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As part of the overall Airman concept, each individual is required to complete a fitness assessment at least once a year. In order to be fit for the mission, these tests are crucial to the Air Force’s success.
Though these assessments may be nerve-wracking and stressful for some, what many people may not see is all of the work that goes into ensuring each Airman is compliant. Setting up assessments, answering questions, training unit fitness program managers and physical training leaders, and ensuring each test is correctly input in a timely manner are only a few tasks that impact Airmen fitness.
The 786th Force Support Squadron fitness assessment cell, though typically only manned by no more than a handful of people, is responsible for handling all of these tasks and more.
“We execute fitness assessments for the Airmen assigned to (Team Ramstein),” said Master Sgt. Craig Bosse, 786th FSS NCO in charge of the FAC. “We also update pregnancy, commander, deployment and medical profiles and exemptions. The less fun part of our job is sending out failure notifications. We inform the member, their leaders and UFPMs the outcome of their test. That way, they can help that Airman get on the right track.”
Senior Airman Lucile Perkins-Wagel, 786th FSS FAC member, said the FAC is in charge of training both UFPM and PTLs.
“UFPMs schedule official and mock fitness tests, and they can answer basic questions,” Perkins-Wagel said. “We also train the base’s PTLs. We teach them how to run a fitness assessment, and those are the people who come out and help us administer assessments. They have to be trained in order to run mock tests within their units to make sure their Airmen are fit to fight. We train about 100 PTLs and 20 UFPMs a month.”
Because they have an abundance of tasks to perform, the FAC members rely on help from different units around the KMC. Airmen who train to become a PTL are augmented to assist with running fitness assessments and help make FAC members’ jobs run smoother. The FAC tests roughly 145,000 Airmen annually, so the assistance they receive is crucial.
“If we didn’t have the help from PTLs, the members of the FAC would be out of the office the entire day running assessments; then we would have to play catch-up with all of our emails and inputting test scores,” Bosse said. “Without them, the administrative part of our job would take a serious fall. Another great reason having PTLs assist is that the FAC Airmen are able to take time for medical appointments, deployments, leave or (other education opportunities), such as Airman Leadership School.”
The FAC’s mission is to ensure each Airman is maintaining fitness standards. Through the assistance they receive and their hard work and dedication, team Ramstein is able to continue mission success and stay fit to fight.
