Training Standards & Health
Training Standards & Health
The documents and articles posted below provide background information and historical context on issues related to training in all branches of the services. High, uncompromised standards are essential in transforming a civilian into a member of the military, but some training programs have been compromised by attempts to treat male and female trainees the same.
The 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces approved recommendations that condoned gender-normed (different) standards for men and women in basic, pre-commissioning, and entry-level training. Without those allowances, the military would lose many female trainees. However, the commission strongly disapproved of gender-normed training standards for physically demanding combat arms units, such as the infantry, artillery, armor, and Special Operations.
When regulations regarding women in the combat arms were changed in 2015, over the objections of the Marine Corps, gender-normed standards for combat arms units became untenable. The ongoing debate, centering on the Army’s failed experiments with a gender-neutral Army Combat Fitness Tests (ACFT), remains unresolved.
2023:
CMR: NDAA for 2024: The Good, the Bad, and the Incomplete (See #8)
Steve Beynon, Military.com: Congress Tells Army to Set Higher Fitness Standards for Combat Arms Soldiers | Military.com
Thomas Spoehr, The Hill: In the Military, Physical Fitness Outranks Gender ‘Equity’
2022:
CMR: Army Scraps Gender-Neutral Standards Pushed by Discredited Social Engineers
CMR Policy Analysis: Combat Fitness Test Fiasco Forces Army to Drop Gender-Neutral Standards (9 pages)
Military.com: Women Still Unable to Break Glass Ceiling of Navy SEAL Qualifications
CMR E-Notes, May 2022: Video of Sen. Tom Cotton challenging Army Secretary Christine Wormuth on ACFT flaws and failures.
2021:
Letter to Sen. Inhofe re ACFT failures and implications for Selective Service registration of women – March, 2021 Inhofe032621.pdf (cmrlink.org)
CMR Policy Analysis, July 2021: CMR Policy Analysis July 2021.pdf (cmrlink.org)
2018:
CMR: Have the Marines Lowered Combat Endurance Test Standards?
Popular Mechanics: The Overloaded Infantry Soldier: Why U.S. Infantry Now Carry More Weight Than Ever
2017:
CMR Policy Analysis: USMC Implementation of Obama Administration Orders to Gender-Integrate Infantry Battalions: What Could Go Wrong?
Kate Hendricks Thomas and Kyleanne Hunter: It’s Time to Address the Staggering Rate of Suicide Among Servicewomen and Female Vets
Patricia Kime, Military.com: Survey: Nearly 40 Percent of Active-Duty Women Report Fertility Problems
Julie Pulley and Hugh P. Scott, LA Times, What Military Recruiters Aren’t Telling Women: You’ll Face Disproportionate Health Risks
Business Insider: Military Women Suffer Infertility at 3 Times the Rate of Civilians
2016:
Military.com: ACFT and the Problems with the Military’s Cult of Physical Fitness
CMR: New Army Combat Fitness Test: 84% of Women Fail
CMR: Marine Commandant Caves on Co-Ed Basic Training
2015:
Memo to Secretary Mabus: Marines Lives Matter - CMR (cmrlink.org)
USMC: Marine Corps Operational Test and Evaluation Activity (MCOTEA) on the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force (978 pages)
USMC: Analysis of the Integration of Female Marines into Ground Combat Arms and Units (115 pages)
Brig. Gen. George W. Smith, Jr., USMC Memorandum to the Commandant, August 18, 2015
Marine Corp. Force Integration Plan Summary (4 pages) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2394531-marine-corps-force-integration-plan-summary.html
Command Investigation of a Hostile Work Environment at the Recruit Training Regiment, July 15, 2015 (Kate Germano)
CMR Policy Analysis: Marines Set Sound Priorities: Survivability and Lethality in Combat
CMR Policy Analysis: Co-Ed Combat Tests Hazardous to Women’s Health
CMR Policy Analysis: New British Report Shreds Case for Women in Ground Close Combat (GCC)
Results of Studies on Women in Land Combat were not released in full – some of the more important ones were leaked to a few media outlets and preserved by CMR:
Department of Defense: Women in Service Studies
Interim CMR Special Report, Part II, December 2015
Marine Corps Research Findings: Where is the Case for Co-Ed Ground Combat?
Interim CMR Special Report, Part II, Executive Summary
Interim CMR Special Report, Part II, Section A
Interim CMR Special Report, Part II, Section B
2014:
Exhibit A - Graphics from Naval Health Research Center Analysis
Exhibit D: Statements from Women Marines
2013:
CMR: Statement to House Armed Services Committee Personnel Subcommittee, July 14, 2013
CMR: Double-Think About Double Standards - "Gender-Neutral Training to Include Gender-Normed Scores
CMR: Seven Reasons Why Women-in-Combat Diversity Will Lower Tough Training Standards, Apr. 2013
2012:
William J. Gregor: Physical Suitability of Women for Assignment to Combat and Heavy Work Military Occupational Specialties
CMR: Marines Gathering Data Re: Women in Land Combat
Ibis: Reproductive Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health of Women in the U.S. Military
Capt. Lauren Serrano, Marine Corps Gazette, Marine Infantry Isn't Broken; It Doesn't Need to Be "Fixed"
Washington Post: National Gender Performance in Sports - Fit But Unequal
Washington Times, Commentary:
DONNELLY: Lowering Female Marines' Physical Standards Puts Politics Before Readiness
RADM Hugh Scott, USN (Ret.), June 22, 2012, letter titled "Physical and Physiological Issues Associated with the Assignment of Women to Direct Ground Combat Units."
2011:
Army Technical Bulletin, TB MED 592, "Prevention and Control of Musculoskeletal Injuries Associated with Physical Training," May 2011:
Average combat loads during Operation Enduring Freedom ranged between 63-137 pounds. (pp. 13-14) According to the same report, women are approximately 64% more likely than men to receive a physical disability discharge of any type and approximately 67% more likely than men to receive a physical disability discharge for a musculoskeletal disorder. (p. 10)
2003:
CMR: Army Gender-Integrated Basic Training – Summary of Relevant Findings & Recommendations, 1993-2002
CMR: The Amazon Myth - Natick Study Stretches Science
US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command: Natick Study, Nov. 1997
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