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 The Marine Corps announced in November that, starting on Jan.
1, 2014, all women would need to perform three pull-ups as part of
their physical fitness test — something male recruits are already
required to do as a minimum. To collect data on potential success,
female recruits in 2013 were given the option to do pull-ups during
the test.
However, about 55 percent of female recruits in training at Parris
Island, South Carolina, were unable to meet the challenge, said Col.
Sean Gibson, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Combat Development
Command.
The Marines have "no intent to introduce a standard that would
negatively affect the current status of female Marines or their
ability to continue serving in the Marine Corps," Gibson said in a
statement.
Currently, women are required to do a flexed arm hang as a test of
strength and endurance. But as the Corps begins to open a number of
combat positions to women, officials are concerned that test will
not prepare them adequately for military tasks, Gibson said.
The Marines are not alone. The Army has also struggled with the
physical fitness issues of its recruits. Major General Allen
Batschelet, head of U.S. Army Recruiting, told officials gathered in
San Antonio on Saturday for the Army All-American Bowl football
game, a major recruiting event, that three quarters of young people
in the United States would not make it into the Army because of
factors such as obesity or drug use.
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"The latest statistics we have are that 77.5 percent of people
between the ages of 17 and 24 are disqualified from service for one
reason or another," said Batschelet.
He listed reasons for disqualification as physical, cognitive and
moral, which can often mean drug use, but said a large number were
turned down for failing to meet the Army's physical fitness
standards.
"Somewhere between 35 and 40 percent of young Americans are
disqualified physically," he said. "The trends indicate that here in
the next 15 years or so, that number could climb as high as 50
percent."
(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts, with additional reporting by Jim
Forsyth in San Antonio; editing by Edith Honan and Gunna Dickson)
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