Emergency Episode! ACFT NDAA Confusion Explained

We have a quick bonus (emergency?) episode here to address the rampant confusion around some Congressional language that has taken the internet by storm the last couple days. On page 17 of the executive summary of the NDAA markup by the Senate Armed Services Committee, one particular sentence alarmed many of you:

"Restores the Army's Physical Fitness Test (APFT) as the test of record and requires a 24month pilot program, briefing to Congress, and a one year waiting period before a new standard can be implemented."

As this excerpt has made its rounds on the internet, many people clearly thought it was already official. That is far from reality. Nothing has changed, and it is important that we clear up the confusion here. This short episode will explain a bit of the context, plus a little big of bonus insight into Army fitness policy that you might not know about.

You can find the EXSUM that start all of this here.

You can find the House Subcommittee on Military Personnel markup, with its conflicting language, here.

You can find the contents of DA PAM 611-21 (in smartbook format) here.