The Marines have waivers for those with Muscular builds, so if your career is going down to drain due to our standards not matching your "body type", that is bullshit. I know plenty of Marines who have short, stocky builds and guess what? They work their asses off to make weight or they work out enough to get a waiver for their weight. Nobody is getting screwed but the Marines who are too lazy to change. My body type is large, and naturally I should weigh around 210lbs, but I ration my diet and work out to maintain around 180.

Standards are also by age, so if you are 30 years old, 19% body fat is not an amazing feat. If they were asking you to achieve 14% body fat, (which I think they should be doing) it would seem difficult, but 18 or 19 percent is average at best.

SoldierHawk wrote:

Ah thank you Ash. i was hoping you`d chime in since you know way more than i do about that. Have they added those waivers recently? i know my friend`s Marine buddy was having his issue a couple years ago...i promise you he`s in great shape, very strong and aces the pt test but he just could not make weight.

Well he must have a shit CO, because if he fits his uniform well, runs a first class PFT and is under the body fat % then he should be fine. A lot of the times people are over their weight or even under their weight limit but the point of MAP is the appearance of the Marine. You can ace as many PFT's as you want, but if you have a gut sticking out of your uniform this program will get you. The Marines are trying to set an image standard for the rest of the military, nobody wants to see chubby Marines,
Drew Carry even knows this.