For another two decades, a motley assortment of fitness evaluations and standards proliferated throughout the Army. At various points in time there were specialty tests for combat and support forces, as well as indoor and outdoor exams. Women, who still served separately in the Women’s Army Corps, didn’t have a fitness requirement, but could “self test,” while soldiers over 40 didn’t test at all. Running wasn’t held in high esteem — until a mile-long run was added in 1959 most soldiers didn’t sprint more than 300 yards in a test, and even then, running in place was an acceptable variation on some versions — and women did push-ups on their knees.

When the current Army physical-fitness test was introduced in 1980, unifying the service under a single mandatory examination, it replaced no fewer than seven specialized physical-fitness assessments. Its creation was in part a reaction to radical social shifts: In 1978, Congress dissolved the Women’s Army Corps and integrated women into noncombat units in the regular Army. The test became the Army’s first physical-fitness assessment with scoring adjusted for gender as well as age.

Commanders were warned not to allow the test to completely dictate their training regimens. It was designed to reflect the baseline conditioning a soldier needed to begin tactical training, not to be a total fitness program. But the Army steadily increased the minimum and maximum scores, tying promotions to high scores and prescribing involuntary discharges for repeat failures. Tactical training, like road marches and obstacle courses, slipped as graded events took priority. Leaders gave their soldiers every opportunity to succeed in their careers, even if it hurt combat readiness.

By 1985, soldiers didn’t even have to wear their field fatigues and combat boots to their fitness tests — a standard that had been in place since the Cold War-era test in 1959. This was largely in response to America’s jogging craze. In 1974, Nike began selling its groundbreaking Waffle Trainer, which opened up running to new body types and popularized running as a fitness activity for everyone. American soldiers clamored to take advantage of the new “go fasters,” which were hyped with claims that they prevented injuries and lowered running times by minutes. The move to sneakers and shorts melded well with the tracksuit era, but it further distanced the test from the battlefield. Multiple iterations of “physical-fitness uniforms,” standardized exercise attire, rolled out across the Army starting in 1986, when the garish yellow “banana” jogging suit was added to the uniform regulations. By 1998, testing in “boots and utes” was no longer allowed. The measure of a soldier became less about their participation on a functional team and more about running two miles in 16 minutes.