{"id":25039,"date":"2018-07-18T15:01:05","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T15:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/18\/commentary-heres-why-fighting-youth-obesity-is-a-matter-of-national-security\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:40:24","slug":"commentary-heres-why-fighting-youth-obesity-is-a-matter-of-national-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2018\/07\/18\/commentary-heres-why-fighting-youth-obesity-is-a-matter-of-national-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s why fighting youth obesity is a matter of national security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether or not you consider military service an attractive option, it\u2019s hard to argue against a strong military being essential to America\u2019s security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet the U.S. military faces increasing difficulty finding enough quality recruits to meet its already slimmed-down goals. According to the Pentagon, 71 percent of Americans age 17 to 24 are ineligible to join the military, primarily because they are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2015\/07\/15\/report-nearly-1-in-3-young-adults-too-fat-for-military\/\" target=\"_blank\">too overweight<\/a> or too poorly educated, or they have a record of serious crime or drug abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2018\/01\/11\/recruits-from-10-southern-states-less-likely-to-be-fit-study-finds\/\" target=_blank>obesity issue<\/a> is the most troubling because the trend is going in the wrong direction,\u201d said then-Maj. Gen. Allen Batschelet, the commanding general of Army Recruiting Command, in 2015. \u201cWe think by 2020 it could be as high as 50 percent, which means only 2 in 10 would qualify to join the Army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my capacity as executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roa.org\/\" target=_blank>Reserve Officers Association<\/a>, I recently spoke with a senior military officer who candidly observed that virtually every service is having a hard time meeting its recruitment numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The effects of America\u2019s \u201cculture of obesity\u201d \u2014 making poor nutrition choices or getting inadequate exercise, or both \u2014 affects many who do enlist. The military spends more than $1.5 billion annually treating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2016\/10\/09\/and-the-fattest-u-s-military-service-is\/\" target=_blank>obesity-related health conditions<\/a> and replacing those discharged because they\u2019re unfit. I saw it myself: pudgy soldiers visibly pushing, or beyond, the \u201cheight and weight\u201d standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2016\/09\/11\/the-u-s-military-has-a-huge-problem-with-obesity-and-it-s-only-getting-worse\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/obesity.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The U.S. military has a huge problem with obesity and it&#8217;s only getting worse<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Pentagon, for the first time in years, has disclosed data showing a sharp rise in the number of overweight troops, raising big questions about the health and fitness of today&#039;s force.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recruiting challenges caused by health-related factors such as obesity, it\u2019s fair to say, increase pressure on the military to compensate by enlisting otherwise ineligible candidates. The Defense Department uses its Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery to identify a candidate\u2019s knowledge and ability to perform military roles; it sorts people into categories from I (the highest) to V. The military prefers to recruit from categories I-III, but if necessity demands, will take up to 4 percent from Category IV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are not bad people \u2014 heck, they want to serve their country. The record shows, however, that they do not perform as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[Category IV] soldiers present several problems,\u201d according to Dennis Laich, a retired Army major general who wrote \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Skin-Game-Poor-Kids-Patriots\/dp\/1491703822\" target=_blank>Skin in the Game: Poor Kids and Patriots<\/a>.\u201d \u201cFirst, they are less likely to complete initial training or their initial term of enlistment. Second, they are more difficult to train because of lower cognitive skills and literacy. Third, they are less effective. &#8230; Finally, training and leading these CAT IV soldiers is difficult and time-consuming for our Army\u2019s already overburdened company grade officers and NCOs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last year, the Army recruited nearly 2 percent of its new members, over a thousand soldiers, from Category IV. It doesn\u2019t sound like much &#8230; unless it\u2019s your son or daughter whose life is on the line with a lower-quality \u201cbattle buddy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to Category IV recruits, \u201c&#8230; the Army is granting so-called \u2018moral waivers\u2019 to people it would likely turn away under normal conditions, including convicted felons,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/how-the-army-recruits-straight-out-of-prisons\" target=_blank>an April 23 Daily Beast article<\/a>. So the effects of one problem (obesity) exacerbate the effects of others (the necessity to admit otherwise ineligible recruits).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the military is having difficulty meeting its recruitment numbers in a time of largely peacetime deployments (with the reduction of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan), how will we fare if a hot war begins someplace \u2014 or, more likely, a war in one place and trouble elsewhere, caused by mischievous \u201ccompetitors\u201d seeing a golden opportunity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlikely? Virtually no one on Aug. 1, 1991, imagined that soon 540,000 U.S. troops would be in a war in the Persian Gulf. On Aug. 2, things changed. The world today is arguably more unstable and more dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adequate military power (and a touch of luck) have since 1776 been essential to our nation\u2019s survival. Even in an age of highly hyped technology, that means capable, fit, trained and ready service members. It means the ability to draw if need be from the nation\u2019s youth to enlarge and replenish the military. We may not have weeks or months \u201cnext time\u201d to build the necessary force. We may not have an enemy that collapses in 100 hours, as occurred in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few weeks of basic training cannot undo a decade or more of unhealthy eating and exercise habits among those who want, and whom we may need, to serve in our military. And beyond the imperatives of national security, America needs healthy young talent to help our nation compete in every sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We need comprehensive action that involves parents, schools, and communities to help kids understand and make healthy choices to avert the present \u201cobesity crisis\u201d from becoming a national security crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why I and my fellow retired admirals and generals who are members of the nonprofit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.strongnation.org\/missionreadiness\" target=_blank>Mission: Readiness<\/a> support efforts to get more opportunities for physical activity back into schools. Daily physical education has been shown to decrease the odds of a child becoming an overweight adult by as much as 28 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mission: Readiness members also strongly supported the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which led to healthier school meals and snacks for millions of students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those of us who served in the military learned from the moment our first drill sergeant entered our young life, that a dedicated team working in concert can achieve virtually any goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The health and vitality of our nation\u2019s most precious asset \u2014 our young Americans \u2014 is a goal worth the combined efforts of us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Retired Maj. Gen. Jeffrey E. Phillips is a member of Mission: Readiness and the executive director of the Reserve Officers Association. <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A retired two-star general on the intersection of obesity and military readiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":50835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":75,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["commentary","opinion"],"primary_category":"commentary"},"5":{"categories":["commentary","opinion","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"commentary"},"6":{"categories":["commentary","opinion","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"commentary"},"7":{"categories":["daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"daily-news-roundup"}}},"categories":[75,101,26,18],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3923],"class_list":["post-25039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"JGC7VTJ36NAVVI7D56TWPYOMZE","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/commentary\/2018\/07\/18\/commentary-heres-why-fighting-youth-obesity-is-a-matter-of-national-security\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Here\u2019s why fighting youth obesity is a matter of national security - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A retired two-star general on the intersection of obesity and military readiness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2018\/07\/18\/commentary-heres-why-fighting-youth-obesity-is-a-matter-of-national-security\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here\u2019s why fighting youth obesity is a matter of national security\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A retired two-star general on the intersection of obesity and military readiness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2018\/07\/18\/commentary-heres-why-fighting-youth-obesity-is-a-matter-of-national-security\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Air Force TImes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-18T15:01:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T20:40:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Army Maj. 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