The Tape Test Is Dead: The Army's New WHtR Standard, Explained

// 01The one number

The new standard is the waist-to-height ratio: your waist measurement divided by your height, same units. The directive’s words:

The WHtR is adopted as the sole measurement for all Soldiers. The use of height and weight screening tables is discontinued. … The standard is a WHtR of less than and not equal to 0.55. AD 2026-13, para 5a and 5a(3)

Come in at 0.55 or above and you are flagged and enrolled in the ABCP (para 5a(5)). Every Soldier gets measured at least twice per calendar year (para 5a(2)), and every Soldier must have a WHtR recorded in ATIS within 90 days of the directive, which works out to roughly early October 2026 (para 5a(9)). It applies to the Regular Army, National Guard, and Reserve, plus USMA and SROTC cadets, retention actions, and military schools (paras 3 and 5).

// 02Everything that died

The directive is short because it deletes more than it adds. As of AD 2026-13:

• The height/weight screening tables: discontinued outright (para 5a).
• The body-fat tape test: not authorized for any purpose, including challenging a WHtR result (para 5a(1)).
• The AFT score exemption: no AFT score exempts anyone from the standard; AD 2025-17 is rescinded (para 5a(7)). The 465-and-above carve-out from last September is history.
• Mandatory monthly ABCP assessments and progression requirements: rescinded. Commanders decide when to reassess, and a Soldier is removed administratively as soon as the standard is met (para 5b(6)).
• The unit ABCP NCO: requirement rescinded; commanders now own the program directly (para 5b(1)).
• DA Form 5501: rescinded. Everything records on the revised DA Form 5500 and in ATIS (para 5a(8)).
• ABCP flag transfers: Flag code K stays non-transferable, and the transfer provisions in AR 600-8-2 are rescinded (para 5b(3)).

// 03Your protections, verbatim

Four provisions in the directive work in the Soldier’s favor, and they are worth knowing cold:

If it is determined that the Soldier’s initial WHtR does not meet the standard, a confirmation measurement will be conducted on the same duty day by a team other than the one that took the initial set of measurements. This must occur before any actions are taken by the commander. AD 2026-13, para 5a(4)

• The 7-day buffer: commanders will allow a minimum of 7 days between the AFT or CFT and a WHtR measurement, with deviation only for urgent operational needs (para 5a(6)).
• The medical screen: Regular Army and AGR Soldiers enrolled in the ABCP get a commander-requested medical examination to rule out an underlying condition. Guard and Reserve Soldiers may request one, at their own expense if not on active duty (paras 5b(4) and 5b(5)).
• The separation pause: units may initiate separation actions, but no Soldier will be separated until HQDA completes a 180-day assessment and publishes further guidance (para 5b(8)).

// 04How it’s measured, per the new DA Form 5500

The directive names the standard but not the technique. The technique is on the revised DA Form 5500 (July 2026 edition), and three details matter:

• The waist is measured at the navel and rounded down to the nearest 0.50 inch, three times, then averaged.
• Height is rounded to the nearest 0.50 inch.
• The ratio is truncated, never rounded. It records to three decimal places and everything after is dropped. The form’s own example: a calculated 0.549888 records as 0.549 and meets the standard. A 0.550 does not.

Notice the direction every one of those rules leans: round-down on the waist, truncation on the ratio. At the margin, the arithmetic favors the Soldier. A 37.4-inch waist records as 37.0. A ratio a hair under 0.550 passes. Know the procedure before you stand on the line, because the difference between 0.549 and 0.550 is the difference between walking away and being enrolled.

// 05What your max waist actually is

Since the standard is a ratio, your ceiling is simple arithmetic: 0.55 times your height, in inches, and you must come in under it. At 68 inches tall that is anything under 37.40 inches. At 72 inches, under 39.60. At 64, under 35.20. The free cheat sheet below has the full table from 60 to 78 inches, but the formula is the whole trick: height times 0.55, stay under it.

// 06What nobody can tell you yet

The form gives the landmarks and the math, but the fuller measuring guidance (measurer training, uniform during measurement, the edge cases the old program spelled out in detail) has not been published for the WHtR era. Anyone on social media confidently describing those details right now is quoting the dead regime or guessing. When the G-1 implementing guidance drops, this post and the cheat sheet get updated the same week, and everyone who grabbed the sheet gets the new version by email.

// 07What leaders can document now

Last verified against AD 2026-13 (posted 6 July 2026) on 2026-09-09.

Sections 01 through 06 are the Soldier’s read. This one is the leader’s. Every regulation passage below is quoted from the record on file, with its cite next to it so you can check it. The page’s own conclusions are labeled “Our reading” and are this site’s interpretation, not the directive’s words. Where the directive hands a step to another regulation, the item quotes only what that regulation says on file and marks what it does not. Two of the six items are not steps at all; they are documentation checks this page cannot yet resolve from the records it holds, and they are labeled that way.

1. The ATIS entry and the form. The directive’s words:

   All Soldiers will have a WHtR completed and recorded in the ATIS no later than 90 days from the date of this directive. AD 2026-13, para 5a(9)

   The WHtR for all Soldiers will be recorded on Department of the Army (DA) Form 5500 and in the Army Training Information System (ATIS). DA Form 5501 is hereby rescinded. AD 2026-13, para 5a(8)

   The directive carries no signature date in its text. The PDF was posted 6 July 2026, so the 90-day window ends approximately 4 October 2026. Treat the date as approximate.

   On the ratio that goes on the form, DA Form 5500 (JUL 2026 edition) states: “All WHtR calculations must be recorded up to a precision of three decimal places. The WHtR value will not be rounded, and any subsequent digits after the third decimal place will be disregarded” (DA Form 5500, JUL 2026, instructions as excerpted). Our optional tool: the WHtR calculator applies that form’s arithmetic.

2. The confirmation measurement.

   If it is determined that the Soldier's initial WHtR does not meet the standard, a confirmation measurement will be conducted on the same duty day by a team other than the one that took the initial set of measurements. This must occur before any actions are taken by the commander. AD 2026-13, para 5a(4)

   Our reading: the paragraph sets three conditions on the confirmation, the same duty day, a team other than the one that took the first set, and completion before any action by the commander. The sentence that governs sequence is the last one: “This must occur before any actions are taken by the commander.” The revised DA Form 5500 (JUL 2026 edition) includes a section titled “Confirmation WHtR Measurement”.

3. The flag and the ABCP enrollment.

   A Soldier with a WHtR of 0.55 or greater will be flagged and enrolled in the ABCP. AD 2026-13, para 5a(5)

   Flag code K (Noncompliance with Army Body Composition Program) remains non-transferable. Army Regulation (AR) 600-8-2 is hereby amended to rescind all ABCP transfer provisions. AD 2026-13, para 5b(3)

   Conflict notice on code K. The AR 600-8-2 excerpt in our doctrine library (5 April 2021 edition) reads: “Codes A,B,D,E,F,I,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W = nontransferable; H,J,K = transferable” (AR 600-8-2, Table 2-1, pp. 8-9, as excerpted in our doctrine library). The directive says the opposite in the passage above, and its opening paragraph states that “where it conflicts with other Army directives or regulations, this directive is controlling” (para 5). Our reading: code K is non-transferable, and the Table 2-1 entry a leader finds in the 2021 regulation is superseded on that point.

   Our reading: para 5b(1) rescinds the ABCP NCO requirement. The directive’s own sentence in that paragraph: “Commanders are directly responsible for the oversight, quality control, and execution of the body composition program within their unit” (para 5b(1)).

   The medical examination. Our reading: para 5b(4) covers RA and AGR Soldiers after enrollment, and para 5b(5) covers ARNG, ARNGUS, and USAR Soldiers, who may request the examination. The directive’s words in para 5b(4): “the commander will request a medical examination to verify that no underlying medical condition may be the direct cause of weight gain or be the direct cause of inability to meet the WHtR standard.” Its words in para 5b(5): “at the Soldier's own expense for Soldiers not on active duty.”

4. The separation restriction pending HQDA assessment.

   Units may initiate separation actions for a Soldier flagged due to failure of ABCP but no Soldier will be separated until a 180-day assessment is completed by HQDA and further guidance is disseminated. AD 2026-13, para 5b(8)

   That is the whole statement. The directive does not say when the 180 days began or when the assessment ends, and this page will not guess.

5. Unresolved documentation check: the written counselings.

   Our reading: para 5b(7) routes enrollment, disenrollment, and counseling to AR 600-9. The AR 600-9 excerpt in our doctrine library covers the height and weight entry on the evaluation and a methodology note, not the counseling paragraphs, so this page does not state what the enrollment counseling must contain or which form carries it. This item gets its verbatim language when that excerpt is added, and not before.

   The flag counseling is on file. AR 600-8-2 para 1-10a: “A DA Form 268 and HR system input will be initiated within 3 working days when a Soldier's status changes from favorable to unfavorable.” And para 2-6:

   The flagging authority, unit commander, or first line supervisor will counsel all Soldiers on active duty, in writing, upon initiation of any Flag within 3 working days... Counseling should include reason for the Flag, requirement for Flag removal, and action prohibited by the Flag. All flagged Soldiers will be provided a copy of the DA Form 268 when the Flag is initiated. AR 600-8-2, para 2-6

   So the flag counseling is “in writing,” and it “should include reason for the Flag, requirement for Flag removal, and action prohibited by the Flag.” The regulation as excerpted does not name a form. On removal, our reading: para 5b(6) provides for administrative removal from the ABCP, and the directive’s words for the trigger are “as soon as the Soldier meets the WHtR standard.” AR 600-8-2 para 1-10c states: “A Flag will be removed within 3 working days after the Soldier's status changes from unfavorable to favorable.” Our optional tool: if you write that counseling on a DA Form 4856, the DA 4856 counseling generator can draft it.

6. Unresolved documentation check: the evaluation entry.

   The only evaluation language on this point in our doctrine library is DA PAM 623-3, as excerpted there:

   An entry of 'YES' or 'NO' will be placed in the space next to the weight to indicate compliance or noncompliance with AR 600-9. Sample entries are: '72/180 YES' or '68/205 NO.' DA PAM 623-3, p 109, height/weight block instruction, as excerpted in our doctrine library

   That excerpt predates AD 2026-13 and refers to the weight, not the WHtR. This page does not say what, if anything, is entered on the evaluation under the new standard. The doctrine library does not hold the AR 623-3 language on how ABCP noncompliance is reflected in the report, so this page points to AR 623-3 without quoting it.

Related reading: body composition is one of two standards overhauls this year. The other is AD 2026-07’s Combat Field Test, a second annual fitness test for 24 combat MOSs, and its 7-day testing buffer interacts with the WHtR measurement window described above.

Want your number right now? The free WHtR calculator runs the exact DA Form 5500 math: round-down waist, truncated ratio, your real max waist by height.

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