Charleston Air Force Base, Sc — When Air Force service members take their annual fitness test, most of them hope to pass. But one commander is inspiring his group to do much more than just pass. Col. Joseph Mancy, 437th operations group commander at Charleston Air Force Base (SC), passed his July fitness test with a score of 100 percent in the men's 25-and-under category. Mancy is 47.
“I think it's an amazing feat to get a perfect score, especially if it's on the toughest age category,” says Regina Creech, 437th medical group health and wellness center chief. “So, I think it's great that Colonel Mancy did this because it sets a good example for our airmen to show them that this can be done even if you're 47 years old.”
Mancy ran a time of 9:16, performed 55 crunches and 63 push-ups and has an abdominal circumference of 32.5 inches. In his respective age category of 45-49 years old, a 100 percent on the annual fitness test requires a run time of 10:24 with 45 crunches, 40 push-ups and an abdominal circumference of 32.5 inches.
“I've scored 100 on my last three fitness tests, but I decided that just getting a 100 wasn't enough of a challenge,” Mancy says. “So I set out to get a perfect on the toughest level, the 25-and-under age category.”
Mancy's advice is to never get out of shape.
“Once you get out of shape, it's more difficult to get back in the routine of working out,” he says. “I love working out, but it's a great second benefit to know that I can help inspire other Airmen to get physically fit.”
Two squadrons within Mancy's group with a total of more than 400 Airmen have a 100 percent pass rate. Also, there have been more than 139 Airmen on Charleston Air Force Base who scored a 100 percent on the fitness test, and 873 who scored “excellent” out of a total of 3,526 who take the test.