Each branch of the military service performs specific and specialized functions in promoting peace and protecting the populace in war. In response to the increasing entry of women into the Armed Forces during the late 1970s, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) in 1976 recommended that the DoD develop physical standards for job performance based on the Department of Labor system of classification. Consequently, each service defined its critical occupational specialties according to a variety of criteria, including upper body strength (light = occasionally lift 20 lb [9 kg], frequently lift 10 lb [5 kg]; medium = occasionally lift 50 lb [23 kg], frequently lift 25 lb [11 kg]; moderately heavy = occasionally lift 80 lb [36 kg], frequently lift 40 lb [18 kg]; heavy = occasionally lift 100 lb [45 kg], frequently lift 50 lb [23 kg]; and very heavy = occasionally lift 100 lb [45 kg], frequently lift in excess of 50 lb [23 kg]; see Table 3-2) and the physical profile serial designated as P-U-L-H-E-S (physical capacity or stamina, use of upper and lower extremities, hearing acuity, normal color vision, and special psychiatric characteristics). Acceptance into and continued participation in these occupational specialties depends on maintenance of a fitness level adequate to perform the tasks described for the MOS.

Attempts to institute job-specific performance tests in the military date back to the Army Air Corps Aviation Psychology Program during World War II (Hogan, 1991). In the 1970s, as MOSs opened to women, the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) was tasked with developing a battery of performance tests to match the various MOSs, but these tests were never applied. In 1981, the Army Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel formed a Women in the Army Policy Review Group, and the Exercise Physiology Division at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine was again given responsibility for developing and validating a gender-neutral military entrance physical strength capacity test (MEPSCAT). The incremental dynamic lift proved to be the best predictor of performance on a series of job-related (simulated) criterion performance tasks (CPTs) and was selected for implementation pending validation studies. The study that subsequently validated the incremental dynamic lift (Myers et al., 1984) has been criticized, however, for misanalyzing the data and showing a higher correlation between incremental dynamic lift and simulated task performance on the criterion performance tasks than actually exists (GAO, 1996).

In 1993, legislation was passed that permitted women to fill all MOSs that did not involve direct combat and opened many more billets to women. The number of women in each service currently participating in each MOS category is listed in Table 3-2. As a result of this legislation, the GAO was asked to re-examine the question of job-specific performance testing. Each branch of the military performs fitness testing independently, and the Air Force is the only branch that requires new recruits to take a strength test for MOS assignment (the incremental dynamic lift). Although few data have been collected by any of the branches regarding assessment of task performance capability, since 1989 the Army has collected such data for a select number of MOSs. These data show that fewer than 15 percent of women in heavy-lifting MOSs were strength-qualified for their jobs by the end of advanced individual training. This suggests either that they would be unable to perform parts of their jobs, that the jobs were misclassified, or that task adaptation would prevent their inability to lift the required weight from interfering with their performance (Teves et al., 1985). Few Army personnel reveal trouble completing their tasks. In