Facing fitness crisis, Army leaders look to change culture

[Pete]

Facing fitness crisis, Army leaders look to change culture

http://www.fayobserver.com/news/20180224/facing-fitness-crisis-army-leaders-look-to-change-culture

"...A recent Heritage Foundation report found that, according to 2017 Pentagon data, “71 percent of young Americans between 17 and 24 are ineligible to serve in the United States military.” Nearly one-third of those young Americans are too overweight for military service.

“Put another way: Over 24 million of the 34 million people of that age group cannot join the armed forces — even if they wanted to,” said retired Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr and Bridget Handy, who authored the report, “The Looming National Security Crisis: Young Americans Unable to Serve in the Military.”..."

Too much time hanging out inside instead of playing and riding bikes outside.

[Scimitar]

I saw this the other day.
Here were my thoughts.

By the numbers
- If I recall correctly perhaps 50% of the armed forced are populated by the junior grades (E1 thru E4, WO1, O1, kinda thing).
- Authorized strength including reserves is floating around 2,100,000
- 15% of the armed forces are female
- Therefore, the 18-24 yo male population has to provide around 900,000 swinging Johnsons.
- The US male 18-24 yo population is floating around 16,000,000
- If 71% of these fellas are indeed unable to qualify for enlistment, this leaves perhaps 4,600,000 dudes to select from.

USAREC etc has a hell of a mission, it's got to convert roughly 20% or 1 in every 5 eligible lads.

I think one can see why DOD
- Provide waivers
- Tries to attract foreign nationals with the promise of citizenship
- Pays great signing bonuses
- etc etc

This really is a major national security issue, DOD personnel does not do well in a short supply market. Quality drops, costs go up.
And the trend is not in our favour.

S

[Mustang Man]

The U.S. Army Public Health Center and the American Heart Association found that recruits from 10 Southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — are “significantly less fit, and consequently are more likely to encounter training related injuries than recruits from other U.S. states.”

Those 10 states have accounted for more than 37 percent of the Army’s new recruits in recent years, according to data from U.S. Army Recruiting Command.

Nothing against against southerners but this always stuck out as an issue for me. The Military needs to work on attracting other cross sections of society. Say what you want about the North East, the matter is we have a more fit healthier population compared to what I've seen in the south and what the above study mentioned. Utilizing a selective service system would significantly reduce this problem. And you get the added bonus of drafted yankees returning to their blue states with ingrained conservative values, perhaps even turning states purple or red! In high school I was center left, being exposed to this forum my senior year and entering the military changed that.;)

[Pete]

The draft is the left's wet dream.

They want the days of burning draft cards and protesters chanting "Hell NO! We won't go!" to return.