The IDF is considering making the promotion of combat officers conditional on their successfully passing a strenuous physical test.
Speaking at an award ceremony for officers and soldiers who performed with excellence in this year’s Operational Fitness Test, Ground Forces Commander Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrachi said that “there is a good chance” that the test will become a condition for advancing in the ranks. “The test is the ultimate one for an IDF officer,” he said.
“Making the test an integral part of advancing in rank for combat officers will give it added importance,” the Commander of the School for Combat Fitness (Bahad 8), Lt.-Col. Yariv Niv, told IDF journal BaMachaneh. “In the end we need to remember that the test is a means for a combat officer to be able to lead his soldiers successfully to the field of battle.”
Combat officers from platoon commanders to regiment commanders participate in the test annually, but it is not obligatory at present. The test begins with a navigation run near the School for Combat Fitness, next to the Wingate Institute south of Netanya. Participants from motorized units run a four km. course, infantry troops run five km. and special units traverse 6.5 km.
The 'Natural Disaster'
The navigation run is followed by a two km. run to the seashore and entry into the water. The next stage is a grueling climb up the ‘tzukon’ – a steep sandy incline near the School for Combat Fitness, which is also known as “The Natural Disaster.” After besting the Natural Disaster, the participants take on an obstacle course that includes climbing up a six-meter long rope, passing over a wall, a crawl and traversing parallel beams.
At the final stage of the test, participants have to shoot six bullets at a head target located 40 meters away from them.
This year, the ninth year in which the test has been administered, 89 percent of the IDF’s officers participated. However, one third of regiment commanders did not show up for it.
Givati Regiment performed took first place among infantry regiments for the third year in a row. The Flying Lion battalion from the School for Platoon Commanders and Infantry Professions received the ‘best battalion’ award and Paratrooper Regiment Commander Col. Hertzi Levi won first place among infantry regiment commanders. He was followed by Givati commander Col. Ilan Malka and Kfir commander Itai Virov.