Navy to Overlook Past Fitness Test Failures to Help Retain Personnel

A U.S. Navy helicopter descends to land on the flight deck of the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) aircraft carrier while at sea off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, on Jan. 18, 2020. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The U.S. Navy says it will overlook all previous physical fitness assessment failures for staffing decisions in a “one-time reset” to offset the effects of the COVID pandemic and boost retention.

“This NAVADMIN announces a one-time reset of all physical fitness assessment (PFA) failures,” the Navy announced Thursday. “As such all Active Component (AC) and Reserve Component (RC) officers and enlisted Sailors shall be counted as having zero past PFA failure prior to the date of this NAVADMIN when considering authority to reenlist, advance, promote, or execute other career continuation transitions such as extensions and duty station transfers.”

The Navy explained the new policy was to account for sailors having a hard time preparing for the fitness tests during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the government restrictions.

It will also help to boost the retention rate in the Navy.

The sailors should still be committed to staying fit and maintaining warfighting readiness despite of the new policy, the Navy said in the announcement.

The Navy decided to conduct only one PFA each calendar year during the COVID-19 pandemic instead of two. There’s no plan to move back to two tests per year in the 2024 fiscal year, Rear Adm. James Waters III, director of military personnel, plans and policy, told Navy Times.

The reset would allow up to 1,500 more sailors to remain in service, Waters said.

Navy Recruitment Challenges

The Navy surpassed its retention goals and met its active duty enlisted recruitment goals in the fiscal year 2022.

However, it failed to reach the recruitment goals set for active duty and reserve sailors.

Vice Admiral Rick Cheeseman, chief of Naval personnel, told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a September 2022 hearing that the Navy was witnessing “an increased competition for needed talent” in their target demographic.

“We are experiencing challenges due to labor market conditions, strong commercial competitors, and low propensity to serve among our 18 to 24-year-old target demographic,” he said.

He called for legislation to increase enlistment bonuses, statutory maximums, and specialist skill pay and bonuses to help the navy achieve its recruitment efforts.

Correction: A previous version of this article did not outline that all past fitness test failings had been overlooked. The Epoch Times regrets the error.