Army Combat Field Test

The Combat Field Test was established by Army Directive 2026‑07 (Army Physical Fitness Standards), signed 17 April 2026. It is a separate test from the AFT with its own events, its own uniform and its own consequences, and the directive is explicit that it “is not a substitute for the AFT” (para 4a(5)).

It is pass or fail, with no points. No individual event is timed. The clock runs from the first event to the last, and the cumulative time decides the result (para 4a(2)). Every event must be completed before moving to the next — a soldier who cannot finish one is terminated from the test and recorded as a failure (para 4a(4)).

Performed in this order, in sequence, with no scored break between them (para 4a(3)). Everything after the first event is done tired, which is the point.

• a1‑mile run
• b30 dead‑stop pushups
• c100‑meter sprint
• d16 forty‑pound sandbag lifts onto a 65‑inch platform
• e50‑meter carry of two 5‑gallon army water cans, each weighing 40 pounds
• f50‑meter movement drill — a high crawl for 25 meters and a 25‑meter, 3–5 second rush
• gA second 1‑mile run

The standard lives in HQDA EXORD 103‑26, the execution order HQDA DCS G‑3/5/7 published on 22 April 2026, five days after the directive. Army Directive 2026‑07 deliberately does not carry a time — para 4a(2) says G‑3/5/7 will publish it — so the two documents have to be read together. Para 3.B.1 of the EXORD is the sentence that matters:

One number, for everybody. That is the part worth pausing on. Every other test on this site scales by age band and most scale by sex; the CFT does neither. A 19‑year‑old infantryman and a 44‑year‑old first sergeant in the same MOS are held to the same 30:00, because the sandbag and the water cans do not get lighter with age. It is an absolute standard by design, where the AFT is a relative one.

Enclosure 2 of the directive lists them. This is the whole list, as published — if your MOS or AOC is not on it, the CFT is not required of you.

• ActiveRegular Army, AGR, and RC soldiers on active‑duty orders for 365 days or more take one CFT and one AFT record test annually, with a minimum of 4 months between the two (paras 4a(1), 4a(6)).
• ReserveAll other RC soldiers in combat specialties take one test per calendar year, alternating — a record AFT one year, a record CFT the next — with a minimum of 8 months between record tests. An extra record AFT may be taken inside that window for promotion or schooling.

This is the part of the directive with teeth, and it is worth reading before the events list.

• PermanentA soldier in a combat specialty whose permanent profile prevents any primary AFT event is ineligible to take the CFT and is evaluated for MOS/AOC reclassification. Waiver authority sits with the GCMCA or the first general officer in the chain of command; denials can be appealed to the next higher commander. A soldier granted a waiver still owes the annual two‑AFT requirement (para 4a(7)).
• TemporaryTemporary profiles, including pregnancy and postpartum, follow the profile and the AFT guidance in FM 7‑22 until the soldier can take a CFT. Test and event modifications are not available to soldiers on profiles (AD para 4a(8)), and a soldier on a temporary profile will not take a record CFT (EXORD para 3.D.5.A).
• AlternatesThe EXORD draws the line more sharply than the directive does: to be eligible for the CFT at all, a soldier with an AFT‑limiting permanent profile must be able to take every AFT event without an alternate event (para 3.D.5.B). Needing an alternate aerobic event on the AFT is itself disqualifying, and leads to reclassification consideration.
• DiagnosticPhase I. Every soldier in a designated combat specialty must take a diagnostic CFT within six months of publication — October 2026 — and upload the scorecard into ATIS. No administrative action follows a failure in this phase (EXORD paras 3.B.3.A, 3.C.10.B).
• For recordPhase II. The CFT may be taken for record starting 17 April 2027 (EXORD para 3.B.3.B). From then a failure carries the consequences below.
• FailureFlag and enrolment in reconditioning, then a retest within 90 days (180 for RC soldiers not on AGR or 365‑day orders). Two consecutive failures — or an AFT‑limiting permanent profile with a denied waiver — expose an enlisted soldier to involuntary separation and an officer to elimination, if they refuse or cannot reclassify (para 4a(10)).

The directive does not only create the CFT. Paragraph 4b makes two changes to the Army Fitness Test, and states that where this policy conflicts with another regulation — including AR 350‑1 and AD 2025‑06 — this directive controls.

• ReportsAll evaluation reports now reflect both the pass/fail result and the actual points earned on the record AFT (para 4b(1)).
• New12D (Army Diver), 89D and 89E (EOD) are designated combat specialties, and soldiers in them must meet the AFT combat standard in AR 350‑1, paragraph C‑5 (para 4b(2)).

Nothing in the directive changes how the AFT itself is scored. A combat‑standard soldier is still scored on the sex‑neutral, age‑normed column — select Combat MOS on the AFT calculator, and the thresholds are laid out on the standards page.

The EXORD tasks several documents that a soldier will actually encounter, all within a month of publication. If your unit is working from an older copy of any of these, that is why.

• DA 705A new DA Form 705 was ordered for use with the CFT (para 3.C.9.C). The AFT scorecard does not carry a CFT.
• DoctrineFM 7‑22 and ATP 7‑22.01/.02 are being revised to reflect the CFT (para 3.C.9.B).
• Army siteCFT content lives at army.mil/cft (para 3.C.4.D) — the Army's own microsite for the test, separate from army.mil/aft.
• SystemsIPPS‑A and ATIS are being updated to record CFT results (paras 3.C.2.B, 3.C.9.D). Diagnostic scorecards go into ATIS now.