More than two-thirds of Reserve and Guard troops are overweight, a potential threat to readiness and their ability to deploy at a moment's notice, a new report by the American Security Project found. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
"Completely unacceptable. This is what happens when standards are IGNORED — and this is what we are changing. REAL fitness & weight standards are here. We will be FIT, not FAT," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared in a post on X.
An ASP report from October 2023 found that two-thirds of active duty service members fell into the overweight to obese category based on body mass index.
"These service members experience heightened risk for a wide variety of serious health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and osteoarthritis, which may lead to life-threatening health events such as stroke and heart failure," the report warned.
Past studies from ASP have found a similar rate of obesity among active duty forces, based on the controversial BMI scale that does not account for muscle mass.
However, the report warned, for reserve forces who hold day jobs and often live far away from military bases, "commanders and policy makers will not be able to combat these trends with a uniform approach."
Recruits do early morning physical fitness before dawn at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina. ( Lynsey Addario/Getty Images)
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The service branches began making accommodations for recruits who do not meet physical fitness standards in recent years as a way to address the recruiting crisis. The Army and Navy offered pre-boot camp training for those who did not meet physical fitness or testing scores. However, those recruits had to meet the same standards in order to graduate from training courses and serve.
"When I was in the Army, we kicked out good soldiers for having naked women tattooed on their arms, and today we are relaxing the standards on shaving, dreadlocks, man buns, and straight-up obesity," Hegseth wrote in his book "The War on Warriors."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hegseth-vows-crackdown-military-obesity-after-shocking-reserve-guard-report