EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The day after the Air Force’s [new physical fitness standards and scoring dropped](https://www.afpc.af.mil/Portals/70/documents/FITNESS/PFRA%20Scoring%20Charts.pdf), the 96th Force Support Squadron’s fitness management office began educating Airmen to implement and execute the new program.
This proactive approach to the Air Force’s requirement to retrain Airmen directly involved with the new [physical fitness readiness program](https://www.afpc.af.mil/Portals/70/documents/FITNESS/Tab%201.%20SAF-MR%20DTM%20-%20Changes%20to%20Air%20Force%20Physical%20Fitness%20Readiness%20Assessment%20Program_Signed%2026%20Feb%2026.pdf) was due to the sheer size of the undertaking across the base. Eglin’s physical training program supports more than 110 tenant organizations across five major commands and seven installations impacting over 6,000 active-duty members, according to Tech. Sgt. Maria Gafford, 96th FSS fitness management.
“The depth of support we provide here is significant, which is why we are taking a proactive and structured approach,” said Gafford. “This training is critical to ensuring standardized execution, improved member understanding, and sustained mission readiness under the updated PFA guidance.”
To get the Eglin community ready, the fitness management team scheduled fitness assessment cell, unit fitness program manager and physical training leader training for the more than 2,500 local Airmen over 10 days. The re-education covered all the new testing information, changes and proper physical fitness program maintenance practices at the unit level.
Drawing on lessons-learned from a similar fitness testing pause due to COVID-19, simply relaying new information to the units was not enough. Eglin’s fitness management’s strategy was to get ahead of the changes and be ready with a constant communication flow as soon as the new PFRP data was available.
“We anticipated challenges would come with such immense new expectations,” said Gafford. “Our goal is to ensure every step of the process is clearly relayed, so the commanders UFPMs and PTLs can lead their units effectively.