AR 600-9 AROTC Height and Weight

NorwichDad said:
Here is an interesting article from Norwich University on AR 600-9 AROTC Height and Weight. No one is perfect just a good story of some students with their own personal struggles.

http://www.norwichguidon.com/campus...-army-weight-requirements-1.2837227?pagereq=1
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Any female athlete in a strength sport will require taping. I know my daughter requires it. I remember back when she was applying for the scholarship looking at the USA Hockey U19 National Womens Team roster and bios and seeing that the vast majority of them would require taping based upon their listed height (usually exaggerated, having met a few) and weight - and these are world class athletes.

And I've read a few articles that this issue with the scale and doing unhealthy things to make weight is big in the AD world as well.
 
I don't actually understand why body fat % is a big deal. We can all think of professional athletes that are probably 5-10 % body fat over the allowable limits in the Army that can run short distances, run long distances, carry weight, are agile, and any other physical requirement of an officer or soldier, and weight just isn't an issue. I don't know why but Charles Barkley, the basketball player, comes immediately to mind.

Since the Army requires combat readiness standards for endurance, quick burst, and the like, why would those objective standards of human performance (2 mile run, pushups, situps, etc.) trump an arbitrary figure like body fat %? If they want higher performance, then up the standards of performance. Why should the body fat % of a soldier or cadet who scores 90/90/90 in the objective test be told they aren't physically qualifying? It's not a body building contest, or a beauty contest.
 
I'm not army rotc, but I saw an explination for why the afrotc gives such strict weight guidlines so I searched for the army explination and it is pretty much the same.

Personal appearance policies

The Army is a uniformed service where discipline is judged, in part, by the manner in which a soldier wears a prescribed uniform, as well as by the individual's personal appearance. Therefore, a neat and well-groomed appearance by all soldiers is fundamental to the Army and contributes to building the pride and esprit essential to an effective military force. A vital ingredient of the Army's strength and military effectiveness is the pride and self-discipline that American soldiers bring to their Service through a conservative military image. It is the responsibility of commanders to ensure that military personnel under their command present a neat and soldierly appearance. Therefore, in the absence of specific procedures or guidelines, commanders must determine a soldier's compliance with standards in this regulation. Soldiers must take pride in their appearance at all times, in or out of uniform, on and off duty. Pride in appearance includes soldiers' physical fitness and adherence to acceptable weight standards, in accordance with AR 600-9 . ~http://www.apd.army.mil/jw2/xmldemo/r670_1/main.asp

So I guess it really is a beauty contest, at least in part:shake:
 
The height/weight issue is not just confined to those that are over the weight.

My younger son is 6'-4" when he applied for the scholarship he weighed 154lbs, yep, tall and skinny Cross Country runner. The minimum weight for that height was 156lbs. Luckily when he went to the school nurse to have his height/weight done for the scholarship they listed him at 6'-3", he just made the mark. Luckily as well, Dodmerb measured him at almost 6'-4"...they rounded down.

Over the summer he worked out, cut back on the road work and eat a lot of carbs. On the first APFT the battalion did the H/W test. They measured him at 6'-4" and 159lbs, the minimum weight for his height is 156lbs.

As the year has gone by he has been able to add some weight due to all the gym time so he is fine now, but in the beginning it was a bit of a concern.

I agree, the whole height weight thing can get a bit out of hand, son's last recorded APFT was 317, try and tell him he's not fit due to his weight.
 
Non Ducor Duco said:
I'm not army rotc, but I saw an explination for why the afrotc gives such strict weight guidlines so I searched for the army explination and it is pretty much the same.

Personal appearance policies

The Army is a uniformed service where discipline is judged, in part, by the manner in which a soldier wears a prescribed uniform, as well as by the individual's personal appearance. Therefore, a neat and well-groomed appearance by all soldiers is fundamental to the Army and contributes to building the pride and esprit essential to an effective military force. A vital ingredient of the Army's strength and military effectiveness is the pride and self-discipline that American soldiers bring to their Service through a conservative military image. It is the responsibility of commanders to ensure that military personnel under their command present a neat and soldierly appearance. Therefore, in the absence of specific procedures or guidelines, commanders must determine a soldier's compliance with standards in this regulation. Soldiers must take pride in their appearance at all times, in or out of uniform, on and off duty. Pride in appearance includes soldiers' physical fitness and adherence to acceptable weight standards, in accordance with AR 600-9 . ~http://www.apd.army.mil/jw2/xmldemo/r670_1/main.asp

So I guess it really is a beauty contest, at least in part:shake:
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The Coast Guard for years must have looked past this regulation, there was a reason they called it the "Chubby Cheif Program" whenever they did PT.

We took a short cruise on a Navy Ship a summer ago....I remember being amazed at how some of the sailors I saw could fit into their bunks.

With the services starting to look at ways to cut back I imagine there is a real jump in membership to Weight Watchers.
 
Jcleppe said:
The Coast Guard for years must have looked past this regulation, there was a reason they called it the "Chubby Cheif Program" whenever they did PT.

We took a short cruise on a Navy Ship a summer ago....I remember being amazed at how some of the sailors I saw could fit into their bunks.

With the services starting to look at ways to cut back I imagine there is a real jump in membership to Weight Watchers.
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Wow, there must be alot more people struggling to meet the standards on both the high and low end of the spectrum than I thought. My cousin, a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps, will work out for hours, then, having eaten nothing at all that day, run from his house to ours (8 miles) and challenge me to a sparing match. He will then eat 3 brownies, or whatever irresistible treat we have at the house that day, and complain that he's fat and we're making him that way. I always make fun of him for being so crazy about it. Thinking about it now, it might be possible that he is just trying to keep up with the standards, although, he has never mentioned having any problems with that before....then again it could just be due to the fact that he is incredibly vain (he has admitted it) and that marines are insane, magnificent and impressive specimens (Oorah!), but insane all the same:wink:.
 
ROTC Cadets that are varsity athletes can receive a waiver to the Army height weight standards. They will have to meet the standards prior to commissioning.
 
It's a tricky system, that's for sure. I've been taped on about half of my APFT's despite my PT score. It's not designed for built people. A good number of cadets in my BN (including myself) get taped even though nobody is close to being out of shape or fat. Eventually, if you know you're body won't allow you to get down to an unrealistic weight, you get used to taping.
 
dunninla said:
How does taping work anyway? What exactly is measured?
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For the tape test they tape your neck, and then they tape the smallest part of your waist, and the largest part of your butt.

The neck tape is the hardest based on how small your neck is. If you have a skinny neck and you are over the weight limit it can be a problem.
 
It's interesting how they do the height/weight on a different day than the PT test. We do ours directly after the PT test. We just line em up like cattle and run 'em through the scale :biggrin:.... Speaking of which... we have ours tomorrow. Better keep on hydrating :smile:
 
Interesting, Jcleppe, we don't do a butt taping. We tape necks and around your waist at the belly button usually. We also do neck exercises regularly to fix the skinny neck issue for people who get taped.
 
The butt taping is for females only. Males get taped in two spots.

AR 600-9 explains all of this.
 
scoutpilot said:
The butt taping is for females only. Males get taped in two spots.

AR 600-9 explains all of this.
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Your right of course, the person who asked and I answered has a daughter in AROTC.

I should have mentioned that, thanks.
 
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