More than a third of young Americans too fat to fight for our country

November 10, 12:25 PMSF Fitness ExaminerJim Evans

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The future of our armed forces?
Microsoft Office

The U.S. is in the midst of two wars and various other skirmishes around the world, yet more than one third of the 31.2 Americans ages 17-24 are too fat or too unfit to serve in the military. Worse, another 40% do not qualify for other reasons.  In other words, 75% of our young people (including more than 3 million Californians) – more than 7 out of every 10 – are not even eligible to serve in the first place. 

According to the November 5 edition of the Army Times (http://www.armytimes.com/news/), 35% of young people in this age group are unfit for military service because of physical or medical issues, and “the major component of this is obesity,” says Curt Gilroy, Director of Accessions at the Penatgon.  “We have an obesity crisis in this country. There is no question about it.” 

In study released later the same day, the group Mission Readiness (http://www.missionreadiness.org/) announced that only 4.7 million of the 31.2 million Americans 17-24 are even eligible to enlist .  The other 26.5 million?  They are either physically or mentally unqualified, have too many dependents under the age of 18, have a history of illegal drug use, or have a criminal record.   

Sobering statistics, indeed.