Military

Basic trainees are maxing the new fitness test now

A Basic Combat Training recruit headed for Officer Candidate School maxed out the new Army Combat Fitness Test last week.

After an Oct. 21 test, Spc. Benjamin Ritchie became the third soldier in the Army to hit a perfect 600-point score on the ACFT — and the first basic training recruit to do so, according to service officials.

Right now, a trainee must pass the ACFT to graduate from basic, with one event waived to 50 points, according to U.S. Army Training Center spokesman Michael B. Pond. But it’s still early in the roll-out process.

“We are still collecting data, and the sample size is too small to gain any significant insights,” Pond told Army Times. “With over 40,000 Trainees graduating into Soldiers at Fort Jackson every year, we’ll need 6-9 months to really see the impact. And all the Battalions transition from familiarization to the test of record after January.”