What happens if you fail the AFT: flags, retests and reclassification

Published October 20, 2026 · Updated October 21, 2026

Quick answer: If you fail a record Army Fitness Test, your commander flags you, which suspends favorable personnel actions, until you retest and pass. Regular Army and AGR Soldiers retest within 90 days, other Reserve Component Soldiers within 180. Fail two record AFTs in a row and your commander starts separation. If you’re in a combat specialty and pass the General standard but miss the Combat standard, you face reclassification into another job, or for some officers a transfer to another branch.

FPKT, a free app for iPhone, iPad and Mac, scores your practice AFTs for your age, sex and standard and keeps a history, so you can see which events are still under 60 before your retest.

If you fail the AFT for record, your commander flags you until you retest and pass. A flag suspends favorable personnel actions, and you get 90 days to retest in the Regular Army or Active Guard Reserve (AGR), or 180 days in the rest of the Reserve Component. These are the rules for the Army Fitness Test (AFT), the record test since 1 June 2025, from Army Regulation (AR) 350-1 and the Army directives that update it.

During the switch from the old Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), the Army’s personnel office exempted AFT failures from flagging: through 31 December 2025 for the Regular Army, AGR and Soldiers on active-duty orders of more than 60 days, and through 31 May 2026 for the rest of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. Those dates have passed, so a failed record AFT now brings the flag for everyone.

What counts as failing the AFT?

You fail if any one event scores under 60 points, or if you take an alternate aerobic event on a permanent profile and don’t get a GO. One event under 60 fails the whole test, however high your total is. How the AFT is scored explains the points and the 300 and 350 totals.

Only a record test counts. Commanders can run the AFT as often as they like, but they have to say beforehand when a test is for record.

What happens if you fail the AFT for record?

AR 350-1 says that when you fail a record AFT, your commander will flag you until you retest and pass a record AFT. A flag is a suspension of favorable personnel actions under AR 600-8-2. AR 350-1 spells out a few effects:

No schools. A Soldier flagged for an AFT failure won’t be selected for, scheduled for or sent to most institutional training until they meet the standard. Basic training, AIT, OSUT, duty MOS qualification and reclassification training are left out of that rule.
Special duty status. If it applies to you, your commander will take you off parachute, diving and flight crew status for your safety and your unit’s.
The flag stays until you pass. It comes off once you pass a record AFT. An old ACFT flag that was still open after 31 May 2025 also comes off only by passing the AFT.

How long do you have to retest after failing the AFT?

Who	Retest no more than	Normal record tests
Regular Army and AGR	90 days after the failure	Two a year, at least 4 months apart
Other Reserve Component, including Troop Program Unit and IMA Soldiers	180 days after the failure	One a year, at least 8 months apart

Combat specialties have their own schedule now. Army Directive 2026-07 says Regular Army, AGR and Reserve Component combat-specialty Soldiers on active-duty orders of 365 days or more take one AFT and one Combat Field Test (CFT) a year, at least 4 months apart. Other Reserve Component combat-specialty Soldiers take one record test a year, alternating between the AFT and the CFT, at least 8 months apart. Until record CFTs begin on 17 April 2027, the CFT is taken as a diagnostic test.

A few rules from AR 350-1 come with those windows:

You can go sooner. If you and your commander agree you’ve reconditioned enough, you can retest any time before the deadline.
The 4- and 8-month spacing doesn’t apply to a retest. That spacing is for routine record tests.
Time on a temporary profile doesn’t count. The clock pauses while you’re on one.
Courses set their own retest rules. The 90- and 180-day windows don’t apply in initial military training, professional military education (PME) or functional courses. If you fail a record AFT at PME or a functional course and then fail the retest, you’re removed from the course.

One group gets two different answers. Army Directive 2025-06 puts Reserve Component Soldiers on active-duty orders for more than 60 days on the same 90-day retest as the Regular Army. AR 350-1’s retest paragraph only names the Regular Army and AGR for 90 days, and everyone else in the Reserve Component for 180. If you’re on orders like that, ask your unit which window applies to you.

What happens if you fail the AFT twice in a row?

If you fail two record AFTs in a row, AR 350-1 says your unit commander will start separation, whether you’re enlisted or an officer. For enlisted Soldiers, the commander can choose a bar to continued service instead. Those actions run under AR 635-200 (Regular Army enlisted), AR 135-178 (Reserve Component enlisted), AR 600-8-24 (Regular Army officers) or AR 135-175 (Reserve Component officers).

An old ACFT failure counts too. If you were still flagged for a failed ACFT after 31 May 2025 and then fail the AFT, AR 350-1 counts that AFT as both your retest and your second failure.

What if you pass the General standard but miss the Combat standard?

Soldiers in the 24 combat specialties need 350 points, with at least 60 on every event. That’s the Combat standard. For the original 21 specialties, the Combat standard has applied since 1 January 2026 for the Regular Army, AGR and Reserve Component Soldiers on active-duty orders for more than 60 days, and since 1 June 2026 for the rest of the Reserve Component. Army Directive 2026-07 added Army Diver (12D) and the two explosive ordnance disposal specialties (89D and 89E), effective 17 April 2026.

If you score at least 60 on every event and reach the General standard for your age and sex, but you’re short of 350, AR 350-1 and Army Directive 2025-06 say you’re subject to reclassification into another job, or to being used somewhere else, depending on what the Army needs. The Army’s implementation order for the AFT, Annex A to EXORD 218-25, lays out the steps for Soldiers who score 300 to 349. The rules differ by component:

Regular Army and AGR enlisted. Soldiers who score under 350 on two record AFTs in a row are processed for mandatory reclassification. Soldiers with 17 years and 3 months or more of active federal service move to MOS-immaterial duty (09U) until they’re eligible to retire.
Army National Guard and Army Reserve (Troop Program Unit and IMA) enlisted. Since June 2026, a score under 350 makes you subject to mandatory reclassification.
Officers and warrant officers. In the Regular Army and AGR, commanders flag officers and warrant officers who miss the Combat standard. Promotable combat-branch officers and warrant officers who don’t get a qualifying score are flagged and held back from promotion. Lieutenants and captains who miss it on two record AFTs in a row face an involuntary branch transfer, while majors through colonels and warrant officers are moved to positions not tied to combat. The Guard and Army Reserve have their own officer rules in the same annex.
Your evaluation. Your evaluation report gets a required comment saying you met the General standard but not the Combat standard. The order says this doesn’t make it a referred report.

A total under 300, or any event under 60, is a regular AFT failure, with the flag and retest above.

Does failing the Combat Field Test work the same way?

Not yet. The CFT is the separate pass-or-fail test that Army Directive 2026-07 (17 April 2026) added for combat specialties. It started with a one-year implementation period, and until it ends, no administrative action is taken solely because of a failed CFT. The Army’s CFT order says the CFT can be taken for record starting 17 April 2027.

After that, the directive says a Soldier who fails the CFT is flagged, enrolled in reconditioning and retests within 90 days, or 180 days for Reserve Component Soldiers not on AGR or active-duty orders of 365 days or more. Failing the retest leads to reclassification or utilization actions unless you have an approved waiver. Enlisted Soldiers who fail two CFTs in a row can be separated if they won’t extend or reenlist to reclassify, or can’t reclassify. Officers who fail two in a row can be eliminated if they refuse, or aren’t eligible for, a branch transfer or new assignment.

Annex A of the Army’s CFT order gives the same retest windows: 90 days, or 180 days for Reserve Component Soldiers who aren’t AGR or on orders of 365 days or more. Our Combat Field Test guide covers the events, the 30-minute standard and the timeline.

Can you be flagged without failing?

Yes. AR 350-1 says a Soldier who goes 12 months without a record AFT through their own inaction will be flagged. That doesn’t apply if you couldn’t test because of a temporary or permanent profile, a deployment or remote assignment where your unit can’t run the test, or a pregnancy and postpartum exemption.

How to get ready for the retest

Your DA Form 705-AFT shows each event’s raw score and points, so start with the events under 60. The retest is a full record AFT, and every event you take has to pass again. How to fill out DA Form 705-AFT walks through the card. Plan around your 90- or 180-day deadline, and ask to retest early once you and your commander agree you’re ready.