Should Career-Ending Decisions Be Made on PT Alone?
- Kirk Carlson
- Jun 14
- 3 min read
By Kirk Carlson | USMC Veteran | Founder, Covenant of Courage
In the U.S. military, few things are more defining than the physical fitness test (PT). It’s the gateway to promotions, deployments, and continued service. But what happens when that test — a single snapshot in time — becomes the deciding factor in whether a service member’s entire career is terminated?
As the military faces recruitment shortages, retention crises, and increased public scrutiny over its personnel policies, we must ask a difficult but necessary question:
Should a career-ending decision ever be made on PT alone?
🎯 The Role of PT in Military Culture
Physical fitness is critical in any combat-ready force. PT tests exist for a reason — to ensure the safety, readiness, and operational capability of the individual and the unit. But PT is also a performance metric, not a full reflection of a service member’s skill, leadership, or value.
In reality:
Troops serve in thousands of non-combat, mission-critical roles
Many commands rely more on technical proficiency, logistics, training, and administrative competence
Numerous combat veterans return with injuries, limitations, or PTSD, yet continue to serve with distinction in support capacities
So why is failure to meet PT standards — even temporarily or post-injury — still being used to force out otherwise capable, experienced, and committed service members?
📉 PT-Only Discharges: A Systemic Problem
Today, service members recovering from injury or experiencing a decline in physical performance may be discharged for not meeting PT standards without consideration of alternate service paths.
This is especially true for:
Troops injured in training, not combat
Those who are non-deployable due to a medical profile
Service members recovering from surgeries or long-term rehab
In many cases, no reassignment options are offered — despite the military having countless non-physical career fields in need of experienced personnel.
This is not just a loss of a job. It’s a loss of purpose, identity, and livelihood.
⚖️ ADA vs. DoD: A Legal Double Standard
In the civilian world, an employee who becomes physically limited has legal protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Employers are required to explore:
Reasonable accommodations
Modified job duties
Reassignment to a vacant position
The military, however, is largely exempt from these requirements. This creates a troubling paradox:
A civilian firefighter injured on the job may be reassigned to training or public safety education.
A military firefighter with the same injury may be discharged — career over.
🧠 What We Lose
By using PT as a blunt instrument for discharge, the military is:
Losing experienced, trained personnel it can’t afford to replace
Sending the wrong message to recruits and current service members: “You’re only as valuable as your last run time”
Ignoring potential in leadership, intelligence, cyber, logistics, and support fields
Undermining morale, especially for those struggling to recover from injury
🛠 A Smarter Way Forward
The answer is not to eliminate fitness standards. The answer is to apply them wisely, and contextually. We must:
Establish clear reassignment pathways for those who cannot meet PT due to medical reasons
Encourage a multi-factor evaluation that includes leadership, MOS capability, and past performance
Align DoD policy with the spirit of the ADA where feasible
Invest in retention alternatives, not just discharges
💡 Enter the #ReasonableRanks Campaign
The #ReasonableRanks campaign, led by Covenant of Courage, is pushing to fix this exact issue. We believe injured and non-deployable troops should have a right to reassignment, not a fast-track to discharge — especially when PT failure is due to service-connected conditions.
Every career deserves more than a stopwatch and a pushup count. It deserves a fair review. It deserves dignity.
📢 Join the Movement
✅ Sign the petition: https://chng.it/5yXYvkBtMR
🌐 Learn more: www.ReasonableRanks.org
PT should test your body — not decide your fate.
Let’s bring reason back to readiness. Let’s protect those who still have more to give.
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