This week on AirForceTimes.com staff writer Jill Laster takes a look at how VO2 max scores affect older airmen's PT scores for the one-mile walk test:
Reserve Lt. Col. Chris Cote knew he needed to get in better shape.
The 56-year-old had passed the one-mile walk during his last PT test by the slimmest of margins, so he and a friend sat down to try and figure out their fitness goals. But as they crunched the numbers in the formula the Air Force uses to measure scores for the walk, Cote said, the two men started to feel they were getting a raw deal.
The way the Air Force calculates airmen's scores for the test, they argued, is discriminatory — putting older airmen at a disadvantage as they try to pass the test. The service uses a calculation called VO2 max, which measures aerobic fitness with a formula based on a person's weight, age, gender, walk time and heart rate.
Cote has since filed an equal-opportunity complaint with the service, claiming that his age meant he would receive a worse VO2 max score. The lieutenant colonel claims the formula penalizes older airmen because VO2 max scores naturally decline with age but Air Force formulas don't account enough for that dip.
Read Jill's complete story here.
