I had a discussion recently with a friend who was going into the military, and he described to me the physical trials necessary to get into the program. Specifically he said how women do not have to be faster in the time trials and didn't have to do full-body push-ups. This got me thinking if this was a double standard, and I wonder what people here think of it.
Personally I think they should lower the male entry requirements, seeing as the level of physicality they needed previously may not actually be needed, if the women's trials are any indication. Or they should find the minimum physicality that they will accept and have everyone apply equally.
I'm curious, why do you care about the military's requirements? Considering enlistment yourself?
I ask because a lot of people have opinions about our requirements, but have very little actual knowledge about how it works. In the Air Force at least there aren't really "trials for getting in". There are annual or bi-annual fitness tests depending on how you scored previously. Yes, there is a test in Basic Training, but that's something they spend weeks getting you conditioned for.
Females are required to do normal push-ups, no differently than males. The only difference is that, yes, there is a smaller threshold for the amount of push-ups, sit-ups, and the run time, the last of which is a joke.
People bring up gender in the whole combat role discussion, but what about age? If someone is at a certain age should they be ineligible? I'd think that a specialized fitness test for those roles, with no differences based on gender or age, would suffice. I'd design it so it wouldn't have things like push-ups or running on a track on it, because honestly in a life or death situation who cares how fast you can run in a circle? There would be things like a ruck march to test if you can carry standard gear for a set distance. I'm sure these specialist units already do things like this, which makes me wonder why civilians care so much about it, because I'm in the service and I don't...
As someone who works in an office, the way our test is could be better, but it's not such a big deal. As someone who is in her late twenties it is irritating that I have to test at the same level as someone who is 17, because I sure don't have the same energy levels as I used to, but I just have to suck it up for a few more years. I don't think that standards need to be raised though, like silkyballfro94 said. We don't all get shot at for a living, in fact most of us never will see combat. For those of us who will, sure, they'll do their thing with standards. If anything support jobs like my own should increase standards for intelligence, social skills, and integrity, three things that people seem to discount all too often while overemphasizing physical ability.
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