WASHINGTON -- Maintaining peak combat readiness begins and ends with healthy, motivated and well-trained Airmen.
On Nov. 19, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel announced the new Air Force fitness standards will officially begin July 1.
Lt. Gen. Richard Y. Newton III said the service's top leaders sought feedback from commanders and senior non-commissioned officer leadership throughout the Air Force when deciding to execute the updated program that will test Airmen twice during calendar year 2010 -- once under the current program and once under the new program.
"Based on feedback from the field, we are implementing the July start date so Airmen have the opportunity to excel," Newton said. "This implementation strategy will allow for a smoother transition of the new Air Force Instruction and afford commanders adequate time to establish installation fitness assessment cells to include adequate manning for the FACs."
According to Newton, a new Air Force Instruction detailing the new fitness standards is due out within the next few weeks.
Biannual physical fitness testing will begin Jan. 1 using current fitness standards. Units with FACs will use them to conduct the assessments. Units without FACs will continue to use their physical training leaders, or PTLs, to assess Airmen. Enlisted and officer performance reports will reflect fitness training scores based upon their reports close out dates, Newton added.
According to the change, during the Jan. 1 to June 30 testing phase, unit PTLs will provide two scores -- one for the current system and one for the new standard so Airmen can gauge their performance. Starting July 1, Airmen will officially test under new requirements with the new scoring.
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