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PT test gets ‘incomplete’

In development more than a year, the Air Force’s new fitness program is finally ready.

It’s an improvement over the 2004 overhaul, but it was hardly worth the wait.

Granted, the waist measurement is more realistic — 35 inches instead of 32.5 for men; 31.5 inches instead of 29 for women. and two tests a year means airmen will need to do a better job of staying in shape rather than being able to let conditioning go on a long slide after taking a single, annual test.

But it’s hard to understand why senior leaders don’t seem to recognize that holding all airmen to the same waist-measurement standard and not factoring it against height and age is unfair and just plain silly.

Another real head-scratcher was the decision to have civilian fitness experts administer the tests rather than simply hold commanders accountable for ensuring accuracy in the results. If unit pass rates are inflated because some airmen are going easy in scoring their buddies, commanders ought to be able to put a stop to that.

Beyond the issues raised about the costs and challenges of bringing in civilians, is an insulting if unintended message to those in uniform: We don’t trust you to get this right.

Something is out of whack. It’s just not fair to expect a 6-foot-5 airman to be the same size around the middle as an airman who stands 5-foot-9. And airmen ought to be able to fairly and accurately score others on their PT tests and be held to answer for results that have been doctored.

Clearly, Air Force leadership should not consider their work on the PT test done.