Last verified against the Navy Physical Readiness Program FAQs (2 September 2026) and NAVADMIN 264/25.
The Navy ties the Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA) to advancement through one question: did you pass your most recent one? Since Cycle 1 of 2026, a Sailor who failed the most recent PFA, or the Combat Fitness Assessment in combat arms, cannot be promoted, advanced or frocked until a later official test is passed. Score the fitness half of the PFA with the Navy PRT calculator.
What a failed PFA does to Navy advancement
The Navy’s Physical Readiness Program office states the rule in its September 2026 answers to Sailors: you are ineligible for promotion, advancement and frocking if you failed the most recent PFA or Combat Fitness Assessment, starting with Cycle 1 of 2026. Your commanding officer or officer in charge can also defer frocking, and withhold or withdraw an advancement or promotion, for a Sailor who does not meet the standards.
From 1 January 2026, PFA failures also bring administrative actions, and fitness reports and evaluations carry more PFA detail than before.
Source: Navy Physical Readiness Program FAQs, 2 September 2026; NAVADMIN 264/25, paragraph 6.
How to become eligible for advancement again
- Pass the next official PFAA passing official PFA, or Combat Fitness Assessment in combat arms, in a later cycle restores your eligibility.
- Pass a Special PFAYou can ask for a Special PFA by special request chit. Your commanding officer or officer in charge decides whether to approve it, for purposes such as frocking, advancement, promotion or a billet’s requirements. A failed Special PFA does not count toward the three failures in four years that lead to mandatory administrative separation.
- Mock PFAs do not countA mock PFA is no longer accepted for advancement eligibility.
Source: Navy Physical Readiness Program FAQs, 2 September 2026.
The 2026 reset of earlier PFA failures
NAVADMIN 264/25 reset to zero every PFA failure from before 1 January 2026 for reenlistment, advancement, promotion and continuation decisions. The reset clears old failures from the count. It does not make you eligible again by itself: the Physical Readiness Program office says a Sailor who failed the 2025 PFA stays ineligible for advancement until passing an official PFA or a Special PFA.
A failed PFA does not by itself make you ineligible to reenlist or extend. You can still request reenlistment, and your commanding officer recommends approval or disapproval.
Source: NAVADMIN 264/25, paragraph 3; Navy Physical Readiness Program FAQs, 2 September 2026.
How often the Navy tests
The Navy runs two PFA cycles in 2026: Cycle 1 from 1 January to 30 June and Cycle 2 from 1 July to 31 December. Sailors in the Active Component complete two fitness assessments a year, and Sailors in the Reserve Component at least one. Combat arms personnel also complete a Combat Fitness Assessment once a year.
Source: NAVADMIN 264/25, paragraphs 2 and 5.
Sources
- Physical Readiness Program FAQs (updated 2 September 2026) Navy Physical Readiness Program Office (MyNavy HR), 2 September 2026.
- NAVADMIN 264/25, Physical Readiness Program update for Calendar Year 2026 Chief of Naval Personnel, 30 December 2025.
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