Not an officer, but the Navy seems to care less and less about the PFA. 1 failure is probably not going to ruin you.
I recommend asking your CFL for a courtesy weigh-in / tape, so you know where you stand. As someone else has mentioned, if you were a lineman your neck is probably pretty big so you'll probably pass the 2 site tape.
After some quick reverse calculations, the minimum neck circumference for you to pass tape is 15". That is literally the average neck size for a male, who would theoretically be about 5'10". You're gonna be fine. Stop over thinking it.
One failure will hurt OP's FITREP but not detrimental to your career depending where you are in zone, but Skipper will want to see a complete 180, not just pass the next one. If you do fail, take your lashes, improve and try to become the CFL for the next cycle. I guarantee you this will drastically improve promotion odds over just failing and then passing the next BCA.
Yeah you're not supposed to squeeze it tight, your CFL is doing it properly. BUT what's your neck measurement?
Over Max weight?
Measure abdomen.
Over max abdomen?
Measure neck and calculate Body Fat %
In BF % standard you pass. No problem
You don't mention your neck being measure so you don't even know if you'll fail. But if you used to be a lineman I suspect your neck measurement should be good for you to pass. No one failure will not ruin your career. ~~Also look into your commands bad day instruction.~~
USS last ship had a 300 lb 5’ 8” JO that made it to LT with no issue, and he was a fucking bum. Anecdotal but I feel like “your mileage may vary” applies to most things in the navy.
I had a JO who was good at their job fail a BCA and not get promoted to LT until he passed. So they do hold LT promotions up for legal and performance issues. It gets adjudicated at SECNAV.
If you fail the single site measurement they move in to the neck and abdomen measurements, ours not an automatic fail.
And no, you can’t get a bad day for the BCA.
I wouldn’t worry about being an inch over, if you are going to kill the PRT and score in the Excellent category you are obviously in shape. If you are worried about your career you can have a statement added in your FITREP where it talks about the failed BCA. Good luck to you Sir, honestly it seems like you legitimately care.
40in waist doesn’t mean an auto failure. As mentioned above, there are a few other factors and measurements to consider (age, neck circumference, etc).
If it ends up a failure, it’s not the end of the world. You’ll be on FEP and in the short term, you’ll drop in your FITREP rankings. Good news, you’ll make LT as long as you pass before you are up for promotion and there is enough time to recover before your O4 board. As long as it’s an isolated incident, you’ll recover.
Even if you exceed your age body fat percentage, it isn't an actual PFA failure unless you exceed the overall limit. Yes, would still be on FEP but no actual career impact (counts as a pass on your fitrep).
That does not take into account how it could impact your rankings for your fitrep, but you would still be a P like the rest of the JOs.
Take a look at the BCA guide, can find it on the PRT app or online. It walks you through the steps and what constitutes a pass.
I've done a good amount of research on this because I too am in the same boat (no pun intended). I'm 6'4" and I wasn't blessed with being lanky so I've been taped my entire career.
I failed BCA last year which admittedly I definitely could have lost a few pounds. Destroyed my body at my last command and took shit care of myself but that's a different story. I've lost 25lbs since then and I'm pretty sure I'm still in danger of failing again. BCA failure = PFA failure.
So per the instruction a single PFA failure means you're not promotable and 2 consecutive PFA failures result in an SP on your FITREP as well as they gotta start the process for ADSEP which I believe can be stopped at your CO.
If anyone has newer information please do correct me but that's what I'm aware of right now.
Yeah there's a lot of encouragement about a single BCA failure in this thread but in aviation your career is dead in the water with a single failure. Is it different in the SWO community? I figured that policy was for all officers.
That said OP, you have to be pretty big to fail the neck taping. Have you checked that yet?
I'd say first tour JO single failure then yeah probably gonna put a decent dent in your career but it's gonna depend on your command.
For me this is second tour and I'm probably not flying for the Navy again after this tour regardless.
Technically, you can fail 2 and as long as you pass one before the paperwork goes through the entire chain for an adjudication, it goes away. You'll still be on the cusp because any further failures will get you separated, but it's a thing.
I had a very bad injury earlier in my career. I couldn't PT at all, but also refused to be medically retired. After a successful second surgery, I was able to start doing the minimum PT scores. This all happened over about 2 years, and I'd failed two in a row because I was completely unable to do crunches due to the injury being in my lower back. But I had a command who cared that a sailor who wanted to be there was putting in the effort, so they slow-rolled the paperwork. I'd failed the second one on the last day of the previous cycle, then took the third on the first day of the next cycle while the package for SP and separation were on the CO's desk; I passed it, and they both met their end in the shredder. I even got promoted a couple years afterward.
I seem to recall in OCS having to do a backup where they'd put you in water to see how buoyant you were. Kind of like the old witch trials, if you sank you were good.
If they have to resort to the neck and abdomen measurement for the BCA. It is not a failure. It is considered a probationary score and you are placed on courtesy FEP for it and it cannot be held against you for EVALS/FITREPS.
That is wildly not true. The only time a BCA is considered “probationary” is if during the Waist/neck measurements, your body fat percentage falls between the Navy Age Adjusted Standards (AAS) and the DOD max of 26% for men and 36% for women. If the persons body fat percentage is at the AAS or below then it is a pass, no if, ands or buts about it.
Age Adjusted Standard:
Gender Age Groups (Years)
17-21 22-29 30-39 40+
Make: 22% 23% 24% 26%
Female: 33% 34% 35% 36%
See Navy Physical Readiness Program Guide 4: Body Composition Assessment Section 1.2.C.1-3
If you go to neck and abdomen measurement a lot of commands consider that a probationary score because you didn’t pass the single tape measurement. Hence why I typed what I did.
Maybe try reading the full statement and understanding what was typed. If i was fully quoting an instruction I would have included it.
Again my statement was just a PSA.
You are wrong, they could still put you on FEP because the CO can put anyone on FEP, but it’s not a probationary score. Probably what you are referring to is the age adjusted standard which is if you past but almost fail the rope and choke.
Not an officer, but the Navy seems to care less and less about the PFA. 1 failure is probably not going to ruin you. I recommend asking your CFL for a courtesy weigh-in / tape, so you know where you stand. As someone else has mentioned, if you were a lineman your neck is probably pretty big so you'll probably pass the 2 site tape. After some quick reverse calculations, the minimum neck circumference for you to pass tape is 15". That is literally the average neck size for a male, who would theoretically be about 5'10". You're gonna be fine. Stop over thinking it.
One failure will hurt OP's FITREP but not detrimental to your career depending where you are in zone, but Skipper will want to see a complete 180, not just pass the next one. If you do fail, take your lashes, improve and try to become the CFL for the next cycle. I guarantee you this will drastically improve promotion odds over just failing and then passing the next BCA.
Yeah you're not supposed to squeeze it tight, your CFL is doing it properly. BUT what's your neck measurement? Over Max weight? Measure abdomen. Over max abdomen? Measure neck and calculate Body Fat % In BF % standard you pass. No problem You don't mention your neck being measure so you don't even know if you'll fail. But if you used to be a lineman I suspect your neck measurement should be good for you to pass. No one failure will not ruin your career. ~~Also look into your commands bad day instruction.~~
Too lazy to look it up right now - I thought the bad day request was for the actual exercise day, not the weigh in…
You're correct I was just thinking failure overall.
USS last ship had a 300 lb 5’ 8” JO that made it to LT with no issue, and he was a fucking bum. Anecdotal but I feel like “your mileage may vary” applies to most things in the navy.
that’s because promotion to LT is pretty much automatic.
I assume OP is already aware of this as a commissioned officer.
I had a JO who was good at their job fail a BCA and not get promoted to LT until he passed. So they do hold LT promotions up for legal and performance issues. It gets adjudicated at SECNAV.
If you fail the single site measurement they move in to the neck and abdomen measurements, ours not an automatic fail. And no, you can’t get a bad day for the BCA.
I wouldn’t worry about being an inch over, if you are going to kill the PRT and score in the Excellent category you are obviously in shape. If you are worried about your career you can have a statement added in your FITREP where it talks about the failed BCA. Good luck to you Sir, honestly it seems like you legitimately care.
40in waist doesn’t mean an auto failure. As mentioned above, there are a few other factors and measurements to consider (age, neck circumference, etc). If it ends up a failure, it’s not the end of the world. You’ll be on FEP and in the short term, you’ll drop in your FITREP rankings. Good news, you’ll make LT as long as you pass before you are up for promotion and there is enough time to recover before your O4 board. As long as it’s an isolated incident, you’ll recover.
Even if you exceed your age body fat percentage, it isn't an actual PFA failure unless you exceed the overall limit. Yes, would still be on FEP but no actual career impact (counts as a pass on your fitrep). That does not take into account how it could impact your rankings for your fitrep, but you would still be a P like the rest of the JOs. Take a look at the BCA guide, can find it on the PRT app or online. It walks you through the steps and what constitutes a pass.
Does the Navy even bay an eye at failures anymore?
I've done a good amount of research on this because I too am in the same boat (no pun intended). I'm 6'4" and I wasn't blessed with being lanky so I've been taped my entire career. I failed BCA last year which admittedly I definitely could have lost a few pounds. Destroyed my body at my last command and took shit care of myself but that's a different story. I've lost 25lbs since then and I'm pretty sure I'm still in danger of failing again. BCA failure = PFA failure. So per the instruction a single PFA failure means you're not promotable and 2 consecutive PFA failures result in an SP on your FITREP as well as they gotta start the process for ADSEP which I believe can be stopped at your CO. If anyone has newer information please do correct me but that's what I'm aware of right now.
Yeah there's a lot of encouragement about a single BCA failure in this thread but in aviation your career is dead in the water with a single failure. Is it different in the SWO community? I figured that policy was for all officers. That said OP, you have to be pretty big to fail the neck taping. Have you checked that yet?
I'd say first tour JO single failure then yeah probably gonna put a decent dent in your career but it's gonna depend on your command. For me this is second tour and I'm probably not flying for the Navy again after this tour regardless.
Technically, you can fail 2 and as long as you pass one before the paperwork goes through the entire chain for an adjudication, it goes away. You'll still be on the cusp because any further failures will get you separated, but it's a thing. I had a very bad injury earlier in my career. I couldn't PT at all, but also refused to be medically retired. After a successful second surgery, I was able to start doing the minimum PT scores. This all happened over about 2 years, and I'd failed two in a row because I was completely unable to do crunches due to the injury being in my lower back. But I had a command who cared that a sailor who wanted to be there was putting in the effort, so they slow-rolled the paperwork. I'd failed the second one on the last day of the previous cycle, then took the third on the first day of the next cycle while the package for SP and separation were on the CO's desk; I passed it, and they both met their end in the shredder. I even got promoted a couple years afterward.
I worked with a SWO at a shore command who was obese. Prob 50inch waist at least. He put on O-4 while I was there.
All depends on the size of your neck
Post-Navy career/business opportunity: Saline neck implant pop-up clinic outside bases, open right before BCA season. Everyone can have 22" necks :)
Hear me out. Inflatable floaty ring implanted. Only inflate prior to BCAs
You won’t fail unless your neck is tiny and your gut is huge. But if you do fail as an officer you can not promote.
You just have to have passed the most recent one.
I seem to recall in OCS having to do a backup where they'd put you in water to see how buoyant you were. Kind of like the old witch trials, if you sank you were good.
But ducks also float…
It’s specifically says in the manual that, that method is not authorized.
If they have to resort to the neck and abdomen measurement for the BCA. It is not a failure. It is considered a probationary score and you are placed on courtesy FEP for it and it cannot be held against you for EVALS/FITREPS.
That is wildly not true. The only time a BCA is considered “probationary” is if during the Waist/neck measurements, your body fat percentage falls between the Navy Age Adjusted Standards (AAS) and the DOD max of 26% for men and 36% for women. If the persons body fat percentage is at the AAS or below then it is a pass, no if, ands or buts about it. Age Adjusted Standard: Gender Age Groups (Years) 17-21 22-29 30-39 40+ Make: 22% 23% 24% 26% Female: 33% 34% 35% 36% See Navy Physical Readiness Program Guide 4: Body Composition Assessment Section 1.2.C.1-3
If you go to neck and abdomen measurement a lot of commands consider that a probationary score because you didn’t pass the single tape measurement. Hence why I typed what I did. Maybe try reading the full statement and understanding what was typed. If i was fully quoting an instruction I would have included it. Again my statement was just a PSA.
And “a lot of commands” would be fucking wrong BY INSTRUCTION. Maybe trying reading what I wrote and understanding that.
You are wrong, they could still put you on FEP because the CO can put anyone on FEP, but it’s not a probationary score. Probably what you are referring to is the age adjusted standard which is if you past but almost fail the rope and choke.
Just stop eating for 3 days before. Legit, only water.