Makes me remember my second tour.
They were kicking out all these bodybuilders with hardly an ounce of fat anywhere.
Now older and more jaded, I suspect that the military had already (ahead of civilian physicians) figured out how to diagnose anorexia in males. They typically don’t turn into stick people like females but the damage to their system is similar.
They look great right up until they keel over dead. Mass discharges were cheaper than fixing the problem. What seemed to be insanity then seems likely to have been indifference now.
We had the annual fitness run. I forgot about it and when reminded, showed up with combat boots and fatigues. Most everybody had shorts, running shoes and T- shirts. I ran the 1.5, had broken a sweat and the PT instructor had asked if I could hang around and help him. The next bunch had running suits, shorts and running shoes. Instructor asked me to run with these guys and ‘motivate’ them so he didn’t have to fail anybody. There was one guy(I thought he was ancient but probably only early 40’s), and I picked him out easy early on. i helped him by pushing him, yelling at him and finally grabbing him and screaming at him “C’mon fat ass! You’re making the whole F’ng group look bad.” I yelled at him the rest of the run and he actually passed with 2 seconds to spare. Sat with him to cool him down and shared water with him. Later, a staff car pulled up beside me and said “Get in.” The guy was a Brigadier General and he laughed, told me I was a great E-4 and had a good career in front of me. Said if he had failed the run, he was getting out. He needed my motivation.