A Review of the Air Force Fitness Assessment

Military readiness requires service members to be mentally and physically fit to perform mission- and job-related duties in a wide variety of environments. To determine whether U.S. Air Force (AF) personnel are maintaining physical fitness, a fitness assessment (FA) is administered to all airmen. The AF's Force Management Policy Directorate (AF/A1P) requested an evaluation of the relevance and comprehensiveness of FA components to ensure readiness, support the National Defense Strategy, and promote a culture of health and well-being across the AF. This report provides an overview of research relevant to the FA components, identifies potential gaps, and offers recommendations for improvement. This report describes work that should be of interest to military policymakers and researchers involved in setting and evaluating military physical fitness standards.