{"id":48563,"date":"2017-11-21T21:38:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T21:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/11\/21\/this-is-the-armys-toughest-pt-test-yet-and-trials-are-now-underway\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:09:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:09:47","slug":"this-is-the-armys-toughest-pt-test-yet-and-trials-are-now-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2017\/11\/21\/this-is-the-armys-toughest-pt-test-yet-and-trials-are-now-underway\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the Army\u2019s toughest PT test yet \u2014 and trials are now underway"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Members of the 264th Engineer Clearance Company at Fort Bragg endure the Soldier Readiness Test. (Daniel Woolfolk\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

FORT BRAGG, N.C. \u2014 A company of combat engineers gathered on a Fort Bragg memorial field before sunrise one recent morning to take a fitness test, the same way many units in the Army do every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those units don\u2019t have to navigate 225-pound tires, 240-pound mannequins, 40-pound sandbags and 7-foot barriers to complete their physical fitness tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Nov. 2, 40 soldiers from 264th Engineer Company completed a pilot run of the Soldier Readiness Test, a new three-phase, seven-event test that Army Forces Command is developing to measure unit combat readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like a warrior,\u201d Spc. Anita Drake, one of the Army\u2019s first female 12B combat engineers, told Army Times after finishing the test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldiers\u2019 brigade commander made sure his unit was included in FORSCOM\u2019s ongoing trials of the Soldier Readiness Test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI heard through the grapevine that this pilot program was coming up,\u201d Col. Marc Hoffmeister, commander of the 20th Engineer Brigade, told Army Times in an Oct. 27 phone interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI fought to have our brigade included in the program, because I realize where the Army\u2019s going in terms of shifting our focus toward a culture of fitness that I truly believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoffmeister\u2019s brigade is one of four brigades to pilot the Soldier Readiness Test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven before we had done this, we were actually in the process of implementing what we call the Castle Total Fitness Program in our brigade,\u201d Hoffmeister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SRT falls right in line with the kind of functional fitness he wanted to bring in to the brigade, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holistic fitness<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SRT is part of a larger Army push toward a more holistic way of looking at fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of the things that they have been doing physically have been very good, but doing pushups and sit-ups might not be the best way to get you ready for the terrain of Afghanistan,\u201d Michael Bugielski, the 20th Engineer Brigade\u2019s certified strength and conditioning coach, told Army Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\t