Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or EOD, technicians will take a new gender- and age-neutral fitness test starting next month, the service has announced, with a medicine ball toss, a powerlift and a dynamic drill with 80-lbs of weight known as the Gruseter.
To qualify for their jobs, EOD troops undergo one of the most rigorous training pipelines in the Air Force, but have long been held only to Air Force-wide physical fitness standards, which are less difficult and account for gender. The new, more difficult Explosive Ordnance Disposal Occupationally Specific Physical Fitness Assessment, or EOD OSPFA, will demand the same passing scores for men and women.
Women make up about 3% of the Air Force EOD career field, said Air Force spokesperson Laurel Falls.
“The assessment was developed using performance data from both EOD and non-EOD airmen,” Falls told Task & Purpose in an email. “The four exercises comprising the EOD OSPFA directly correlate to these (Physical Training SSSS) and an individual’s ability to perform them. All EOD Airmen, regardless of sex and age, will be assessed using the same standards.”
All enlisted airmen and officers in the EOD career field will take the new annual test that involves four events instead of the standard Air Force Physical Fitness Test. The Air Force has been working on the new fitness test for EOD techs since 2015.
The new fitness test for EOD airmen will include four events: A 1,000-meter row; 20-pound medicine ball toss, trap bar lift, and Gruseter drop-roll-lift-run maneuver, in which airmen wear a 30-pound vest, roll over while carrying a 50-pound sandbag, and then run 15 meters with the sandbag a total of five times.
A July 11 Air Force news release announced that the EOD community had been added to the list of combat arms fields that require “special sex- and age-neutral fitness standards.” As of Monday, the Air Force was working to fix an error with the link to the news release. However, Task & Purpose confirmed with the Air Force that the guidance still stands.
“Since 2015, EOD leadership has been developing a new fitness standard recognizing the career field’s uniquely demanding physical requirements,” Falls said. “EOD technicians require sustained endurance to handle long hours in physically and mentally taxing conditions.”
Over the last year, airmen in the EOD community took an unofficial version of the fitness test, the news release says. After July 31, results will become part of their official record.
“While EOD operations have always met overall combat arms standards and placed inherently high physical demands on EOD technicians — a fact underscored by the Global War on Terror — EOD airmen were historically held to the same physical fitness standards as the rest of the Air Force,” Falls said. “This meant that even EOD airmen who passed the Air Force Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA) sometimes struggled with the most physically demanding EOD missions.”
As for the new test, the specific events are designed to simulate tasks EOD technicians will likely engage in while involved in active military operations. One core task of EOD techs is to neutralize improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, while wearing bomb disposal suits, which are bulky, hot and can weigh about 50 pounds.
The test’s 1,000-meter row is intended to gauge cardiovascular fitness.
The medicine ball toss is meant to evaluate functional strength for EOD techs who could face tasks like climbing ladders and evacuating casualties.
For the trap bar lift, EOD airmen will have to do five repetitions ranging from 150 to 360 pounds.
The Gruseter drop-roll-lift-run maneuver is meant to simulate small unit operations and moving quickly while carrying heavy equipment in high-stress situations.
The Defense Department first allowed women to serve in ground combat jobs in 2015, when standards for most gr. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a March 30 memo ordering the military services to develop “sex neutral” physical standards for service members in jobs that involve directly participating in combat.
Officers and enlisted troops in the Air Force’s special warfare jobs — Combat Control, Pararescue, Special Reconnaissance, and Tactical Air Control Party — have had gender- and age-neutral standards since 2015, Falls said. “The Special Warfare and EOD communities remain separate, Falls said.
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