Will We Be Able to Fight the Next War?

[jerryfmcompushaft]

With fewer and fewer young adults elegible for Military Service, will we be able to field a force large enough to fight the next war? I see Military efforts to combat obesity in our commissaries and PXs - candy is no longer displayed at the check out register, single serving ice cream bars disappeared years ago. There seems to be a concerted effort to reduce the number of temptations presented in the food area.....

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TERRE HAUTE -- Nuclear proliferation might pose one threat to national security, but so does the bodyweight of American children, and the latter problem needs to be addressed, officials claim.
In its report "Too Fat to Fight," a nonpartisan coalition of 300 retired senior military leaders warns Congress that at least 27 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 are too heavy to meet basic enlistment standards. The group, Mission Readiness, estimates 75 percent of Americans that age are unqualified for service considering the combination of obesity, lack of a high school degree and criminal history.
And obesity, they state, is one of the biggest of the problems. Each of the estimated 212,800 Hoosier young people deemed too heavy for service would have to lose an average of 32 pounds just to be considered, according to the report. More

[Swampy]

It's all relative - America has an aging population, but so does the rest of the world, including China and Iran.

[jerryfmcompushaft]

Oct 1, 2012 13:51:07 GMT -5 Swampy said:

It's all relative - America has an aging population, but so does the rest of the world, including China and Iran.

Not the aging population, the 17-24 year olds are too fat, too dumb, or have a felony conviction......

[Sir John]

I think America will have plenty of 18+ year olds to do the fighting.

Out of 310 Million the number is enormous. The CIA Factbook says over 4 million reach Military age every year, and about 70 million are in that range at the moment.


SJ

[mcnoch]

Yes, and additionally in each army there are plenty of jobs where the physical condition is not very important.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2012 2:31:14 GMT -5 mcnoch said:

Yes, and additionally in each army there are plenty of jobs where the physical condition is not very important.

Unless things have changed dramatically since I retired, ALL service members were required to get physically fit. Those who were not were either "helped" to attain fitness or were forced from the service. However, being physically fit is not the same as being combat physically fit. The latter can be attained with an extensive program to help the individual reach that status.