Too fat to fight!

Do I dare say how bizarre?!

Published on July 1, 2005 By foreverserenity In Blogging

Ok, maybe I’m on a theme here, too fat to have a baby, now too fat to fight…gosh, just a bizarre day! Perhaps for Dr. Guy’s Weird and Wacky set of articles!
Link

So this 17 year old wanted to share his love and support for his country by going in to a recruiting office in his hometown. You would think they would be happy to see him right? Nope, he was told he needs to lose some weight. The young man had already lost some of his excess weight since he planned on signing up. Apparently it wasn’t enough for the army.

Well it seems that the army has some new issues, weight issues. Recruiters are a lot heavier than they were in the last Civil War. Although the army does realize that the extra weight is mostly muscles and not necessarily fat, they still send recruits home if they don’t lose the weight.

And here I thought there was a shortage of enlisted folks. But it’s odd that the weights of today’s recruiters would be compared to the weights of those in the Civil War. That was so long ago and the requirements and environment was a lot different wasn’t it? People probably weren’t as tall or as built like they are today. So why use an outdated comparison?

I’m not in the army but I guess someone can enlighten me on what the requirements are when it comes to weight and all that.

I do see where the concern would be though because who wants recruits who aren’t fit enough to train or even fight. Although according to this article most times the weight goes on after people have joined the army and the stress involved in what they do. So I guess it would also be up to the army to meet these kinds of demands to help their recruits so that they can meet these very strict weight requirements. So having dieticians and other programs available to help them wouldn’t be too much to ask. What do you think?

Comments

foreverserenity

on Jul 01, 2005

(((( )))))

pseudosoldier

on Jul 01, 2005

What do I think? I think it's shady to bump your article in the forums and your point value by responding to your own article with a no-content response.

On to the article: I found your summary to be a little confusing; maybe the link up front would have made it clearer to me. Weight control is not a new issue for the military. It has been around for a long while. Yes, there are legitimate concerns that soldiers be in shape for the type of physical stress placed upon them in a time of war, especially in a combat zone. If you wish to do some research on your own, a Google search for AR 600-9 will give you the Army Regulation pertaining to Weight Control.

There is a shortage of new recruits, and we are arguably understrength. I personally don't feel that lowering the standards, either physical or mental, will solve more problems than it will create.

foreverserenity

on Jul 01, 2005

What do I think? I think it's shady to bump your article in the forums and your point value by responding to your own article with a no-content response.

Nope Soldier, not looking for extra points, just putting the article out there. If this is against the rules then, it would be shady. I guess you haven't noticed that some articles don't get seen when they're not on the forums or that even if you select it to go to the forums, you still need to send it forward with a little help. So nothing shady here!

foreverserenity

on Jul 01, 2005

On to the article: I found your summary to be a little confusing; maybe the link up front would have made it clearer to me. Weight control is not a new issue for the military. It has been around for a long while. Yes, there are legitimate concerns that soldiers be in shape for the type of physical stress placed upon them in a time of war, especially in a combat zone. If you wish to do some research on your own, a Google search for AR 600-9 will give you the Army Regulation pertaining to Weight Control.

I guess I must be on a roll....sorry you got confused. Thanks for the input!

There is a shortage of new recruits, and we are arguably understrength. I personally don't feel that lowering the standards, either physical or mental, will solve more problems than it will create.

Yes, so it's been reported and I don't think it's really a matter of lowering the standards just rather giving more help to recruits and soldiers who need it after going through training since weight is an issue as it is in every aspect of everyday life.

foreverserenity

on Jul 01, 2005

To avoid further confusion, I've put the link at the top of my article.

Texas Wahine

on Jul 01, 2005

I think physical fitness is important in the military, and their weight standards are fairly generous.

My husband is actually overweight by the Army standards, however, but it is due to muscle volume. He won't pass a weight check, but when they do the tape test he is given the green light, since his body composition is fine.

This is in stark contrast to all the overweight to obese Soldiers and Officers I see on the base everyday. While some are given remedial PT and threatened with discharge if they don't shape up, it seems that many (particularly those who have been in for some time) are given a free pass concerning weight.

I cringe when I see an overweight police officer because I can picture them chasing down a suspect and running out of breath and having to stop...I wouldn't want my life to depend on the fitness of these portly folks, and I feel much the same way about Soldiers. I'm not saying that everyone should look like models...I just think that they should have a high level of fitness and not so much excess flab that it impedes their ability to perform their duties.

As far as joining up goes, Basic Training really changes the body and can shape up overweight recruits, but 9 weeks of rigorous activity and discipline won't go far enough for grossly overweight folks.

pseudosoldier

on Jul 01, 2005

I don't think it's really a matter of lowering the standards just rather giving more help to recruits and soldiers who need it after going through training since weight is an issue as it is in every aspect of everyday life.

Basic Training really changes the body and can shape up overweight recruits, but 9 weeks of rigorous activity and discipline won't go far enough for grossly overweight folks.

Personal experience: There is a program in place after a soldier gets to their Advanced Individual Training and especially to their permanent duty station. The depth of the program depends entirely on the command, as TW seems to have noticed...

I entered Basic Training at 232lb, the heaviest I had been at the time, and came out at 204. Moving around constantly and eating three squares a day really helped out.

Since then, I've fluctuated greatly, but have always trended up. I've been on the weight control program a lot, and it has gotten to be an issue for me. But there are programs out there in the Army to help out, both at the unit level and even at the post hospitals. Lately, my unit has been good to me about it, and I've also gotten some small rewards for the progress I've made.

But the Army (and the other services) can't spend a lot of extra time getting a far-below-standard soldier (or recruit) up to standard. They need the time to get the average soldier to a standard that will help them survive at their job. They do make the effort, to the extent that they put overweight or understrength recruits into a separate platoon in Basic, and make them stay longer. But who wants to stay longer? The sort of scrutiny they have to put you under can make you feel like a failure, and once you get done with that, they send you to regular Basic, where there's a stigma on you... You're one of the "special" platoon people. I felt very lucky that I hadn't been placed in one of those, and only had the regular Basic to go through.

Often, recruiters asking prospective recruits to lose more weight is to ensure that they have the self-motivation to do it, and won't simply rock out of Basic (which also looks bad for the recruiter, but certainly isn't good for the Army, as it's a waste of resources and money). If that 17 year old can shed a few more pounds (and assuming there weren't other problems with him; the article immediately left his part of the story after the sound bite), he would be very welcome in our Armed Forces. Good on him for losing the weight he did. But I notice the article didn't say how much he weighs now, even with the dropped 50 pounds...

foreverserenity

on Jul 05, 2005

I think physical fitness is important in the military, and their weight standards are fairly generous.

Oh yes it's absolutely important.

This is in stark contrast to all the overweight to obese Soldiers and Officers I see on the base everyday. While some are given remedial PT and threatened with discharge if they don't shape up, it seems that many (particularly those who have been in for some time) are given a free pass concerning weight.

This means there could definately be a problem if they allow themselves to get this way. It would be most definately much harder to get back into shape when they are needed.

I entered Basic Training at 232lb, the heaviest I had been at the time, and came out at 204. Moving around constantly and eating three squares a day really helped out.Since then, I've fluctuated greatly, but have always trended up. I've been on the weight control program a lot, and it has gotten to be an issue for me. But there are programs out there in the Army to help out, both at the unit level and even at the post hospitals. Lately, my unit has been good to me about it, and I've also gotten some small rewards for the progress I've made.

Well good for you and congrats on maintaining yours. Keeping fit and being in shape is definately very hard for someone who is not naturally disposed to be thin. I could tell you all about that! I'm on a fitness program myself, a self-designed one. Some days are good where I'm all gung-ho and nothing can stop me, other days it's like dragging just to get through a workout.

They do make the effort, to the extent that they put overweight or understrength recruits into a separate platoon in Basic, and make them stay longer. But who wants to stay longer? The sort of scrutiny they have to put you under can make you feel like a failure, and once you get done with that, they send you to regular Basic, where there's a stigma on you... You're one of the "special" platoon people. I felt very lucky that I hadn't been placed in one of those, and only had the regular Basic to go through.

This is new to me I never knew that. Being put in that "special" category would certainly be bad for the self-esteem.

dharmagrl

on Jul 05, 2005

Weight control is not a new issue for the military. It has been around for a long while.

This is correct. I used to see summary discharges coming down for being overweight all the time. People used to be given up to and beyond 2 years on a weight management program before any kind of disciplinary action was taken, but still some of them couldn't do it.

It makes no sense to have an overweight person enlist and try to lose the weight in basic training.

The AF weight limits are somewhat generous. My husband's 5'7 1/2", and the max weight for his height and build is 180 plus lbs. That's a lot of weight.

drmiler

on Jul 05, 2005

It makes no sense to have an overweight person enlist and try to lose the weight in basic training.

Not entirely true. When I went through boot, I lost 30 lbs. I went from 215 to 185 at 5'11"

dharmagrl

on Jul 05, 2005

Not entirely true. When I went through boot, I lost 30 lbs. I went from 215 to 185 at 5'11"

Ok, let me rephrase...it makes no sense to have an OBESE person enlist....

foreverserenity

on Jul 05, 2005

People used to be given up to and beyond 2 years on a weight management program before any kind of disciplinary action was taken, but still some of them couldn't do it.

Wow, that's a long time, more than enough time. I guess it would be hard for some people to lose the excess weight sometimes because of personal problems going on in their lives. They have to really be motivated all of the time. And some just don't lose weight easily or they don't stick with a very rigid program to lose a certain amount by a given time.

My husband's 5'7 1/2", and the max weight for his height and build is 180 plus lbs. That's a lot of weight.

That is very generous!

It makes no sense to have an overweight person enlist and try to lose the weight in basic training.

Not entirely true. When I went through boot, I lost 30 lbs. I went from 215 to 185 at 5'11"

That was good. I guess depending on how long basic training was (a month or two?), you lost that much pretty quickly. Some people are just lucky it doesn't take much for them to drop excess weight.

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