Sailors should expect that the Navy will once again require them to take physical fitness tests twice a year, as mandated by the Pentagon, the service’s top enlisted sailor told Task & Purpose.
“What I believe is going to happen — because the [Navy Administrative Message] has not been released yet — is we will go to two PT tests a year,” said Master Chief Officer of the Navy John Perryman. “For the majority of our sailors outside of our combat arms ratings, it will be the PT test we take now. It will just be given twice a year.”
The Navy’s Physical Readiness Test involves a 1.5-mile run, pushups, and planks.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, sailors had been required to take the test twice a year. But the Navy canceled fitness assessments in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and the following July, the service announced that the test would be administered once a year.
Then, in September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo requiring all service members to take two fitness tests annually. The Chief of Naval Personnel is working through how the service will carry out Hegesth’s directive, Perryman said.
“We’re really, in most cases, for most sailors, going back to the way it was, pre-COVID,” Perryman said in a wide-ranging interview on Thursday.
Sailors in combat arms ratings — such as SEALS, Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians — will continue to have to meet the physical standards for their specific communities, Perryman said.
During an all-hands meeting with sailors last month in South Korea, Chief of Naval Operations Daryl Caudle explained why it was important for sailors to take the fitness test twice a year.
“We are overweight,” Caudle said. “I mean, we are. We came out of COVID — we’re not in standards to the acceptable level. I mean, you guys walk around; you see this. We need to tighten that up. We’re in the military. We’re in a combat profession. We need to be in good physical condition. It’s important.”
Perryman said returning to taking the fitness test twice a year is not a “huge deal.” A bigger issue affecting sailors’ health is their diet, he said.
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“If what I take in calorically closely stays at what I need on a day-to-day basis, which is close to 2,000 calories, then my overall health and weight management is much easier,” he said.
Next year, the Navy expects to unveil its Total Sailor: Fit to Fight effort, which will focus on improving sailors’ overall health, Perryman said,
“I suspect, early next year, that will be formally released with the five domains of a human being that we’re focused on in an effort to make sure our sailors are 100% ready should the nation need us to enter into combat,” Perryman said.
