For quite some time now, one of the standard requirements to stay in the United States Navy has been the annual ritual of having to pass a basic physical fitness test. These exercises typically include the activities you would likely expect,  including running, hiking, calisthenics, and keeping your weight under control. Failing such a test can be a factor in your removal from the service. But the navy has been having trouble meeting its recruiting goals (like the other branches of the service), so physical fitness assessment failures will now be scrubbed from sailors’ records according to a new policy announced this week. Is this really a good idea? (Navy Times)

Sailors with a physical fitness assessment failure on their record will receive a clean slate that will allow them to remain in the service, under a new Navy policy unveiled Thursday.

The shift is part of a Navy-wide campaign aimed at improving accessions, retention and attrition so the service can hit its end-strength goals for 2023, according to Rear Adm. James Waters III, director of military personnel, plans and policy.

“This is connected because it clearly affects attrition, right? It will reduce attrition if we do not separate sailors based on past PFA failures,” Waters told reporters Wednesday.

The navy’s current recruiting slogan is “Forged by the Sea.” (Back when I enlisted, it was, “It’s not just a job. It’s an adventure.”) Most military service generally tends to keep the troops in fairly good shape by default. There aren’t all that many exclusive “in-office” jobs that would allow you to really fall out of shape because you tend to be moving around quite a bit.

This is being described as a “one-time reset” of the sailors’ service records. Presumably, they will need to pass additional assessments in the future. The announcement also seemed to be using the pandemic as an excuse for some members who failed their physical fitness assessments. (We don’t want to fault our sailors because the gym was closed during COVID.)

With that in mind, perhaps this isn’t such a big deal. But at the same time, the optics aren’t very good. After all, our military is America’s fighting force. And you’re not going to be all that ready for battle if you’re puffing along with a pot gut and sagging muscles. I also find myself wondering if this decision was based strictly on maximizing retention in the face of declining enlistment rates or if there is some element of wokeness involved, such as a fear of “fat shaming” our sailors.

Speaking of woke policies, there was another announcement made on Thursday that affects all branches of America’s military, not just the Navy. Service members will now be reimbursed for travel expenses and be given up to three weeks off with pay if they need to go to a different state to get an abortion. In fairness to both sides of the debate, the same benefits will be offered to sailors traveling out of state for IVF or other infertility or pregnancy services. (Military Times)

The Defense Department dropped a trio of new policies Thursday aimed at closing some of the gaps that the overturn of Roe v. Wade opened up in service members’ ability to access reproductive health care.

They include fully paid travel expenses for troops who have to go out of state to obtain an abortion and up to three weeks of leave, including to accompany a dependent or spouse, whether it’s for an abortion or a fertility treatment. The new regulations also give service members until 20 weeks to notify commanders of a pregnancy.

Today’s Navy looks a lot different than I remember it, at least in some ways. Back in the seventies, sailors really had to stay on their toes out of fear of being involuntarily discharged if they screwed up. Today it feels like the military is bending over backward simply to keep anyone they manage to enlist. We’ll close with the latest “Forged by the Sea” recruiting video. Enjoy.