• Jan E Redmond, Bruce S Cohen, Caitlin C Haven, Joseph R Pierce, Stephen A Foulis, Peter N Frykman, Maria C Canino, and Marilyn A Sharp.
• U. S. Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 10 General Greene Avenue, Natick, MA 01760.
• Mil Med. 2020 Jan 7; 185 (Suppl 1): 376-382.

IntroductionThis study compared the relationship between height (HT), body mass (BM), and body mass index (BMI) of female trainees and active duty female soldiers and their performance on simulated common soldiering tasks (CSTs) with high physical demands.MethodsFemale trainees (n = 133) and soldiers (n = 229) completed the following CSTs: sandbag carry, move under fire, casualty drag, casualty evacuation, and road march. Quartiles were created among HT, BM, and BMI by which task performance was compared using ANOVAs with Tukey post hoc comparisons.ResultsFor both trainees and soldiers, HT, BM, and BMI were positively associated with improved road march, casualty drag, casualty evacuation, and sandbag carry performance. On the move under fire task, only soldier HT was positively associated with improved performance.ConclusionFemale trainees and soldiers who are taller and heavier with a higher BMI may demonstrate better performance on CSTs required of all soldiers. In addition to task-specific training, performance of CSTs may be enhanced in tasks requiring strength and power by recruiting and retaining taller and heavier females with a higher BMIs. Allowances should be considered for soldiers and trainees who can successfully perform soldiering tasks with high physical demands despite less desirable anthropometric measurements.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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