Military Services Differ in How They Classify Recruits for Physically Demanding Jobs

DOD has left it to the services to determine how to classify servicemembers into physically demanding occupations. The Air Force is the only service that requires recruits to take a strength aptitude test. It required new recruits to take a strength test using the “incremental lifting machine,” a weight-lifting machine developed and used by the Air Force. The Services Have Little Data to Assess Capability to Perform Physically Demanding Tasks

Except for the Army, the services have not collected data on servicemembers’ ability to do physically demanding jobs and have little basis on which to conclude that servicemembers are not having problems. In the 1994-95 follow-on survey of 10 of 267 occupations, ARI found that 51 to 79 percent of servicemembers reported no difficulty in lifting objects in some of the same occupations as those looked at in the 1989 survey. Given the questions concerning the validity of the strength aptitude test and the implementation problems we found, we recommend that the Secretary of the Air Force reassess the use of the strength aptitude test as a means of predicting future performance in physically demanding occupations.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the use and development of gender-neutral occupational performance standards in the military services, focusing on how the services implement and evaluate standards.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) each service takes a different approach to screening members' physical fitness; (2) the Air Force is the only service that requires new recruits to take a strength aptitude test; (3) the Air Force uses the results to qualify individuals for their military occupations; (4) the services believe that their approaches to assigning members to physically demanding tasks are appropriate, because they receive few complaints from members about such tasks; (5) the services have little data to assess a member's capability to perform tasks; (6) the Army has systematically collected physical performance data since 1989; (7) the data show that at least 84 percent of the Army members had no problems in completing their tasks; (8) a 1994-1995 survey determined that 51 to 79 percent of members have no problem in completing physically demanding tasks; and (9) the validity of the Air Force's strength aptitude test is questionable because of concerns about the administration, accuracy, and relevance of the test's physical requirements.