It’s time the US Army realised women can’t compete with men physically & ditched its woke fitness test

With the army facing the prospect of losing many female members due to its current physical fitness assessments, it is considering a return to taking gender into account in the results. This would be a victory for common-sense.

It was always a foolish idea for the United States military to insist on a universal fitness standard for its troops instead of one divided by gender. According to military.com, the US Army is concerned by the results from its new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), and is considering going back to the old standard where results were split by gender. Early data suggests nearly half of female soldiers can’t pass the ACFT, and could face removal from the service when it becomes official next year.

Be honest: is anyone surprised? I imagine there will be some in the MSM who might protest, but it would be a wise move if the army ditched the new ACFT, because it would be making a decision based on reality as opposed to some sort of utopian idea of how gender works.

Human beings are sexually dimorphic, and as such the male and female body are different in some ways. If that sounds simple, it’s because it is. We men are generally larger, stronger, and on the whole more athletic. To expect women, who have physical disadvantages in comparison, to be able to equal men is just plain silly. As the army is finding out, it has set up potential female recruits for absolute failure just because some people have no clue what the word equality actually means.

When it comes to the military, equality means serving your country to the best of your ability as a member of the United States Army. That's it. The US has been blessed with many women who have served this nation and sacrificed so much for it, and they deserve to be honored for that service. 

However, nobody should ever pretend that physically men and women must be judged by the same numbers. Indeed, I would argue that doing so is discriminatory, because you set the bar so high that few will be able to reach it, thus robbing the military of the service of many thoroughly capable females. And that ultimately is self-defeating, as we will end up with an army completely dominated by men.

Regrettably, this is another instance of a woke idea being put to the test and failing. The concept of men and women both being able to serve does not require them to have identical physical conditioning when there are such stark gender differences. Anyone who has studied the difference in performance in pretty much any sport would be able to come to this conclusion.

But I suppose I should not be surprised by what’s going on here, because of this abject failure to understand what equality actually is. Equality is the idea that we are all born with the same rights. It does not mean that everyone can perform equally. This is absolutely key.

As it stands, the army needs to go back to gendered fitness standards. It can’t afford to lose recruits, and it also can’t afford to loosen the tests to the point where nobody is as fit as they need to be for the job.

Having a different standard for a fitness test does not say to a woman that they are not as valuable a member of the army as a man. What it says is that they are different physically and their role and contribution are equally important. It’s time to recognise this and treat both sexes with some respect.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.