The Army is making progress with a special study designed to help soldiers determine which specialty to pursue.
The purpose of the Physical Demands Study, or PDS, is to provide predictive tests to select soldiers for accession into physically-demanding occupations, an Army statement sai
Researchers, from the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, or USARIEM, traveled to Fort Carson, Colorado, three times this year as they continue to collect data for the study.
USARIEM's role in this initiative is to examine the physical performance requirement of the specified combat arms occupations and to develop predictive physical tests that will apply uniformly to every soldier being recruited for these military occupational specialties, or MOSs, regardless of gender, age or ethnicity.
"The Army's scientific approach for evaluating and validating MOS-specific standards aids leadership in selecting the best-qualified Soldiers for each job within the Army profession,” Jack Myers, a planner in the Training and Doctrine Command's, or TRADOC's, said on the Army website. "This will ensure force capability and readiness."
USARIEM is working with the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command as part of the comprehensive Soldier 2020 initiative.
Over the past two years, USARIEM researchers have traveled thousands of miles, conducted several stages of testing, and spoken with hundreds of soldiers at all levels.
-- Kris Osborn can be reached at Kris.Osborn@military.com
