Army set to end easier fitness tests for women and older soldiers with exercises including 4km hikes with 40kg bags

Gender and age-neutral trials  will be introduced in 2019.

All combat soldiers will have to meet the same physical standards.

Under current guidelines, female and older soldiers were given fewer exercises or more time on marches.

Field Army Sergeant Major Gavin Paton said: “I don’t care if you are a man or a woman, I don’t care what you do, and the enemy doesn’t either.”

The new tests have been devised by the Army and the University of Chichester over the past three years.

They aim to put the body through the same fitness scenarios troops face on the battlefield.

Soldiers will have to do exercises that mimic real military tasks such as carrying casualties and equipment.

Speaking at the Army base in Aldershot, Hants, yesterday, Lance Corporal Nicola Cotton of the Scots Guards said the move was “really positive”.

She added: “People underestimate females in the British Army. I think it is about time we upped the ante and make it equal and not make allowances for gender or age.”

The new assessments will include soldiers having to march 4km (2.5 miles), carrying 40kg (88lb) of equipment in less than 40 minutes.

Another test will be lifting a 70kg (11st) weight and holding it for three seconds.


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