Published May 27, 2026, 3:25 PM EDT
The CFT is not only a fitness assessment of events but also a readiness tool designed to support the physical demands of combat.
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Published May 27, 2026, 3:25 PM EDT
The Army’s new 2026 Combat Field Test is built around one central idea: Physical fitness should reflect the real world of the job of a soldier. Unlike a traditional fitness test that isolates events and emphasizes rest between efforts, the CFT is a continuous, seven-event test performed under fatigue and scored on total time. That design makes it especially relevant to a unit’s Mission Essential Task List (METL) because soldiers in combat situations must be able to run, lift, carry, crawl and move explosively in rapid succession while still maintaining performance. The CFT is not designed to be just another military fitness test. Instead, it is a practical readiness assessment aligned with battlefield tasks and combat endurance.
