Yes, Americans are Fat. The US Military is Fatter.

[Judi Lynn]

DECEMBER 31, 2020
BY THOMAS KNAPP

“Military leaders are worried about the shrinking pool of young people who qualify for military service,” Gina Harkins reports at Military.com. “More than 70% of young Americans remain unable to join the military due to obesity, education problems, or crime and drug records.”

Mission: Readiness, a group of retired military officers, wants the US Department of Defense to create an “advisory committee on military recruitment,” with a view toward getting the next generation in shape so that they’re qualified, as the old saying goes, to “travel to exotic, distant lands; meet exciting, unusual people; and kill them.”

I’ve got a better idea: Instead of trying to trim fat off America’s adolescents, trim fat off the US Armed Forces.

The US military employs nearly 1.4 million active duty personnel and about 850,000 reservists.

More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/12/31/yes-americans-are-fat-the-us-military-is-fatter/

[Zoonart]

1. We need this again.

[Lars39]

2. Wait until long term COVID-19 problems are added in.

At the rate we’re going...

[Irish_Dem]

3. Yes this is going to impact military readiness.

No one seems to realize that right now.
We are going see decades of health problems.

[onetexan]

13. i'm for a 2-year mandatory military service. Many other countries have this requirement. It would

behoove our country to do so as well.

[Irish_Dem]

16. Attach free college education to the service, it is a winner. nt

[onetexan]

17. Bingo!

[pandr32]

4. Michelle Obama worked so hard to combat obesity

...in young people. We have to start somewhere.
All the work she did was uprooted by 45, though.

[appalachiablue]

5. Months ago the US military barred Covid positive people from enlisting.

This nation is in bad shape so many ways it's infuriating..

[jimfields33]

6. I'm all for cutting the military budget once we're out of Korea, Germany, italy

Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa like DJibodi and 29 other areas. Let’s stop using our military letting these countries spend money elsewhere like healthcare.

[onetexan]

14. i'm for keeping our bases in Germany & Italy. Korea? We should maintain a minimum to keep the peace.

[jimfields33]

19. Not our job to keep the peace worldwide

One reason we don’t have nice things. Those three countries mentioned are rich enough to provide for themselves a bigger military when if we leave.

[onetexan]

20. maybe not elsewhere but in Korea's case with nutjobs like the Kim clan running N. Korea i'm inclined

to think it's in our best interest, as well as S. Korea & the rest of the world, to keep a minimum force near the northern/southern Korean border.

[Blue Owl]

7. Thanks Donald

[Aristus]

8. I can't understand why this is happening.

I was on active duty from 1989 to 1993. Even in permanent party, we only did about an hour of PT a day; calisthenics and (usually) a five-mile run. But the expectation was that everyone knew that was not going to be enough to meet height and weight standards, or keep one fit for the yearly PT test. So we knew we had to get exercise on our own.

I always went for a run after work, and on the weekends before breakfast. I occasionally hit the gym, but the heavy lifting requirements that come with being a tanker were often enough to keep toned.

I think the Army needs to shift focus away from using "Get computer training you can use in civilian life!" as a recruiting tactic (which probably draws in the sedentary, out-of-shape gamer types), and initiate a Marine Corps-style program of an emphasis on physical fitness above all else.

[qazplm135]

10. You didn't read the article

It's about recruit pools not Soldiers. They just changed the PT test to be significantly harder with six events instead of three and only two to five minutes rest between events not ten. Trust me, they aren't slacking in the Army but the pool of recruits is much smaller because of a fatter youth.

[marie999]

12. My husband and I were in the army during the 60s.

After basic training, we no longer had pt or a weapon. Once a year we had to pass a very simple pt test and fire 20 rounds from an M-14 at targets. Each group fired at the same targets. Turkey was really weird. They sent my unit to a Turkish army base. Turkish soldiers were also on the range. They were 50 yards in front of us and maybe 25-30 degrees to our right.

[rainin]

9. The food at West Point is shockingly unhealthy. I imagined that our elite military institutions

would at least care about the health of our future officers. Bad food is so short-sighted. Who thinks it's a good idea to set our soldiers up for chronic health conditions in the future. The priorities in the military are so whacked. Humans are assets, too. Feeding them poorly may save a little on the front end, but it does nothing to improve readiness, and medical care down the line is expensive. The only winner here is the pharmaceutical industry.

[pfitz59]

11. Placing the blame. Meet the council...

https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/meet-the-council/index.html

[UpInArms]

15. Processed foods ...

they have made them cheaper and easier than preparing healthy nutritious meals.

Soda machines in schools that were installed for profit to make up the loss of funding ..

There are so many factors that have led to this disastrous moment ..

Sigh

[BlueWavePsych]

18. K&R