National Security

Pentagon: U.S. Troops Keep Getting Fatter And Fatter

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
Font Size:

U.S. service-members are more overweight than ever before and the trend is likely to continue, newly released health data reveals.

In terms of data, 7.8% of the military is overweight, which represents a staggering rise from 1.6% in 2001. Pentagon officials are divided over whether the rising overweight rate in the military is a threat to the security of the U.S. The statistic is derived from the Body Mass Index of U.S. troops.

“If I have to climb up to the top of a mountain in Nuristan, in Afghanistan, and if I have someone who is classified as clinically obese, they are potentially going to be a liability for me on that patrol,” the U.S. Army’s top Non-Commissioned Officer cautioned in a statement to Military Times.

Other Pentagon officials downplayed the rise in the rate, saying the alarming trend is nothing to worry about. “A physician who is now more aware about nutrition and fitness, they may be diagnosing it more than previous years. … You can’t tell from these numbers exactly what it is that is accounting for these apparent increases,” the Pentagon’s top health official Dr. Terry Adirim said.

“I’m not concerned about these numbers reflecting problems with fitness or readiness,”Adirim continued.  “You cannot extrapolate directly to say that, because a BMI may be higher, that person then is unhealthy and therefore they will not be ready for combat,” another top Pentagon health official said.

Obesity is also becoming an impediment to military recruiting efforts. Nearly 1 in 3 American children are now too obese to qualify for military service, a report by retired military officers in July, 2015, noted. The report added that in the state of Kansas alone, 71% of the population is too fat to serve.

“I don’t know that it’s fair to call it a crisis just yet, but I think it’s quickly approaching one,” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Allen Batschelet told CNN in April 2015. “It really becomes a nation security issue,” he continued.

Follow Saagar Enjeti on Twitter

Send tips to saagar@dailycallernewsfoundation.org

 

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.