i'm a little rusty on what exactly the AF does nowadays, they were in the process of changing the PT rules when i retired!! but i think i've got the jist of it.
when i joined, we were still doing the once a year 1.5 mile run or 3 mile walk.
then, they came up with the ergometry bicycle test - where they hooked a heart rate monitor up to you, and made you bike for various times at various resistences to test your VO2 capacity.
but, once we started deploying much much much more, they realized, the "expeditionary af" wasn't up to the physical challanges of that kind of working lifestyle.
we were missing something by not doing more -- people simply did not have the physical stamina to withstand 10-12-14 hour days in the extreme heat of the middle eastern deserts, whether they were out on the flight line or inside our infamous cushy AF digs. ;-D
they determined some sort of strength measurement testing was in order. so, they added back the old push-up, sit-ups, and a more stringent body fat measurement standard. though i believe they still use the 'safer' 'more high tech' ergometry bicycle test for the aerobics part.
and, they went to mandatory unit PT program -- we actually got our own PT uniforms and gear, something we NEVER had before -- to do as part of the duty day, so many times a week, as opposed to making everyone do it all on their own.
but, pilots/flyers, the AF Special Ops community [Pararescuemen, Combat Controllers, Special Tactics units] and various "AF grunt" career fields [security forces, air base ground defense, Red Horse (combat engineers, the Seabees of the Air Force)], have -always- been into a more rigorous PT regimen like what the Army or Special Ops Command have pretty much always done.
as court said, about a decade ago [? or more? not sure] AF aerospace physiologists discovered that weight training, done in conjunction with a robust aerobic program, increases the body's ability to withstand g forces.
so yea, court's totally correct - in the fighter community, you actually have a lot of short guys [many between 5'8" to 5' 11"] who pump iron and run to keep in shape to fly, not just to pass the annual PT test!
michelle g