Top Army recruiter weighs fat camp for recruits

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Top Army recruiter weighs fat camp for recruits

By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER – 6 hours ago

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) — The Army has been dismissing so
many overweight applicants that its top recruiter, trying to
keep troop numbers up in wartime, is considering starting a fat
farm to transform chubby trainees into svelte soldiers.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Bostick, head of the Army Recruiting Command,
said he wants to see a formal diet and fitness regimen running
alongside a new school at Fort Jackson that helps aspiring
troops earn their GEDs.

Bostick told The Associated Press that obesity looms as "a bigger
challenge for us in the years ahead" than any other problem that
keeps young people from entering the military, including lack of
a GED or high school diploma, misconduct or criminal behavior and
other health issues such as eye or ear problems.

According to Defense Department figures provided to the AP, over
the past four years 47,447 potential recruits flunked induction
physicals at the nation's 35 Military Entrance Processing Stations
because they were overweight.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVp7osOHaaYFtF4A4e5JY2A68G_QD95LJ6E00

[mrreowwr_kittty]

1. Having spent 10 years in the Navy

And for many of them being the unit PT Coordinator, I got to the point where I honestly believed that there was too much emphasis on weight and appearance and not enough on fitness and health. I saw sailors who struggled to make weight standards. They had large builds and slow metabolisms (and yes, some of them probably ate too much too) but they were at the gym or out running every day. At the same time, you had these skinny people who smoked like chimneys and drank a lot and were in generally lousy shape. They wheezed their way through the semi-annual mile and a half run and push-ups and sit-ups for the fitness test while their heavier counterparts did well on the fitness test but failed the weigh-in or measurements and got put on remedial PT - known as "the fat boy program" - and humiliated.

[dmallind]

2. This is what haappens

when you base your weight standards on malnourished Belgian peasants with small frames and no muscle mass. The BMI scale is absolutely useless for non-marathoner types.

[Zywiec]

3. Why is it the BMI scale was never an issue before?

The Army was never made up of malnourished Belgian peasants.

I've been in and out since 1982 and have seen an increase in the number of people on weight control.

It's like the rest of society: people are getting fatter due to poor diet and exercise.

[dmallind]

4. Well there are other reasons why recruiting might be a tad more difficult ya know.

All that getting shot at and blown up while wearing 80lb packs in 120 degree weather puts a bit of a damper on enlistment numbers for a start.

So the army have to relax their standards to get recruits. Not just on weight but on age and aptitude testing/education too.

The point here though is that the standard they are reducing is completely arbitrary to the functionality of a soldier. Notice thet there is no indication of how many of those thousands were capable of doing the actual physical fitness part of the physical fitness test, only that they did not meet the BMI scale.

Just about every NFL running back would fail that BMI scale test. Certainly every fullback would. They are ususually relatively fit folks.

Why would they fail? Not because of poor diet and lack of exercise, but for the same reason I personally and many more besides would have to be dead for several weeks before we met the silly standards of that scale that really was (look it up) based on Belgian peasants. Because muscle weighs more than fat and I have enough of it (while in my case still being definitively fat too - but I'm not trying to enlist - just a personal example) that at ZERO percent body fat - neither possible nor medically desirable - I would be on the bordeline between overweight and obese. At my height I have to weigh 173 to avoid being overweight, or 208 to avoid being obese.

I weigh 290 and have been measured as having 33% bodyfat. Far more than I "should" according to most (hardly definitive) sources, but do the math and you quickly find I'd be at 194 with no bodyfat at all. With a very athletic 8% bodyfat I'd be a bit above that "obese" level at 209, and ineleigible for armed services.

Ami I more muscular than the norm? Sure I am - both naturally and artificially - but I'm not some Dorian Yates Mr Olympia freak of nature (or science I guess) either. Again in shape I'm a prototypical running back physique - and if you've ever seen any in street clothes they don;t look particularly massive or freaky, just athletic solidly built guys. THAT's why the BMI scale is useless - it takes anyone who is not muscled like an elite marathon runner and makes them into lardasses. I AM a lardass, and I can tell the difference, but make me a muscle chart and I'd still be a lardass according to those silly idiotic inspirations to self-loathing called "ideal weight charts" that some idiots, and army recruiters, swear by.

[Zywiec]

5. The military doesn't just use straight BMI

After a Soldier fails the weight test, they are taped to calculate the body fat. This includes a neck measurement and belly measurement.

Here's an online calculator to look at if you're interested: http://550cord.com/products/info.asp?ProductID=7

No NFL running back would fail a military weigh-in because the taping would show their body fat is within standards.

The people failing the weigh-ins are overweight and their body fat is not standard.

Again, you don't need to be malnourished, just not too much body fat.

[OutNow]

6. US Air Force had this program

The US Air Force had this program for enlistees back in the 70s. I know, I was one of those enlistees. I played defensive tackle in high school and did a moderate amount of weight training. I was in OK shape, but when I enlisted in the Air Force in 1970 I was 25 lbs over the max weight for my height 6'3". The program was named MEDREP (sp?).

The program included those over the limit and under the limit. The skinny guys had milkshakes everyday ! Both overweight and underweight had the same PT program since the skinny guys couldn't do 10 push ups if their life depended on it. You had to stay in MEDREP until you lost enough weight and could pass the PT test; run a mile, do some push ups, etc.

For me it was similar to football 2 a day practices every August, but without pads and helmets (LOL). There were several guys in the program who had played college football at Florida A&M and Tennessee but flunked out so they enlisted in the Air Force.

So, while I am 100% against the Iraq war, we'll always need a military and having a "fat farm" for overweight people is OK with me.