Date

5-20-2026

Degree

Master of Science in Human Performance (MS)

Chair

Justin Kilian

Keywords

Army Fitness Test, AFT, 12 mile ruck, rucking, foot march, tactical, combat

Disciplines

Kinesiology

Abstract

The Army Fitness Test (AFT) consists of maximum deadlift, hand-release push-ups, sprint-drag-carry, plank, and a 2-mile run and is used by the United States Army to assess a soldier’s ability to meet occupational demands. The AFT is designed to ensure soldier readiness and maintain physical and mental well-being. In addition to the AFT, soldiers are often tasked with a loaded ruck march across various distances. Loaded ruck marches are a frequent occurrence in the Army as a mode of testing, training, and combat. Due to the AFT’s role in predicting soldier task performance, it would be valuable to identify any relationships between the AFT events and the ruck march. Data from 42 Army cadets (male: n = 32, female: n = 10) at Basic Officer Leader Course (BOLC) were analyzed. AFT raw event scores and total scaled score were collected as well as performance time in a loaded 12-mile ruck march (12MRM). Correlational analysis was collected for whole-group data to analyze AFT individual and total event scores in comparison to 12MRM times. Independent-samples t tests accounting for gender-related differences were calculated to compare performance among genders. The 2-mile run and hand-release push-ups had the strongest correlation to the 12MRM among the AFT events. The total scaled score was moderately correlated to the 12MRM. Male cadets outperformed female cadets in every event. A diverse training regimen while including aerobic endurance, muscular endurance, and upper body strength proves to be beneficial in cadet ruck march performance.

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