Would-Be Soldiers Too Fat to Serve
[Disinformation Note: For more implications of America's obesity epidemic, check out the documentary KILLER AT LARGE]
Military Has Had to Turn Away 48,000 Overweight Recruits Since 2005
JOHN HENDREN, ABC News: Amanda Turcotte wants to be all that she can be, but she’s 25 pounds over the Army’s weight limit.
Her recruiter is sweating her down to regulation size with a grueling daily exercise regimen. “If you need to puke there’s a garbage can right there,” Army recruiter Sgt. Jessica La Pointe told Turcotte during a recent workout at an Annapolis high school. “That’s fine. You can come back and finish up.”
With fast-food diets and couch potato lifestyles expanding the waistlines of the nation’s youth, the former professional kickboxer says she must become personal trainer to many recruits just to get them to boot camp. “We do get people who come in the office that are overweight by Army standards,” La Pointe told ABC News. “And then what we do is try to work out a program through nutrition and exercise.”
The standards vary by service. The Army allows 26 percent body fat for men, and more for women. When recruits are asked their weight, “everybody lies,” La Pointe said. Obesity is a national epidemic. Three in four military-age Americans is unqualified to join the military. The No. 1 reason: obesity. One in five military-age Americans is too fat to serve. The military has turned away 48,000 overweight recruits since 2005, more than all the American troops fighting in Afghanistan.
