Waist measurement failures non-factor for most Airmen Published July 31, 2013 By Staff Sgt. David Salanitri Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Recent comments on social media sites show there's a rumor among Airmen that the abdominal circumference component of the Fitness Assessment is where the largest majority of failures come from. This opinion is wrong. Since the Air Force has adopted the policy, which automatically fails Airmen with a larger than 39 inch waist (males) and 35.5 inch waist (females), the abdominal circumference measurement has led to the second least failures of the four components -- aerobic, push-ups, sit-ups, and abdominal circumference. The numbers speak for themselves. According to the Air Force Fitness, Promotion, and Evaluation Policy office: --Since the implementation of the new PT test in October 2010, 1,277,825 Airmen have been evaluated. --15,788 Airmen, who completed all four components, failed the waist measurement while also failing another component of the test. --5,141 Airmen, who completed all four components, failed their waist measurement, while passing the other three components. Of those, 348 failed their waist measurement and passed the other three components with a composite score of 75. So, what does this all mean? Out of 1,277,825 Airmen who have been evaluated, 0.4 percent failed only the waist measurement. Of those, 76 have been separated because of that failure, amounting to .006% of the Airmen who have tested under the new Fitness Assessment. Bottom line, numbers show that, as a whole, failures are on the decline. In July 2010, the overall failure rate for the fitness assessment was 22.1 percent. As of June 2013, the failure has decreased to 4.9 percent. "We've seen a notable increase in passing scores," said Col. Dawn Keasley, who works in the Air Force Military Force Management Division. "Airmen are clearly embracing a culture of fitness and that is a great thing for our Airmen, the Air Force, and the nation we protect and defend."