Army Fitness Determinations and Deployability (AR Dir 2024-01)- Urgent Update for Army Personnel

johnbgately

PEB Forum Regular Member
PEB Forum Veteran
Registered Member
The Army Publishing Directorate has released a new Army Fitness Determinations and Deployability Directive (AR DIR 2024-01) that may have a profound effect on your PEB case- thus, I wanted to post it here and ask the moderators to add it to the Resources area as well.

This directive modifies AR 635-40 and authorizes the Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) to determine a Soldier's fitness for duty based on multiple criteria, including the ability to deploy with a medical waiver. These criteria include whether a soldier possesses specialized skills that the Army needs, whether the Soldier's evals and nonmedical evidence support retention, how well-controlled any potentially unfitting condition may be, whether the Soldier's environment can be controlled to prevent exacerbations, and whether the Soldier's conditions make it unlikely that they would receive a medical waiver to deploy. Note- the deployability factor does not apply to Medical Corps officers.

While this may be good news for some of you who wish to be retained with a permanent profile, I suspect that it will be used to retain more personnel against their wishes in the medical and allied health fields as well as personnel who possess an MOS in a career field where there is currently a personnel shortage. All Army personnel being processed through the PEB system should ensure that their OSC attorney or civilian counsel is aware of this directive when advising you concerning the development and appeal of your case.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Thanks for flagging this, Jack. This is clearly driven by the Army's retention and recruiting challenges and now allows the Army to work around the current language of AR 635-40, paragraph 5-4.e.(2) that directs that “… the PEB will find Soldiers unfit who are medically disqualified for worldwide deployment in a field or austere environment.” Now the input of the HRC and USAPDA personnel reps regarding the Army's needs for particular MOS's or specialties will carry a lot more weight at the IPEB and FPEB.
 
The Army Publishing Directorate has released a new Army Fitness Determinations and Deployability Directive (AR DIR 2024-01) that may have a profound effect on your PEB case- thus, I wanted to post it here and ask the moderators to add it to the Resources area as well.

This directive modifies AR 635-40 and authorizes the Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) to determine a Soldier's fitness for duty based on multiple criteria, including the ability to deploy with a medical waiver. These criteria include whether a soldier possesses specialized skills that the Army needs, whether the Soldier's evals and nonmedical evidence support retention, how well-controlled any potentially unfitting condition may be, whether the Soldier's environment can be controlled to prevent exacerbations, and whether the Soldier's conditions make it unlikely that they would receive a medical waiver to deploy. Note- the deployability factor does not apply to Medical Corps officers.

While this may be good news for some of you who wish to be retained with a permanent profile, I suspect that it will be used to retain more personnel against their wishes in the medical and allied health fields as well as personnel who possess an MOS in a career field where there is currently a personnel shortage. All Army personnel being processed through the PEB system should ensure that their OSC attorney or civilian counsel is aware of this directive when advising you concerning the development and appeal of your case.
Just posted this resource in the Army Regulations tab. See this link: Army Publishing Directorate (AR DIR 2025-01) UPDATED
 
Does this conflict with the DoD directive?
 
Does this conflict with the DoD directive?
It shouldn't as each branch can determine how to follow and interpret the DOD directive. That's why there is such a wide variance between branches in not only what is considered unfit but also the rate at which Soldiers are found unfit.
 
I was taught the subordinate command can add, but not subtract from HHQ directives.
 
Top