U.S. Marines WEAKEN fitness requirement for women, won't make them do three pull-ups

Just three out of 15 female recruits managed to graduate from the Marine Corps' infantry training program in November

55 per cent of women – including active Marines – can't do three pull-ups, while just 1 per cent of men fail the exam



The new standard was ordered by the service's commandants in late 2012

Now the Marines say they're scrapping the requirement for now, allowing women to pass their physical fitness tests without the new challenge

Existing standards allow female Marines and recruits to pass muster by hanging for 70 seconds from a pull-up bar with bent elbows

May women in the Corps insist they're meeting the new minimum requirement

Female Marines will be eligible for full war-zone combat duty in 2016



The U.S. Marine Corps has quietly walked back a 2012 directive from the service's highest-ranking officer that would have rejected female recruits and officer candidates who can't perform three chin-ups as part of their physical fitness training.

The reason – 55 per cent of the women attempting the test are failing. Just one per cent of men can't complete the exercise.

'Women aren’t able to make the minimum standard of three pull-ups,' Marine spokesman Capt. Eric Flanagan told reporters on Friday.

The startling admission, and the military's course-correction, came after just three out of 15 females successfully graduated from the Marine Corps' enlisted infantry training course in November.

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More than half of the female Marines and Marine recruits tested during 2013 couldn't complete three pull-ups, forcing the Corps to re-evaluate its commitment to gender-neutral physical fitness standards

Gender equality: Politics has played a role in the modernization of the U.S. military, including putting females in combat roles that have always been closed to them -- a change that requires women to meet the same exacting physical standards as men Females can serve in most Marine units -- combat eligibility will come in 2016 -- but even existing Marines could be discharged from the service if they failed the new pull-up standards in their annual fitness tests

The new rule, set to go into effect on January 1, would have changed the previous requirement – in place for more than a decade – that requires female Marines to execute a 'flexed arm hang', holding on to a pull-up bar with their elbows bent for 70 seconds.

2013 was to be a 'phase one' transitional year, according to a November 2012 directive from Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Amos, with females having a choice of which test to attempt.

'Phase two will commence on 1 January 2014,' Amos had ordered. 'Pull-ups will replace the FAH [flexed arm hang] portion of the PFT [physical fitness test] ... To pass the pull-up portion of this event, females will be required to execute at least three (3) pull-ups.'

Now, with a 180-degree pivot in the face of widespread failures, Marine commanders' early predictions that the change was a no-brainer seem more optimistic than realistic.

In November 2012, Major General Bob Butcher told KGTV-10 in San Diego that women 'are getting closer and closer to combat, and they need to be in top physical condition as well.'



General James Amos, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, ordered the tougher fitness standards for females in December 2012, but his January 1, 2014 deadline for implementation won't be met after just three women graduated from infantry training nearly a year later

'We decided to execute because there is no reason why we shouldn’t do this,' Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills told a reporter for the corps' website a year ago.

'Women are fully capable of accomplishing it. It's more recognition of the changing role of women, the changing capabilities and the changing demands that we place on them.'

Mills said then that the Marines would initially set the bar at eight pull-ups for a perfect score, or three for the minimum passing grade, 'and then we will raise or lower that after we see how our female Marines do in the year.'

They didn't do so well, according to a report from National Public Radio.

As the U.S. armed forces integrate women into combat roles, some fear putting them in harm's way without preparing them for the rigors of active fighting. Female Marines will be eligible to participate in combat-ready forward units in 2016.



Marine officers declined to speak with NPR on the record, but conceded the pull-up requirement was being put off because it would cost them both new recruits and active Marines.

Females can serve in most Marine units but, just like their male counterparts, they can be discharged from the service if they fail an annual physical fitness tests.

The change was to take place in two phases, including giving females the choice through 2013 of sticking with the old standard, which required them to hold on to a bar with their elbows flexed for 70 seconds

Robert Maginnis, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, told NPR that 'young women, in spite of all the training and all the best intentions, are not going to be the equal of young men in terms of upper body strength.'

His new book, 'Deadly Consequences: How Cowards are Pushing Women into Combat,' argues that Pentagon gender politics are sacrificing combat readiness on the altar of political correctness.

Other experts, female Marines among them, insist that women can meet the new standard if they spend enough time in the gym. And 45 per cent of them are making the grade.



'Females need to realize we all have to start somewhere, and we have more than enough time to prepare for this,' Corporal Ada Canizaleztejada told Marines.mil in December 2012.

'About a year ago, I was only doing two pull-ups. I began weightlifting and targeting specific muscles beneficial for doing pull-ups, and now I can do nine.'

Corporal Michelle Brinn told a defense website a few weeks earlier that she reached the goal after a half-year of intense workouts.

Lance Corporal Ally Beiswanger insisted that she can do eight pull-ups now, a year after being unable to complete just one

Hitting the gym: Nearly half of female Marines are meeting the new standard, but the Corps now says that's not enough -- and is scrapping it for 2014

'Six months ago, I couldn’t do one pull-up, my triceps were non-existent, and my biceps were about as hard as a pillow-top mattress,' Brinn confessed.

But 'a month into my new workout regimen I was able to perform three proper pull-ups and have since worked my way up to 12,' she said.

Lance Corporal Ally Beiswanger, who co-hosts the official 'Corps Report TV' program on YouTube, said in a November 2013 broadcast that 'last year, I could barely do one pull-up, and now I'm up to eight. 'So I'm taking advantage of the extra time to complete my goal of 12.'

