Military ‘lowers’ standards for recruits

By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:43:00 02/04/2010

Filed Under: Military, Employment

MANILA, Philippines—The military would rather have more brains than brawn, never mind if they come in smaller packages.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has slashed its minimum height requirement for both male and female recruits to 5 feet flat in all the three major services, as well as in the elite Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

The Army was the first to adopt this “lower” standard last year.

In applying it to all the services and the PMA, the AFP hoped to boost its ranks with “quality” officers and troops, including those who would otherwise be considered vertically challenged, said Brigadier Gen. Francisco Cruz Jr., chief of the AFP Civil Relations Services.

“Fighting is no longer all about the use of muscle power or brute force. There is also a need for brain power,” Cruz told reporters Wednesday.

“A person can be a sharpshooter even if he or she’s not five feet tall,” he added.

When asked about the downside of hiring smaller soldiers, the general replied: “Of course, if they need to lift heavy objects, it would be harder for them. But then again they are more agile than their tall counterparts.”

Old yardstick

The minimum requirement previously stood at 5 feet 4 inches for men, and 5 feet 2 inches for women. Currently 120,000-strong, the AFP had used this old yardstick to admit an average of 6,000 new soldiers every year.

Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales has ordered the new requirement to cover all the services and the PMA, after it was first applied to land forces last year under then Army chief and now AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado.

Cruz also explained that waging war on enemies of the state was no longer the sole function of the AFP but also supporting the government’s peace and development programs, improving its info-tech capability and other “nontraditional military” pursuits, such as infrastructure and community development.

Cruz said height was “no longer a strategic requirement” for the AFP to accomplish these endeavors.

“There could be many shorter Filipinos with the same level of commitment, patriotism, raw courage and steely resolve as that of any soldier,” he added.

Wider selection

Accommodating shorter applicants would provide the military with a wider selection of competent soldiers, he said.

But diminutive aspirants would not be exempt from the rigorous training and disciplinary measures which all troopers and officers undergo, Cruz said.

According to a 2003 study by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, an agency under the Department of Science and Technology, the average height of Filipinos is 5 feet 4 inches among men, and 4 feet 11 inches among women.