US Troops - Too Fat to
Fight??
www.stewsmith.com
I am not sure if the StewSmith.com or the Military.com
readers read the most recent article written by the Associated Press describing
the overweight soldiers in our military titled Are U.S. Troops Too Fat to
Fight?
The story not only discusses the overweight trends of the
active duty and reserve military, but also the recruits who are too heavy to
enter into the military. The
military community has always been a cross section of society good or
bad. These days, as our country
increases in size, it is only a matter of time before the military shares the
traits of obesity and associated illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and
some forms of cancer to name a few.
A shocking 20% of all male recruits and 40%
of female recruits are too heavy to enter into the military ranks. Basically, the new recruits have to lose
weight so they can barely pass the minimum standards in both the height / weight
measurements as well as the physical fitness tests. See PFT for all military branches
article for PFT standards the recruits cannot reach:
www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/pftstandards.htm
The problem with having recruits barely
passing the minimum standards upon entering military boot camps or services
academies is the unneeded stress on the joints of out of shape people, unneeded
mental stress of constantly receiving extra attention for being below average,
and the unneeded loss of focus the new recruits have when actually learning
their military jobs.
Being out of shape is a huge distraction for our recruits
and soldiers. Many of the active
duty and reverse soldiers do not make advancement to higher ranks, therefore
losing extra pay, benefits, future selection to jobs needed for career
advancement. And, on a far worse
level, if the overweight and obesity of our troops is not fixed, we are dealing
with a national strategic problem making it difficult to defend America from our
enemies.
There are simple answers eat better and exercise
more. Read the Stew Smith Archives for
more ideas on fitting fitness into your life and read the most recent articles
on the Summer Lean
Down Diet. This is a healthy
way to burn the fat and keep the muscle so your fitness does not suffer while
dieting.
Keep the emails coming and let me know how the workouts are
going. You can email me at
stew@stewsmith.com.
