Revalidating U.S. Army soldiers' perceptions of combat arms job tasks: Frequencies, importance and expectations of performance.

Background: In 2013 the U.S. Army began developing physical tests to predict a recruit's ability to perform the critical physically demanding tasks (CPDTs) of combat arms jobs not previously open to women.

U.S. Army physical demands study: Identification and validation of the physically demanding tasks of combat arms occupations.

Objectives: In 2013, the U.S. Army began developing physical tests to predict a recruit's ability to perform the critical, physically demanding tasks (CPDTs) of combat arms jobs previously not open to women.

U.S. Army physical demands study: Prevalence and frequency of performing physically demanding tasks in deployed and non-deployed settings.

Objectives: To compare percentages of on-duty time spent performing physically demanding soldier tasks in non-deployed and deployed settings, and secondarily examine the number of physically demanding tasks performed among five Army combat arms occupational specialties.

Design: Job task analysis.

Methods: Soldiers (n=1295; over 99% serving on active duty) across five Army jobs completed one of three questionnaires developed using reviews of job and task related documents, input from subject matter experts, observation of task performance, and conduct of focus groups.