Differences between U.S. Army Trainees and Active Duty Soldiers in Performing Physically Demanding Occupational Tasks

Abstract

The training implemented during initial entry training (IET) for combat arms trainees (up to 16 weeks) is designed to sufficiently optimize performance of physically demanding occupational tasks. Trainees must be physically capable of performing the tasks within their jobs to the minimal acceptable performance standard, as delineated by U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. PURPOSE: To compare U.S. Army trainees to active duty soldiers performing physically demanding occupational tasks. METHODS: 192 U.S. Army male combat arms trainees (TRs) at the end of their IET and 369 active duty male combat arms soldiers (ADs) both performed the sandbag carry (SBC), casualty drag (CD) and move under direct fire (MUF) tasks. During the SBC, subjects wore personal protective equipment (PPE; ~32 kg) while lifting and carrying 16 pre-filled 18-kg sandbags a distance of 10m to build a fighting position (4 long x 2 wide x 2 high) as fast as possible (min). For the CD, subjects wore PPE and a weapon while dragging a 123-kg simulated casualty 15m as fast as possible (60-sec time limit). Time was recorded and later calculated as velocity (m·s-1). During MUF subjects wore PPE and a weapon to perform a series of combat rushes covering 100m as fast as possible (min). The MUF course cycled between one prone and two kneeling positions, each 6.6 m apart. Univariate ANCOVA (height and body mass as covariates) were used to compare differences in performances on the three tasks between TRs and ADs. RESULTS: 94% of TRs and 99% of ADs performed the three tasks to the minimal acceptable performance standards. ADs performed significantly faster than TRs on SBC (AD: 1.73 ± 0.29 min, TR: 2.09 ± 0.46 min; p<0.01) and CD (AD: 1.14 ± 0.28 m·s-1, TR: 0.80 ± 0.30 m·s-1; p<0.01) with no differences in MUF performance (AD: 2.24 ± 0.15 min, TR: 2.27 ± 0.22 min; p=0.09). CONCLUSIONS: Although majority of the TRs met the minimal acceptable performance standards on the three tasks, ADs performed the SBC and CD faster. This could be due to ADs having more experience performing the tasks. While further training occurs at TRs first duty station, TRs may benefit from additional occupational task training during IET. The views expressed in this abstract are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.