The U.S. Navy has eased back the punishment for sailors who fail physical fitness tests, no longer automatically condemning the service careers of those who fail two consecutive fitness assessments.
Performance on the Navy’s Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA) can determine whether a sailor is able to advance in rank or even remain in the sea service. Until recently, sailors who received a failing grade on their PFA would get a negative mark on their overall performance evaluations, recommending against their promotion. The old policy also meant sailors who failed a second consecutive PFA would no longer qualify for reenlistment or retention and face separation from the service.
In cases where sailors rack up two consecutive failed PFAs, the new policy states those sailors “are not mandated to receive minimal marks or trait grades,” nor are their performance evaluations to be automatically marked with “Significant Problems” and “Retention Not Recommended.” The new policy instead states that “eligibility for enlisted members will be at the discretion of the [commanding officer]” and “if retention or reenlistment eligibility is removed, the [commanding officer] may submit a special evaluation report to restore eligibility.”
The sailors conducting fitness evaluations are also encouraged to note a sailor’s progress or lack of progress on the PFA even when that sailor fails a fitness test.
“Commanding Officers (COs) are able to evaluate a Sailor’s physical readiness progress or lack of progress in performance evaluations, giving them the ability to manage risk, recognize earnest effort, and best take care of their people,” Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman, the chief of naval personnel, said as part of the new fitness test policy.
Vice Adm. Cheeseman said these changes to the fitness test evaluation and reporting standards are part of the Navy’s “Culture of Excellence 2.0” approach to build up sailors mentally and physically and remove barriers to service.
“We are modernizing our PFA policy to acknowledge our diverse population, increase Sailor trust, and enhance quality of service,” the vice admiral added.
The Navy and other branches of the U.S. military have been making changes to improve both recruiting and retention numbers, as the services have struggled to hit their recruiting goals in recent years.
In total, the sea service was about 7,400 shy of its goal of recruiting 37,700 new active-duty enlisted sailors in FY2023 and about 3,810 shy of its goal of recruiting 6,342 new reserve enlisted sailors.
On the other hand, the Navy made up for some of its recruiting gap with better-than-expected retention numbers. A Navy spokesperson confirmed with The Epoch Times that the service reached 114 percent of its goal for retaining Zone A sailors—sailors with up to six years of service—in FY2023, retaining 19,386 in that category. In FY2023, the Navy hit 98 percent of its retention goal for Zone B sailors—those with between six and 10 years of service—getting 7,285 sailors to stay on in that category. The service also reached 106.5 percent of its Zone C retention goal in FY2023, keeping on 5,462 sailors with between 10 and 14 years of service.
The Navy is continuing to focus on ways to bolster recruiting and retention going forward.
“Tomorrow’s Fleet readiness is reliant on retaining today’s Sailors, within both the Active Duty and Reserve Force.”
