What are the running standards for USMA?

G

Georgetp999

New Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2021
Messages
4
I've heard to meet company standards at USMA, you need to run two miles under 13 minutes. Now I'm a decent runner, my mile time is 6:11, but two miles in 13:00 seems like a very high standard even for the academy. Even if that is true, it wouldn't discourage me from going to WP.
 
Not true at USMA or any conventional Army unit. More specifically, the fitness culture of the Army is shifting with the Army Combat Fitness Test to a more holistic approach. In the words of MG Hibbard who is in charge of the ACFT rollout we have spent 40 years training like a cross country team and playing rugby.

ACFT still requires cardio though. 2 mile run which is easily passable but that comes after a 250m sprint%drag/carry which tends to smoke the legs.

For USMA focus on running a sub 14 minute 2 mile and maintain sub 8 minute pace for up to 5 miles and you will have no issues.
 
The company standards you might have heard were tied historically to how the APFT was graded at the Academy for computation into your GPA. I don’t remember what the scaling was exactly because it’s been a while, but the overall gist is that in the extended APFT scale, a 180 was a D grade wise and a 300 (max scoring in big Army) was a B+. You had to start scoring on the extended scale before you got into the A range. A 13:00 was a 100 in the run category for a 17-21 year old male on the APFT.

Each class year had a minimum physical GPA they were expected to achieve that progressively got raised as you were at the Academy to maintain your progressively better class privileges. A plebe was only required to pass while by the time you were a firstie, you were expected to be hitting more in the B range as a minimum. If you missed it, you were still in good overall academic standing to still graduate no problem, but depending on your TAC and company leadership, you might have started to see OPPs or pass privileges decrease.

All that to say, keep running and keep working. There is definitely a school of thought out there in the officer corps that officers are expected to max their PT test to set the example for their soldiers. Whether that’s APFT or moving into doing the best you can on the ACFT, working on physical conditioning to the point you don’t have to worry about keeping up with the pack means you can focus your attention to helping your soldiers struggling. Kinda hard to do that with legitimacy if you’re in the back
 
Georgetp999 said:
I've heard to meet company standards at USMA, you need to run two miles under 13 minutes. Now I'm a decent runner, my mile time is 6:11, but two miles in 13:00 seems like a very high standard even for the academy. Even if that is true, it wouldn't discourage me from going to WP.
Click to expand...
Did you hear that in a youtube video? I ask because I watched a "day-in-the-life" video where the plebe said his company had that standard. If not, well, never mind then. Anyways, that standard was independent to that company. My company, for example, has no such standard. To my knowledge, no company has any such standard. That being said, most people here don't run a 13 minute two mile. All I can say is do your best to improve your running. If you're really worried about your running, like I was, West Point has a lot of resources that can help! But honestly, just keep running.
 
JWP said:
Brings back memories! Always worked to make sure i could always keep up with younger soldiers ! Lol!
Click to expand...

Much easier to do when young! A bit harder for old Soldiers like myself. But, I gut my way through it pretty well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JWP
If you want to improve your two mile run train for sprints. Anything less than 3 miles is a long sprint. 200s, 400s, 800s, 1600s. Fartleks. Core weight training.
It’s been written here before, Google Stew Smith.
 
I just finishing a biography of Chesty Puller. He always led from the front and could out-hike almost everyone. He was in amazing shape and had tremendous stamina. But I don’t recall reading about any running he did in training or combat. I doubt he could tell you his two-mile time. You need to be very fit to lead an infantry unit, but I don’t think you have to be very fast. More important to be able to ruck on for many miles.
 
BeastBarracks2024USMA said:
Did you hear that in a youtube video? I ask because I watched a "day-in-the-life" video where the plebe said his company had that standard. If not, well, never mind then. Anyways, that standard was independent to that company. My company, for example, has no such standard. To my knowledge, no company has any such standard. That being said, most people here don't run a 13 minute two mile. All I can say is do your best to improve your running. If you're really worried about your running, like I was, West Point has a lot of resources that can help! But honestly, just keep running.
Click to expand...
Yes, that was the video where I heard that from.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top