The military’s obesity problem
The Military Times reports that the armed forces is wrestling with obesity these days.
[Army Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell, the senior enlisted adviser to Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford] said today’s force is combat ready, but he believes the obesity trends are troubling, and demand careful consideration from senior leaders. “I don’t think it’s a clear readiness concern right now. But I think it’s something that needs our attention. And we really have to look across our services at what we’re doing every morning or every day to prepare the men and women for what could be the worst day of their life,” Troxell said in a recent interview.
Well, one of the problems is the fact that the Pentagon has been making noise about changing the standards and allowing more people to be fatter – privates hear that differently that the brass intended it to be heard.
Military women are more likely to be designated overweight or fat compared to military men. In 2015, 10.3 percent of military woman were flagged as overweight, compared to 7.3 percent of men. But that gender gap is shrinking as the rates of overweight males has increased more rapidly. In 2001, about one in 77 men was deemed fat, compared to about one in 30 women. Now the comparison between males and females is far less dramatic as the latest data shows one in 14 men is overweight, compared to one in 10 women,
The article continues that even combat arms troops are gaining weight;
On average, those assigned to combat units are not as likely to be overweight as the force at large. In 2001, only about one in every 100 service members assigned to combat arms career fields was flagged for being overweight. Now, it’s about one in 15.
Yeah, well, social warriors don’t need to be as fit as combat warriors. The Pentagon has to make a choice which kind of warriors they want to fight their wars.
Category: Big Pentagon
Here’s another two examples….
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g111/randee1122/ArmyStrongHooooah.jpg
ChipNASA…You wouldn’t see that in the Air Force! Just kidding. 😀
First picture, guy with the pizza. Is that the same guy as the one in the above picture?
Second picture. A few years back, that picture was distro’d all by our 2-star’s CSM in an email saying, “I want to know who this Soldier is and what unit he is in now!” I recall hearing something about him being national guard.
The Fattest Soldier I’ve ever seen was actually an active duty female in 3ID in 2005. She got even fatter while deployed and her 1SG, being the loving man that he was, gave her a battle buddy who was about 90 pounds, if that. So, she looked even fatter. Apparently, her plan was to get so fat she wouldn’t deploy. Yep, worked out great for her. She still deployed, was a fobbit, and got separated when she redeployed.
The majority of the country is overweight! But its not what people think….food processors have been putting every piece of shyt they can find in our food, anything to stretch their profit and eliminate their expense….FOOD is the main problem in America, that and those chicken shyt Air Farce bas-ards spreading chemtrails all over the country (at least the west) and telling us its cloud seeding…BULLSHYT, funny, if its cloud seeding why the west is in a drought…what they are doing is killing the water, the soil, the air and the BEES! I have absolutely NO GARDEN this year, everything died because the soil has been poisoned, and ABSOLUTELY no bees! without bees, nothing gets pollinated, nothing grows….think about it…Control the food, you control the people, think its not happening? THINK AGAIN!
HOly Shit! That walking talking tub-o-lard looks like TWO 9Ws.
(9W;non-re-enlistable for overweight)
It’s for damned sure what he’s leaning on won’t tip over.
When I was in AIT they had a guy as fat as that guy in the photo. I remember seeing two guys motivating him the entire way during his 2 mile run for the PT test. I was thinking “what the hell? How can the allow this guy to be here”?
Because Basic Training pushed him through so he’d be someone else’s problem.
How in the heck did he not fail his last 20 PT tests?
Does he have to have custom-made uniforms?
Why would any self-respecting Sgt not smoke his tail until he lost that gut.
I’m nearing mandatory Socialist inSecurity and I’m in better shape than Tub O’Lard there.
“Tub ‘O Lard”????
How insensitive, he’s just big boned with a slow metabolism…those bones are so big they’d choke a T-Rex sure, but big boned nonetheless.
If he wants sensitive, he needs to talk with his fellow-snowflakes in the safe room his surrogate Mommy provides.
[snorts into coffee]
{Disclaimer – I in no way, shape or form should be construed, understood or interpreted as taking VOV’s comment as anything but sarcasm.}
Yep I’m closer to 70 these days than 40 and I’m in way better shape than our large boned snowflake. I still referee soccer from middle school to high school age games and usually do between 3-4 games each week before hitting the water with my sailboat on weekends….
I realize not everyone needs to be able to run up and down a soccer field for 70 minutes to do their military job effectively. But damn, that fellow looks to be exceeding the stress limits for most office chairs and heavy equipment loads.
You can’t smoke soldiers anymore, that might hurt their feelings. You have a generation that has been told they are special just the way they are, and there is no need for them to change. These are endemic to problems across our culture, not just the Armed Forces.
With that being said, he needs to be doing 2-a-days on deployment. There is no excuse to come back from 9 months of ‘yard time’ looking like that.
http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/09/weight-loss-guru-teaches-marines-how-to-quickly-make-weight/
This picture really blows me away.
This is a major problem with in the Guard and Reserves. You only have them for two days a month, that is not going to “get them in shape”.
I’ve had units that 80+% got taped after an APFT. I even got excited one quarter when I got the number of flagged for HT/WT BF down to 10.3% in that unit.
I know I “fight the bulge” with my civilian job that does not allow for time to take meal breaks and spends most of the time sitting. Every Annual Training I lose 8 to 12 pounds just from doing normal everyday Army training. (Combat Engineer, lots of on my feet time).
That Tub O’Lard would never make it through my son’s Guard unit weekend.
But, they’re Airborne and Tubbo there would need a cargo ‘chute to have a chance of not greasing the landing site. But no way could he keep knees and feet together…
He can’t eve SEE his knees and feet
Same here as far as units that get weight and tap the last one before retirement had 70% over wight
And only a 50% APFT Pass rate Lol..
What the hell happened to hard PT and a long run every day? Not the Army I remember.
PRT happened. Physical Readiness Training, FM 7-22.
On PRT you still are supposed to run 3 times a week. Long run on Mondays, minimum 5 miles, no more than 7.
Wednesday is springs, 60-120s. Friday is hill repeats or foot march, alternating each week.
The days we don’t run or foot march we do circuit training or combat focus PT.
And of course before any of that every day we do the preparation drill and then military movement drill 1 and 2 before running or foot marching, or conditioning drills or the climbing drills the other days.
Then recovery drill at the end.
People that suck at PT and people than don’t like or want to learn new shit hate PRT, but if you do it right and use all the tools available to you, PRT can be really hard.
Well I know when I was in Iraq 09-10 you weren’t allowed to wear those combat shirts if you looked like that or anything close to it
Although not the norm, it is worth mentioning that there was a soldier of similar size in my unit when I was deployed. The reason he got so big was due to him not being able to take his thyroid medication with him on deployment. He actually suffered serious medical problems during that deployment and it took about 6 months before our unit decided to send him stateside.
That I can understand and sympathize with.
“not being able to take his thyroid medication with him on deployment.”
Why not? Who stopped him?
Our command told us the only medication we were allowed to take on deployment were those our assigned medical brought with them. During one of the inspections they found his meds, confiscated them, and then dumped them. And of course medical didnt have replacements.
Yeah, that could have cost him his life. That was just stupid on their part.
I remember getting a new platoon sergeant in ’82 who looked pretty hefty. His first meeting he said he would emphasize PT… one of the platoon gazelles laughed. “Outside in 5 minutes in PT uniform” – when they returned about a half hour later, said platoon sergeant was barely winded, and the gazelle was gasping. “You ever see the Incredible Hulk run? Kinda like that..only really, really fast.” Nobody laughed at SFC Mike Ernst after that… good man. Couldn’t do a regulation pushup- his chest hit the ground before his shoulders broke the plane. Some chunky folks will surprise you.
Ran across someone like that in Korea. One guy there was about 6’3″, about 210lbs, and looked heavy. The SOB could hold a 6:30 pace for 10 kilometers – easy. Over hills.
There was a Platoon Sergeant in my company in Ger. who couldn’t fit in the TC hatch of his M113. They had to lower the ramp to get him aboard. There was an E5 even bigger, but he was in the antitank (106 mm RR) section and rode in a jeep. That Jeep had a permanent list.
But that was the bad old draftee Army. I heard standards were higher in the New, Improved, All Volunteer Force.
Yeah, if you give a shit about your troops or unit, you are kicked out. If you kiss ass and tow the PC and party line, you’ll make 20-star general.
I was in a combat MOS called “avenger crew member” or 14s. We regularly trained with the 327th infantry while in the 101st. At my battery we had an E-5 who was obese and on permanent profile. He couldn’t ever do PT in the morning. I kept wondering why the allowed him to stay in the military since he can’t do PT. Then we deployed and they allowed him to come along with us. Then after he got his 30 days in theater he left and went back home. That way he got to get his campaign medal. I never respected him because he was fat and couldn’t do the job. He always acted like he was a real tough guy too which really made me even more mad about him. He wasn’t even tough enough to handle running a few miles.
Solution:
Smaller reflective PT belts.
There. All better.
Yeah.
I have seen some Commanders (no names mentioned) do weird alternative PT. Turn on the radio, put on your leggings and grab your giant rubber ball…..
While there might be some merit, it always seemed to me that running, push-ups, pull-up, sit-ups, telephone poles, ruck marches, combatives and the occasional sports PT day did the job.
But what do I know?
Here’s a scene of the fat NCO I’m talking about. He’s at 8:48. He’s white, wearing glasses and his bullet proof vest is holding in his gut. He disgust me to this day. He was on permanent profile.
Lily,
That brought back memories. I was there with D co 2/327. Small damn world
Sent the same suggestion every year after I went active duty. Daily PT. USAF always denied. Can’t imagine why.
At Lajes AB, PT was daily. Everyone from the Base CC to the airmen rolled out at 0700. I miss that place. I rolled in there with a few extra pounds to lose and came out 20 pounds lighter.
I had one coworker who they declared fat due to her waist measurement. She weighed 120, was 5’5″ and did not have an hourglass figure. After 2 months of her dieting and working out, her waist size was still the same. However, you could see her ribs sticking out. Still classified overweight.
I’ve watched the creeping FUPA during PT on my morning drives into Bragg. Our students are still lean and mean, but the troops from commands around us have become increasingly and conspicuously corpulent and slow.
Holy fat!
How embarrassing.
Being a lousy runner, I had to stop every 5 blocks and catch my breath. I have no idea how anyone can run a marathon and still breathe. Still, I pursued it and managed to get in 3 miles each night.
Ditto swimming: no speed at all, but dogged pursuit of 10 laps (10 down, 10 back equal one full lap) and an hour or so of treading water in the deep end do a lot for your glutes and other big muscles. I have no idea how competitive swimmers manage to do several laps without stopping to catch their breath.
Can’t do pushups, either, never could. But I can hike at a steady pace for miles with or without a load. I find that hiking for an extended period of time at a steady pace is just as beneficial as running. I might get snowshoes this winter and hit the parts of the forest preserve open to dog mushers and snowshoers.
Not all of us are track athletes, y’know.
I’ve been using pix of these chubby guys as an inspiration. That pushing exercise – push away from the table, push the plate away from your spot – well, that works wonders. So does skipping meals. Lost several inches off waistline from that.
I’m just wondering if the local pool would let me wear swim tights for swimming.
I’ll just keep the chunky guys as continued inspiration to drop another dress size.
Fatty fat fat cocksuckers.
I have always been a big boy. 60lbs over my screening weight. Big will always be an issue – but my experience has always been as I was raised in big Army – be big, but don’t fail in PT. Weight is a subjective thing, make PT the gold standard across the board. Do your job, make your PT and shoot to standard. As long as your size doesn’t stop your work.
The worst thing is pulling folks from IRR or Stop-Loss because of pencil dick Ivory tower bastards want more people. You have folks that want to stay, but kick them out- than you yank back folks that don’t want to go back or get out.
Talk about a waste. Spending time and money were it needs not be expended. Not good enough to keep- but when you need to die, they’ll send you in a heartbeat.
How in the hell did that guy not fail his last 10 PRT’s (minimium) being that size?
In contrast, this Brit can teach Tub O’Lard a thing or two:
http://www.thelocal.ch/20160819/amputees-matterhorn-trek-makes-it-more-possible-for-everyone-else
Disgusting and embarrassing
“The US Military has a huge problem with obesity and it’s only getting worse” is the Mil Times’ article title. Why is it the military’s problem? Seems to me that the fat people are the ones with the problem. The military can say, “You’re a phatphuk. We’ll give you one opportunity to lose weight. There are no second helpings. Don’t lose it and you’re out. Lose it and regain it and you’re out.” No problem.
Wait! That’s not very supportive of me, is it? Yes, it is. I am supporting the military and the lion’s share of its people who keep fighting fit.
They are basing this obesity “problem” on the BMI of the individual. The number they use is a BMI of greater than 25. BMI is not an accurate measure of obesity or fitness. For a height of 72″ at a weight of 185 the BMI would be 25. They are considering that to be overweight. This is not reflective of a military member’s fitness or a healthy body composition. I am a 1SG in the Army, I am in the obese category for BMI, but I am well below the Army’s body fat limit, regularly come close to maxing my APFT and ran a half marathon on Saturday. This article only says that current soldiers have a higher BMI than past soldiers. It says nothing about the actual body composition of those soldiers or their actual fitness level.
And, considering that the Army’s HT/WT table is pulled from the AMA’s standard for the average person and what they should weigh at a certain height, it is bullshit.
The average person doesn’t carry 50, 75, 100 pounds of gear up and down hills. The average person doesn’t need that extra 40 pounds of muscle to do their job.
Even professional body builders are considered “morbidly obese” by physicians. Even though their body fat percentage might be 2%, they don’t weigh what they are “supposed to” for their height.
Regardless of that, this guy is fat. There are fat bodies, but the system is flawed.
FYI, those AMA tables were originally cooked up for the life insurance industry back in the 1950s and are completely out of date, unrelated to any current reality in fitness or good health.
Someone who is bulemic could probably fit that asinine profile, whereas someone who has a normal appetite and doesn’t eat junk food might not.
I thought they dumped that crap a longh time ago, but I guess I was mistaken.
Its the Army. Even the Marines were smart enough to stop doing sit-ups decades ago, the Army still does.
So, yeah they still use them. Even the VA still uses the same ht/wt charts.
If you’re short and lean you’re fine. If you’re over 6 feet you’re pretty much fucked.
The biggest Soldiers I ever saw were the Senior NCOs and Officers of Fat Army I mean First Army at Ft Dix as we were getting ready to deploy. 2012. Made our big boys look tiny.
You mean the ones that were working “hard” to deploy people for about 3-4 hours a day?
I was there in 11 to deploy out on an accelerated schedule. Yeah, a couple times I had to do training at night. The rest of the time it was “this could take us all day, so be prepared” and by lunchtime “well, unless you guys want to come back this afternoon, we’ve covered what we need to….”
Roger that MSG. I was trained harder to go to Kosovo and no one tried to kill us there. Those fat bastards at Dix were just collecting a check.
1st Army East turned into a huge job security effort. Everything they could think of was added in so they could get more money and resources.
In 2014 they shuttered 1st Army East and now its only West who does deployments for reserve units. We went from being at Dix for 90 days to being at Hood or Bliss for about 20 days.
I googled that pic and got a million hits. I kept going back and there it was in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011. Took a break, hit it again and there it was in 2010 and 2009. I gave up at that point, figuring a pic at least seven years old was enough. I now feel sorry for that poor slob.
He’s leaning on a rhino, those were big in 05 to 08 maybe? I’d take a stab at an 07-08 deployment for that pic.
Seriously, I wonder if the Maintenance Shop had to check out the Rhino after Tubba Bubba was leaning on it.
Troxell weighs more in his ASU because of the extra unauthorized NDSM.
As with so many things, one size (or standard) does not fit all. I was one of those who always bumped up against the max weight even by USAF dictates. Not an ounce of flab anywhere back in the day, but worried every year if I could manage to slide in under the wire without doing any damage to my health keeping within the weight limit.
Sad reality was that as age took it’s toll on the joints and gravity started taking care of other issues, my fitness level decreased, but so did the weight. Didn’t have to worry at all near retirement, but the uniforms got bigger. Go figure. All I did was prove that muscle does weigh more than fat. But we all knew that already.
Meanwhile, readiness seems to be very low among priorities these days. But we also knew that. They are running off anyone worth retaining as they recruit and retain the least fit among us. Sad.
Push that back in the water before it dies
Our Armed forces are merely a reflection of society.
The US is simply a country where anyone can be fat, regardless of income.
I remember picking up my kids from high school a few years back, at least half of the kids were food blisters.
Food blisters, I like it. I think I just found my SGM phrase I’ll always say if I ever make it that far up.