Thomas McAtee posted on June 01, 2010 00:13
June 2010 Navy
by CAPT Tom McAtee
Body Fat Waivers Gone 1 July 2010
Even Sailors who perform well on the physical readiness test can no longer expect a break on the Navy’s body fat requirements. The five-year-old exemption that allowed Sailors to exceed standard body fat requirements if they scored “excellent” or “outstanding” on the exercise portion of the semiannual physical fitness assessment will be revoked 1 July, Navy officials said. Bottom line: Regardless of your appearance, muscular strength, and aerobic endurance, you will be scored as a failure if you can’t meet body composition requirements. The Navy uses height and weight charts to identify people who are potentially overweight, then checks body circumferences using measuring tape. Critics have said the tape does not distinguish between fat and muscle. Civilian fitness professionals use calipers and a “skin-fold test,” which is considered by many health experts to be a good combination of low-tech tools and high accuracy to tell fat from muscle. The questionable accuracy of body fat tests has drawn complaints from Sailors with stocky or barrel-chested body types and led to the waivers that began in 2005. Now, Navy officials say there’s no reason to differentiate body types.
Karen Suich, a spokeswoman for Navy Personnel Command, said the Naval Health Research Center conducted a study in the late 1990s that indicated “a [body composition assessment] failure could not be correlated to any particular body structure or type.”
“The exemption affected a relatively small number of members and is not seen as necessary to maintain mission readiness,” Suich said.
MCPON West Sends Out Message Addressing Reserve E 8/9 Results
Below is a portion of MCPON West’s message regarding the Reserve E 8/9 results. The entire message, along with a message on the same subject from FLTCM(AW/SW/SCW) Scott A. Benning, Navy Total Force/MPT&E Fleet Master Chief of Naval Personnel can be found on our Web site at www.ausn.org under “AUSN News.” MCPON West states: “As you know, the recent NAVADMIN that listed the Reserve/FTS 8/9 advancement results had selection numbers that were missing in some of the ratings. After every selection board, Navy Personnel Command screens records for potentially adverse information that may not have been available to the selection board. In addition, in March 2009, the Chief of Naval Personnel announced in NAVADMIN 073/09 that Physical Readiness Information Management System (PRIMS) data would be reviewed as part of this process for both officer and enlisted boards. Adverse/alleged adverse information or missing information was discovered in the case of 69 members selected by the FY-11 Navy Reserve Senior and Master Chief Petty Officer advancement selection board. This adverse or missing information may consist of incorrect PRIMS data or other potentially adverse information. As a result, some advancements may be delayed until the discrepancy is corrected while others may be delayed further in cases where the discrepancy cannot immediately be resolved.