Overview
- The Army, which announced the Combat Field Test on Wednesday, will require it each year for soldiers in 24 combat specialties including infantry, armor, artillery, engineers, Special Forces, EOD, and divers.
- The CFT is a continuous, seven‑event course that must be finished in 30 minutes, with troops running, sprinting, lifting sandbags, carrying water cans, crawling, and rushing while in combat uniform and boots without body armor.
- Active‑duty combat soldiers must pass both the new CFT and the Army Fitness Test each year, while National Guard and Reserve soldiers in part‑time status alternate the two tests year by year.
- Failures carry no administrative action during a transition period of 365 days for active‑duty and 730 days for part‑time forces, after which failures from April 2027 can trigger flagging, reconditioning, reclassification, and possible separation after two consecutive fails.
- Adapted from the Expert Physical Fitness Assessment used since 2023 for expert badges, the CFT builds on events where Army data show high pass rates—about 81% for infantry badge candidates and 90% for others—offering a baseline as units start testing in the coming weeks.