Failed PFA

Tb637

5-Year Member
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Apr 15, 2014
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12
Terrible news from AFROTC son in engineering-missed 2nd PFA by 3 sits ups. He has Type 7 and not sure what happens next. He was only told to wait for email and sched appt. Does this mean his scholarship is lost? After 2 failed how will this be viewed? A worried mom needs some help here.
 
I am sorry for what you are experiencing. He cannot contract until he pass the PFA, so as of right now he is not considered contracted. I am not sure what they will do. They may give him another one or place him on probation. That means if they place him on probation he will not be able to contract until fall semester 2015.

He needs to get the. PFT down for a couple of reasons.
1. The PFT score will be used for SFT selection as a 200. It is worth 15 or 20% of their score. Avg scores are in the very high 90s
2.. They will also be given a PFT at Maxwell. That will become part of their ranking out of SFT. When they go up for their AFSC the PFT score will be again part of the score and their SFT rank will also be part of their score.
~ Doing the PFT in 98 degrees with 90% humidity is not fun.

In other words every semester starting as a 200 that PFT is going to impact something.
 
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Our DS was at Maxwell the year they had 100+ degree days for two weeks straight. It wasn't fun for them.
 
Hot and cold are one thing. Try running at elevation.... All of these schools have ROTC units. I feel for these kids. It is good training though. These elevations and the temperature swings they experience are very close to those found in Afghanistan and other high desert locations.

USAFA, Colorado Springs, CO (elev. 7,300 feet)
University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo. (elev. 7,165 feet):
Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo. (elev. 5,675 feet):
University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo. (elev. 5,430 feet):
University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M. (elev. 5,312 feet):
University of Nevada, Reno in Reno, Nev. (elev. 4,505 feet):

:stretcher:
 
I am not sure why but they are giving him 2 1/2 weeks to nail the sit ups. I think he realizes how important this is now. It will be great stress relief during finals to do more workouts. Thanks all for the advice
 
That is great news.... if he has an android phone here is an app he can use:


Sit Ups

Rittr Labs
- July 15, 2011

Health & Fitness

I'm sure Crapple has one too.

Best of luck...
 
I am sure you feel semi relieved. We all understand here as parents how stressful it is to feel helpless.

I would think that they gave him two more weeks because I believe the official close date for passing is in Dec. They probably wanted to illustrate to him that this is a very serious matter.
My DS commissioned in 2012 and he still does an annual PFT. This is not going to end for as long as he is ADAF. Bullet was ADAF for 21 years and he had to take the PFT yearly....except for when the AF did the stupid bicycle test!

As I stated earlier this portion of ROTC is going to impact him over and over again. It also can have an indirect impact. For SFT and AFSC the CoC will rack and stack the cadets, it is worth 50% of the score. He now needs to hit everything out of the ball park so he stacks at least at the top 1 /3 of the unit.
~ IOWS when he gets home for Xmas break he needs to work out because come January when he returns they will do another PFT for the unit. I would assume they are going to be looking at him very closely to see if he slipped again.
~~~ Every cadet takes the PFT at the beginning of every semester. Only contracted must pass to activate the scholarship.

~~ Our DS always worked out over the winter break and during the summer he would work out for 3 weeks prior to returning. I think his lowest PFT was 98. He's not a runner so he would get hit there. Did the 1 1/2 mile run @10 mins. The max is under 9.

Sheriff,

Yes the altitude is an issue. I have been told by many that have some sort of insight connection to the AFA they really place a strong look at their CFA because they know the altitude will take time to adjust to, but it will be held shortly after I Day.
~ The other SAs don't have that issue.

I also agree heat and humidity are one thing, but when you are from Maine and have to go somewhere like Maxwell in an abnormally hot summer, it does impact scores.
~ Our DS ran every afternoon and the height of the heat so he could acclimate to the heat since we were from VA. If it was about to rain he was running for the humidity aspect.

Every year when we post congrats, we always say keep training. The problem with the PFA for a scholarship is a coach can administer the test, but they are not as harsh on the form as they are in ROTC. Many think they maxxed it on the PFA, thus no biggie at ROTC, but many maxxed because they did not do the rcorrect form.

Tb637,
Just realize he is not the only one that this has occurred to, it is common. It is up to him now to prove with the next PFT and the one given in January that the lesson was learned.

AFROTC scholarship is what I call 2 + 2 . he has to get selected for SFT to commission. Next fall they will be reviewing, racking and stacking for selection. SFT board will meet for him @ Feb. 2016. 15 months from now.

I would also contact the bursar to see where they stand on the scholarship being paid out. Plus, don't expect them to backpay the stipend for the fall.
~ It is a loophole that they use sometimes. He is not contracted, thus will not pay Sept, Oct and Nov.
~~ Bursar and books are different because he contracted in the semester.

Have him also keep tabs on deposits, once he contracts. He should get maybe half of the Dec. stipend, but it could now take months because if they don't process it before school ends for fall semester, it might not get approved until he returns for Spring and even than it could take another month. Hence, if he takes it during finals week, and they don't process it until Jan. 10th, it would miss the mid Jan. pay and could show up in Feb.
 
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Tb637,
Just realize he is not the only one that this has occurred to, it is common. It is up to him now to prove with the next PFT and the one given in January that the lesson was learned.

+1 to Pima. Make sure he keeps working out over Christmas break so he can nail it again when he gets back to school in January. Don't let him be THAT guy! :wink:

EDIT: And thank goodness for the reprieve!!!
 
Our DS was at Maxwell the year they had 100+ degree days for two weeks straight. It wasn't fun for them.

What Undflyboy was saying is that the PFA at FT is always taken at 4am so heat is not something to worry about for that small section at least. Unless your DS's class started several hours late, it was probably damp and freezing when he took his too. It still sucks because your nervous and have been working out hard in the few days before the test so you won't be as fresh as you normally would if you were taking the PFA at your det.

They both bring up good points. If he's right on the borderline now and doesn't continue to improve, he's going to have a hell of a time at FT. Cadets fail the initial PFA every year. What passed as 50 pushups with a fellow cadet spotting you may not pass at FT with FTOs and CTAs sharking around. Knew a girl who got 9 pushups on her field training PFA. Never failed it before in her life. Her spotter got to 22 before an FTO who had been watching said that none of them had counted and told her to start from 1. Thankfully she passed the makeup. You only get a day before you have to take the makeup. You still have to PT during that time, though you may or may not be exempt from certain exercises, so you'll go into the makeup just as tired as you were the first time. Better to not have to take the make up.

Guaranteed, someone who just passes the PFA every time is going to have a hard time at FT. Alabama is hot and humid as hell, it was even hot when it rained. Learning to perform well in the hot and cold is important. Don't want to get an EA only to be sent back home because you couldn't get those few extra situps in.
 
What Undflyboy was saying is that the PFA at FT is always taken at 4am so heat is not something to worry about for that small section at least. Unless your DS's class started several hours late, it was probably damp and freezing when he took his too. It still sucks because your nervous and have been working out hard in the few days before the test so you won't be as fresh as you normally would if you were taking the PFA at your det.

They both bring up good points. If he's right on the borderline now and doesn't continue to improve, he's going to have a hell of a time at FT. Cadets fail the initial PFA every year. What passed as 50 pushups with a fellow cadet spotting you may not pass at FT with FTOs and CTAs sharking around. Knew a girl who got 9 pushups on her field training PFA. Never failed it before in her life. Her spotter got to 22 before an FTO who had been watching said that none of them had counted and told her to start from 1. Thankfully she passed the makeup. You only get a day before you have to take the makeup. You still have to PT during that time, though you may or may not be exempt from certain exercises, so you'll go into the makeup just as tired as you were the first time. Better to not have to take the make up.

Guaranteed, someone who just passes the PFA every time is going to have a hard time at FT. Alabama is hot and humid as hell, it was even hot when it rained. Learning to perform well in the hot and cold is important. Don't want to get an EA only to be sent back home because you couldn't get those few extra situps in.

+1 to this!

The PFA is definitely a lot harder than you think at FT. You're just so exhausted and in humid Alabama at 4 am. Luckily, I think sit-ups are probably the easiest part of the PFA to improve on easily. Lots of times detachment PT is not focused on core strength so make sure he works out by himself or with a friend to make sure he has his form right (maybe have him ask a 200 to help?). Aim for being able to do 1 situp a second, to have 60 in a minute. It's a lot about speed and figuring out how to reverse the momentum of going down so you bounce back up. I'm sure with some practice, he'll be passing in no time!
 
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