By Staff Sgt. C. Todd Lopez
WASHINGTON (April 09, 2004) -- The Air Force recently released a tool to help Airmen keep track of their fitness efforts.
The Air Force Fitness Management System is available to all Airmen through the Air Force Portal. The system provides a history of their fitness scores and allows unit fitness managers to enter new scores. It is now the official method to track fitness progress within the Air Force, said Maj. Maureen Harback, the system’s program coordinator.
"The purpose of the (system) is to track fitness-assessment results and provide data to commanders,” Major Harback said. The system is intended for active-duty, Guard and Reserve Airmen.
The system will keep a history of each Airman's fitness scores. The data is not stored on paper in an Airman’s record or even on a computer at an Airman’s installation, but rather in an Air Force-wide database. This allows fitness scores to travel with Airmen automatically as they change stations. The universal availability of the data helps ensure Airmen stay current on their fitness assessments, Major Harback said.
"If an Airman transfers to another base and is not current on their fitness assessment, they will show up as not current in the (system),” Major Harback said. “Unit fitness program managers and commanders will then need to take action on those members."
Many units are still doing monthly practice assessments so Airmen can get themselves into shape for an official assessment. The system does not record practice assessments, but it does include a calculator allowing Airmen to enter in numbers from their practice assessments to see how they would score, Major Harback said.
"Airmen will have better visibility of their fitness over time, and they can take actions to address their deficiencies or continue working on their strengths," she said.
This fall, commanders will be able to generate reports to track an Airman’s progress through education and intervention programs, Major Harback said.
