The military has expressed concerns for the future of recruitment following a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report stating the US is currently facing an epidemic of childhood obesity.
Between 2017-2020, the CDC reported 14.7 million cases of obesity in children, adolescents, and adults aged 2-19. This research indicates that approximately one in five have a serious weight problem that can lead to long-term health issues, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, joint problems, and other related issues.
More than one-third of military applicants fail to meet the Army’s weight requirements and get turned down for enlistment. Being deemed unsuitable due to not being able to meet the weight standard is one of the leading reasons why applicants don’t make it past an enlistment center.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who served in numerous command roles, commented on how this situation impacts readiness in a July 2022 CDC handout entitled “Unfit to Serve: Obesity and Physical Activity are Impacting National Security“.
Hertling stated that “The military has experienced increasing difficulty in recruiting soldiers as a result of physical inactivity, obesity, and malnutrition among our nation’s youth. Not addressing these issues now will impact our future national security.”
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This statement aligns with the American Security Project, which reported a 25% decline in enlistment in 2022.
“As delayed entry program recruits are expedited to fill the current shortfall, the subsequent year’s anticipated recruit pool will shrink further,” the report states. “This creates an even larger gap that compounds year over year. The continuing shortfall will outpace the military’s replacement rate over time, reducing the size of the force significantly and resulting in an inability for the military to remain mission effective across all of its obligations.”
A policy by the Department of Defense defines acceptable limits on body fat, often referred to as “body mass index,” or “BMI,” scores. This policy limits military recruiters from enlisting people who have obesity or other weight conditions.
In soldiers, excess weight is often the biggest risk factor in developing musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) according to public health studies. According to military experts, these injuries are the main medical impediment to U.S. military readiness, with more than 10 million limited duty days each year and over 70% of the medically non-deployable population attributed to MSKIs.
A collaborative group of scientists took to the lab to research MSKIs in 2018 to find out what can cause such an injury and the overall direct medical costs forwarded to Uncle Sam. Their report, initially published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice in 2019, revealed that soldiers who are less physically fit were at a higher risk of MSKIs during basic training.
In a recent follow-up study published in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases in 2022, they discovered that recruits from the southern region accounted for half of the overall direct medical cost of MSKIs during basic training.
According to the investigators, these findings could assist in the development of more effective prevention and treatment strategies for MSKIs in military training.
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“These two studies suggest that Army recruits from the southern states disproportionately contribute to the military’s MSKI problem,” says Dr. Daniel Bornstein, lead author for both studies and current chair of the Military Settings Sector for the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan. “More trainees were recruited from southern states than from any other region, yet Army recruits from southern states were less physically fit than recruits from the rest of the country and were injured at a higher rate than recruits from any other region.”
Keith Hauret, a retired Army officer and physical therapist who now works for the Defense Centers for Public Health-Aberdeen believes these risk factors extend beyond the military and could be a problem for the US population overall.
“Low levels of physical activity and poor fitness were found to be the strongest predictors of MSKIs among male and female soldiers,” says Hauret.
Currently, the United States has high levels of obesity and low levels of physical activity among its citizens. These factors are directly responsible for $117 billion in annual U.S. healthcare costs, which are disproportionately higher in the South.
The CDC report also quotes retired Navy Rear Adm. Richard R. Jeffries, who served as the Marine Corps’ Senior Medical Officer and Healthcare Advisor.
“If we don’t work to build a healthy foundation for today’s young people, both the military and our nation will pay the price tomorrow.”
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Who wants to join the rainbow military and get thire limbs and genitals blown off for the Liberal World Order? OK enough of that and I’ll address the main topic: Food. Too much. Wrong kind. Eaten at the wrong times. Computer games. Played too much too long. Parents.Too busy. Too lazy. Too stupid. Physical activity-rather lack of. See previous.
The military is run by a bunch of toxic libs, saying that, who would want to join any thing with the clown show we have running this country into the ground?