Growing number of obese recruits could make it tougher to field a fit military

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/growing_number_of_obese_recrui.html



As a U.S. Army recruiter, Sgt. 1st Class Marques Daniels liked the man in front of him.

He was 6-foot-1, young and eager to enlist. There was just one problem: He weighed 287 pounds, 82 pounds more than the maximum allowed for a 6-1 soldier.

"I see that all the time," Daniels said Wednesday from the Beaverton recruiting office where he works. "In front of me right now I have a couple young studs who really want to serve their country, but they don't meet the height and weight requirements."

As American youth get fatter, an increasing number of would-be recruits are too pudgy to qualify for the military. More than a sixth of U.S. teens are now obese, and many experts predict the number will grow. Already, weight is the main medical reason recruits are rejected for military service, accounting for a quarter of medical failures. That's almost twice the rate of marijuana use, the No. 2 cause of medical failure.

"More prospects trying to get in now can't get in because of being overweight," said Col. Alaine Encabo, recruiting and retention commander for the Oregon National Guard. "It's not quite an epidemic yet, but it really shrinks the pool that can qualify."

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...before they were conquered by the Visigoths?

We didn't see over weight soldiers unless they were, usually, E-6's or above who were lifers...and very few, too

Welcome to the New Amerika, where soldiers are too fat to fight.