

Why not add a little fun to motivate the troops?

Sod:
4. A digging test shovel 0.125 m of sand through a hole in a wall at a height of 1 meter in 6 minutes 30 secs.

Why not:

4. Destruction test. Drink 10 tinnies of Ruddles then set about a 500 lb, old, iron-chassis'd Upright Joanna with a 7lb sledge-hammer and pass the resulting bits through a lavatory seat suspended 5' off the ground. Test to be completed in 20 mins (inclusive of the 10 tinnies but not inclusive of ensuing bonfire)!

:ok:

[Impiger]

Hey BEags

The heck with Athletics Anonymous I'm a member of Jockstrappers Anonymous.

See someone taking exercise whilst bar is open = head to bar and drink on their bar number until they stop, shower, change into correct rig and report to bar to close their bar book!:ok:

[Logistics Loader]

I knew Army lads who could not pass the BFT or CFT,
but away on Exercise for 3 weeks, they would work 14/16hr days with no trouble whatsoever...

The ability to run 1 and half miles in less than 15mins proves someone is capable of a short sustained period of exercise...
The real test sure is the ability to keep going over a longer period...

Some people are geared to be able to run, others are not...the none runners may well be the ones to keep on going....

Now wheres me Duracell's gone....!!!!

[Maple 01]

How many posts and no-one’s tried to defend it?

Where are the frustrated PTIs that talk about being 'fit to fight?'

Where are the less enlightened Rocks that insist 'you're a soldier first?'

Thin end of the wedge was the FT, now this Cack

Quote from RAF news letters some years back:

"I may be overweight but I can fix a Tornado - can the PTIs?"

[JessTheDog]

The thin end of the wedge. If the Army have used Royal Artillery personnel on ops in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, it is only a matter of time before RAF personnel find themselves given a rifle and flak jacket and are told to "get on with it". The overriding reasons - cutbacks, political mendacity and overcommittment.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5662062.html

War in Iraq shifts Air Force into ground roles

Mark Mazzetti and Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Straining to find ground troops to maintain its force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has begun deploying thousands of Air Force personnel to combat zones in new jobs as interrogators, prison sentries and gunners on supply trucks.

The Air Force years ago banked its future on state-of-the-art fighter jets and billion-dollar satellites. Yet the service that long has avoided being pulled into ground operations is finding that its people -- rather than its weapons -- are what the Pentagon needs most as it wages a prolonged war against a low-tech insurgent enemy.

Individual branches have spent decades carving out their unique roles within the U.S. military, and Air Force officials insist that the redeployment of its airmen is temporary. Nonetheless, the reassignment of Air Force personnel comes as another sign that the Pentagon is struggling to meet the demands of what military officials have begun calling "the long war."

As part of the effort, more than 3,000 Air Force troops are being assigned new roles. And airmen are being dispatched to combat zones for longer tours of duty -- as many as 12 months rather than four.

The situation represents a reversal of sorts for the Air Force, which played a dominant role in recent conflicts including the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the war to expel Serbian troops from Kosovo. "At that point the Air Force looked to be the dominant service," said Steve Kosiak, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "That has changed."

In the ongoing peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and the fight against insurgents in Iraq, Kosiak said, the Army has been the dominant branch. "It's been the Army, and the Air Force has played a supporting role," Kosiak said.

Air Force officials said they are expecting to commit 1,000 more airmen to missions such as prison guards and truck drivers over the next few years, but they don't plan to make these jobs "core competencies" within the Air Force.

Pentagon planners believe that the counterinsurgency battles being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan could become the norm, rather than the exception, for the U.S. military. And with the Pentagon engaged in a top-to-bottom assessment of the U.S. military's missions -- an exercise known as the Quadrennial Defense Review -- Air Force officials said there is a chance that the high-flying service could be spending more time on the ground in the years ahead.

One urgent problem being addressed by the Air Force is the shortage of trained interrogators to question the thousands of detainees in U.S. military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I don't think any of us thought there would be this amount of demand," said Col. Steven Pennington, commander of the Air Force Operations Group. The first Air Force interrogation teams were deployed to Afghanistan earlier this year.

[claude liardet]

OK, someone has got to defend it so I'll give it a bash. Stay with me for a minute, I'm sure the constructive criticism will come!

Firstly, the current RAFFT to the minimum pass standard is a joke.

Secondly, our chaps and chappesses do need a slightly higher average standard of fitness on ops these days.

Thirdly, the OFT to the standards published will be a piece of doddle. Trust me, I was involved in the trials. Although it is hard to visualise just from seeing it written down, the gardening analogy is not too far from the truth!

What will be a waste of everyone's time (and so will probably happen) is for the RAFFT to continue alongside the OFT. If you are fit enough to go on ops, what other box do you need to tick? That aside, I think it's a good idea.

Stands back and waits for sage nods of agreement...

[FOMere2eternity]

Or how about we do get rid of the AFT in favour of the OFT - that way the policy people who manufacture these ideas don't have to waste their time doing it in Blighty.

They should also adapt the Airfield Driving Permit, keeping the annual bit but adding the requirement for all drivers to report a week before they want to go on the airfield to re-sign orders - in fact no, we need another test! Perhaps after the unsuspecting drivers have read important stuff like who gives way to who the test could ask the temperature retaining characteristics of bitumen or average growth rate of grass...

[November4]

Way I heard it was.......

Before taking the tests you had 3 months of complusory PT 3 times a week.

Fail the tests 3 times after attending the PT and remedial - admin discharge.

Tests are not age / gender specific so the admin discharge rule can be applied without anyone cplaim sex discrimination

Currently about 80% are failing the tests in the trials being held at a Witlshire base. Hence the argument for the 3 months of compulsory PT.

To get round the lack of the muscle mechanics a number of people will be trained in each Squadron / Section to carry out circuits for their own section along the lines of the Army's unit PTIs.

Guess there is plenty of flex in the working day to allow for the 3 PT sessions a week and no one is working to full capacity already........ :mad: :mad: :mad:

[JessTheDog]

I recall the "admin discharge after 3 failed attempts" rule was brought in with the RAFFT just over a year ago.

Aside from my observation above, if it is thought that RAF personnel are likely to need the physical skills imparted by these drills, then my former colleagues in light blue are really up sh!t creek.

Army = Shooting and running around
Navy = Driving and fixing boats
Air Force = Driving and fixing planes

Incidentally, I am willing to bet that no one has yet been subject to an attempted admin discharge related to the RAFFT under the current system, whether successful or otherwise. Also, the more rigourous the system, the more personnel will obtain medical exemptions for the aches and pains many people have picked up, particularly for knee and joint complaints.

[Pontius Navigator]

I am reliably informed that you are all wrong. It is not an OFT but an OFA.

The powers that be want to run an Assessment to find out just how many airmen could qualify as war fighter first. In other words all those under the magic age (?) will do what they can, ligaments, backs, wrists etc allowing, and then some wiz will work out that the air force is total pants at fitness compared with the army.

Then the statement:

<<I recall the "admin discharge after 3 failed attempts" rule was brought in with the RAFFT just over a year ago. >>

Is true only to a point. As well as the 3 failed attempts we must add, failed to turn up and failed to undertake remedial training.

If you can convince the PTIs that you are physically presenting for the test that is one hurdle over come. They must then prove that you did not take the remedial training package seriously.

Keep it up for 18 months and you can probably blag a get ot of jail card from the doc. OTOH, keep all the evidence and take them to tribunal for not giving you a chance to get fit <g>.

[badger baiter]

One For all the FC branch...operational fitness test/ future securing FT

1 Single lift of fat wallet full of fly pay while in a ground tour supporting E3Ds but never or rarely flying. Lift to height of Hooters bar top once before intoxicated.

2 carry drunken female colleague from bar 30m to platform 1.1m high in hotel room. Now what could they do 15 times in 10 mins.

3 a 22m run followed by a 3m leopard crawl to admin when you find your flying pay has been taken away. About 8 visits before you bull**** your way back into getting it back.

4 now shovel sand or just generally dig your heals in as your trade slips away from below you and posts become less and less and you find yourself on a one way ticket to alnwick/scampton. Bon Voyage.

[heights good]

Sorry fellas to disagree with the majority but i think the new fitness test is a step in the right direction. Being rearcrew the fact i can get over 13 on a beep test does not have any relevance to my job.
My job entails moving kit around in a cabin, dragging, lifting and manhandling everything from bergans too battle casualties too vehicles. Strangely the present fitness test doesnt actually test fitness.
An example of this is sit-ups. A sit-up should be a slow and controlled movement pulling from the abs and held for a second at the top. A full sit-up should take around 3 seconds. The present test requires a best effort. This CANT be done slowly and correctly, all this does is encourages people to bounce up and down and potentially damage their neck and back. A job specific fitness test is a more accurate test of and stops the potential for injury doing your job because people will start exercise programs to pass there fitness test.

Anyway thats my pennies worth

There is one person i know who is presently getting admin action against him for failing a fitness test twice.

[Mobile Muppet]

Heights good,

I've got to agree with you , servicemen (and women) should all be fit and healty.. period.

But saying your fit enough to do your primary job does not mean you may be able to do all the other manual tasks we are all being asked to do along with our primary duties on operational dets.

Its funny how people are now bleating on that we should bring back sports afternoons/periods instead, but if we did how many would actualy go week in week out, unless forced !

MM

[BEagle]

All those idiots who drone on about bringing back sports afternoons should recall that the RAF worked on Saturday mornings as well back then.....

The change was to work Mon-Fri and jockstrap on Sat afternoons instead.

(Yes, I know that hardly anyone has the luxury of Mon-Fri working these days. The point being that Wednesday wasn't just an afternoon off for jockstrapping as some seem to think!)

[Impiger]

What! Jockstrapping on a Saturday afternoon? Get that man's bar number immediately Carruthers.

[BEagle]

Voluntary self-abuse, that is Impiger old bean! Not compulsory!

I do hope you won't be one of those filling sandbags or whatever. Remember before some Taceval when we were ordered to pinch the sand from the range at WTM to fill sandbags to further Buzzy's career! But Jerry and Eric did a good job blacking out everything in the QWI office - windows, phone, chairs, walls - everything was covered in black polythene!

[oldfella]

Signing paperwork about fitness prior to tests / deployments.

Prior to some survival / RtoI courses there is a requirement to actually see a doc and have the paperwork signed off by him.

I wonder what would happen if individuals, prior to fitness test / deployment, just said that they were unsure and wanted to see a doc to confirm yes / no? 15 - 20 guys trying to get an appointment! that month!

I can also see another scenario - fail fitness test in whatever form, unable to deploy, - exempt fitness test, normally due to injury of some sort - deployable!!!!!

[2port]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. A digging test shovel 0.125 m of sand through a hole in a wall at a height of 1 meter in 6 minutes 30 secs


Please let the designated size of the hole in the wall be smaller than the designated size of the shovel!!

2P

[Data-Lynx]

An Teallach. Fellow ancients have seen the RM variant of your Destruction Test. Be less specific about what and how much to drink before hand then set to with nothing but empty brass shell cases to fragment said upright piano and post everything through an open scuttle (a round window long gone from the Maritime Orbat). In Albion, this was completed in 15 minutes but seem to remember enough sharp edges and other dangerous bits to render many of the team less than fit for purpose the following day. So not much use for fitness tests. Sorry.

[An Teallach]

Aha, it was with my H&SW hat on that I limited consumption to 10 tinnies for that very reason!

Last time I took part in same it was at a secret airbase which hosted the "East Anglia JO's Happy Hour" in late '95. There are probably less JOs in the whole RAF now than attended that particular 'sporting occasion'. I merely went along with the Honington contingent to lend an air of civilization to the Rockape team.;)

Anyway, the hosting Stn had laid on enough booze to sink a battleship and a variety of 'sports', including 7 or 8 old Joanna's (c/w suspended toilet seats) for the destruction derby and bonfire. Do we have that many secret airbases left in swampland?

Our star player was built like a brick-s***house and set about the task like a man posessed. Far from the threat from piano wire and sharp objects, the main threat to the rest of the team came from the berserk Swampy's (for it was he) sledge-hammer! I think he had some frustration to work out of his system.

Talented chap, he also had an artistic side to him: As an East Anglian he also won the RAFC Cranwell "Glasgow Pub Singer of the Year" competition in 1989, no mean feat!

The basic rules for that one were that the tune had to be vaguely recognisable and the rendition could contain no more that 6 actual words from the song. The rest was to be made up by as artistic a combination of "Shiddy Bo" and "Heddy Haay" and "Yoo Wehh" 's as the singer could muster.

Aah, happy days!