Additional Guidance on Military Fitness Standards

This memorandum outlines additional guidance for updated military fitness standards and body composition assessments across the Joint Force. Effective January 1, 2026, military departments will use waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) instead of traditional height and weight tables to evaluate body composition, with a target of less than 0.55. Service members who meet or exceed that threshold will undergo further body fat evaluation under service-specific standards. The memo also details remedial program requirements, possible administrative consequences for noncompliance, and future updates to DoD Instruction 1308.03, reinforcing readiness, fairness, and consistency in physical fitness policy.