MARINES UNSURE WHETHER WOMEN WILL BE REQUIRED TO DO PULL-UPS

Marine Corps officials are still not sure if women will be required to perform pull-ups under new service-wide fitness standards. Even so, a strongly worded message from the commandant encourages Marines to keep building upper body strength in anticipation of a modification to the Physical Fitness Test. Any changes are delayed until at least June 30, according to the message. Even if women are required to begin performing pull-ups, they will have until the start of the next PFT season, January 1, 2015, a Marine spokeswoman said. Until then, female Marines will have the option of doing pull-ups or the traditional flexed-arm hang, which they must hold for at least 15 seconds to earn a passing score. Recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., will continue to perform pull-ups to allow the service to gather more data. While Marine administrative message 035/14, signed by Gen. Jim Amos, offers no details about what will be implemented when all is said and done, it does say Marines should assume that pull-ups “will become the single standard measure of physical fitness.”