<p>The Army is generally a reflection of the US as a whole. 31% of Americans are obese. 63% are overweight. If that is your definition of the Army getting fat, then no. Height weight standards are enforced. </p>
<p>If you’re asking if the Army is getting weak, no. PT standards have actually gone up in the last decade, while Americans have been getting large and in charge. <a href=“http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/stripe/archives/oct31/str_d103197.html[/url]”>http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/stripe/archives/oct31/str_d103197.html</a></p>
<p>As for the PAE, it’s not that difficult for the same reasons PT standards aren’t that high for boot camp. We can generally make you physically strong, we can’t make you smart or give you leadership abilities. Although the PAE is important, it’s probably weighed the least against the other variables. </p>
<p>And please, kill the sexist attitude before you get here. There are physiological reasons why the APFT standards are different for men and women. They are calibrated to the same amount of effort. Men do more pushups than women because they are built differently. They have less body fat, more lean muscle mass, and their elbows are put together differently. Women have more core muscles than upperbody, that’s why the situps are the same. Men and women use oxygen differently, which is why I can SCUBA dive for over an hour on a single tank of air, while the guys I dive with are going back up between 30 and 45 minutes after going down. So, although women use oxygen more efficiently, their lung capacity is reduced. Run the two mile breathing only through your nose and get back to me on that…eh?</p>