Operational fitness test
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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 aŁ$es, or are they on a job creation scheme like the rest of the Royal Admin Force?
Apparently each individual going on det/ops/exercise away from home base has to sign one of these declaration forms before being allowed to go. Interesting to see what happens next time someone gets a short notice (weekend) call to go, will the medics be there to check your paperwork? .......... No I thought not
Another useless piece of unnecessary paperwork for your list that has just appeared here, and I guess will be visiting the rest of the RAF (and other services?) in the near future, is the medical declaration form prior to going on ANY det/exercise etc.
Something along the lines of the old annual fitness test declaration, given that all aircrew, at least, are signed up annually for our aircrew medical, why do we now need to fill in this additional paperwork? Is it just a case of the medical branch trying to cover their own aŁ$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
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Why not add a little fun to motivate the troops?
Sod:
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)!
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.
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)!
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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!
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!
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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....!!!!
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....!!!!
TAC Int Bloke
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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?"
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?"
Last edited by Maple 01; 14th Oct 2005 at 22:26.
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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
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.
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.
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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...
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...
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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...
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...
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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........
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........
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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.
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.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
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>.
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>.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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
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
Last edited by Mobile Muppet; 15th Oct 2005 at 20:09.
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!)
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!)
Last edited by BEagle; 15th Oct 2005 at 21:29.
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!
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!
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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!!!!!
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!!!!!
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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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.