Posted on 11/04/2009 4:41:22 PM PST by Route797
More than one-third of Americans ages 17-24 are unqualified for military service because of physical and medical issues, U.S. military officials said.
Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon's director of accessions, said the United States has "an obesity crisis."
"There's no question about it," Gilroy told the Navy Times. "Kids are just not able to do push-ups, and they can't do pull-ups. And they can't run."
The Pentagon figures -- 35 percent of the roughly 31.2 million Americans ages 17-24 are ineligible for military service -- are drawn from data from the Centers for Disease Control. In a study scheduled to be released Thursday in Washington, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and a group of retired military officers say young Americans' lack of overall fitness for military duty is a national security threat, the Navy Times reported.
The report, drawing on Pentagon data, says 75 percent of the nation's 17- to 24-year-olds are ineligible for service for a variety of reasons, including:
-- 35 percent ineligible for medical/physical problems.
-- 18 percent ineligible for illegal drug use.
-- 9 percent ineligible for mental problems.
-- 18 percent have too many dependents.
-- 5 percent have a criminal record.
Hey Sandrat you hear about this
This is with gender norming right, or else it would be much higher.
I called this YEARS ago when they took away mandatory tough and rigerous PT from our public schools. There was a call to reinvent our PT and PE programs in schools across the nation by that weird physical trainer that seems very gay. I can’t remember his name, but anyway he even said back during the Clinton years that if there ever was a draft it would be hard to draft our kids because they are so obese. It is truly pathetic and is a reflection on our society.
My daughter says the kids coming out of basic training have been PC’d to death and have to go to ‘stress counseling’ AFTER being assigned to a post. They a pass (time out) to stop training if they get ‘overwhelmed’. “Hey terrorist, I need a break.” The older soldiers don’t want anything to do with them. Our military is being compromised and we don’t even know it. The quality of recruits have diminished. Drill sergeants can’t even swear at them anymore.
How does this compares with the 4F rate for previous wars? A couple of other thoughts:
— There is no reason the fat ones can’t be whipped into shape. Their basic training might take a few months longer.
— Some of these rejections are arbitrary too. In a pinch, we could take kids with flamboyant tatoos and those who test positive for marijuana.
That means taking in people that are not inclined to be fit, then spending a fortune in wasted money repeating their training cycles and then losing most of them to fatness again after basic when their natural habits return them back to their normal weight.
Of course, Singapore drafts them.
The 4F rate in World War II was 30 to 40%.
Yup.. and not surprised.
This really amazing. In addition to 35% being fat, 9% with mental problems?, 18% with too many dependents?? What the heck is with that? How does all of this break down by
family economics and races?
Of course, this still leaves about 20M eligible. I believe that in WWII in size of the US military was about 8M.
And just what is one of the classes pulled during school district budget crunches? PE of course.
I went into basic training way over weight and in a matter of 6 weeks, I had lost 55 pounds and turned what was left into muscle. (Some still table type)
Urban Lifestyle and video games. It’s the way it is. Drill Seargents need to push the pansies harder, that’s all.
So, about the same. Again, that still leaves 20M eligible in that single group. You can tap the older groups as well.
Kids today have good thumb action, though. And most of them can respond with a “hello” before the cell phone’s second ring.
I was a kid in the 1970s, even tehn, looking back, Phys ed was a joke. Too muck time wasted on games, like softball, which is mostly standing around. Would have been better to go through 20 minutes of calisthenics, then back to class.
I’m a college professor and an AF veteran. Some of the kids I see would have to go to pre training before Basic. I think if they were just thrown into Basic, quite a few would just keel over or worse. You’d never hear the end of it on MSNBC.
Obviously this is a lame attempt by the CDC to drive some oddball agenda.
Yawn, old news recycled!!! Sensational, NOT!!!
“18 percent have too many dependents.”
...teenage boys knocking up teenage girls.
Kids can't play outside, they can't walk to school, they have to come home in a carpool and run inside 'cause mom and dad (or mostly mom) are at work and then lock their bums inside until the next morning where they do it all again.
No pushups, situps or pullups because they might hurt themselves (or esteem).
I don't want to feel the country is screwed... but sometimes I think we didn't fight back soon enough. Mmmm, Mmmmm, Mmmmmm
In 1940-1944, the rejection rate for draftees was around the low 30 pct area. But these were people who were ordered to report right off the street and off the farm to examining stations for possible service, not people who have taken it upon themselves to seek out a recruiter like the sample above. What is the state of health of the cohort that does not attempt enlistment?
OMG !!!!!!
I hope someone in the military can answer this. Why is Attention Deficit Disorder an automatic no for the military? Alot of people are prescribed it just because of homework issues and all that.
Hmm...a cohort of 20 million are eligible, it’s an all-volunteer force and there are waiting lists at recruiting centers. I’ll take it.
THey can’t if they do they get in biggg trouble my cousin is head of troops he told me that
My son-in-law, die hard sergeant, in 9 years now, he said, it’s like babysitting. The recruits are infants and bitch about everything, and have a pass to opt out. They’re coddled the entire way. But, facing an enemy ...... it’s bad, be very worried. They older guys (even 3-4 years ago), they’re OK. The newbies, it’s bad, worse than we’ve been lead to believe. This is one reason why so many are reenlisting. They love our country and serve it to defend freedom. There are many who are questioning Obama, and most who reenlist are stating, I’m in it for my country, I can’t leave them now.
I think it's the Ritalin, not the ADD, that's the problem. IIRC, long term use of Ritalin prevents individuals from joining the military. It seems to cause permanent, physical changes in the brain, especially if taken during the formative years.
And of that 65%, only 12% show any interest in serving.
There's a more indepth article at the Navy Times site. I tried to post it yesterday but it was removed due to being a Gannett publication which isn't allowed here for copyright reasons.
I remember when I was in ROTC I was told I could not be in the Chemical Corps because it was reclassified as a Combat Support and my eye sight precluded me. After commission I ended up in the Ordnance Corps (Service Support) and got assigned to a Reserve Infantry Training Division. When I became the Mobilization Officer for my Battalion, I got a chance to look at our mobilization plan for war. If the war with the Soviet Union got really bad, all officers in the Basic Training Companies, regardless of branch will become 11B’s (ie infantry) and the entire company of trainees upon completion of training (which can be abbreviated to two weeks) will become an infantry replacement unit for lost units. Things get bad, everyone regardless of eyesight, weight and age is infantry.
Everything and I mean everything is waiverable. In times of need, prior drug use, tattoos, even felonies can be waived. I enlisted in the Navy with a whole stack of waivers. Face it, choir boys often aren't interested in enlisting. Right now though, with the economy the way it is, the military can tighten up their standards and turn more people away.
“physical problems” like being too fat? That can be fixed fairly quick. Illegal drug use can be stopped and is hard to do with a 24/7 supervisor.
Maybe those very motivated kids could enter a program where they get trained to fitness, but not paid beyond “three hots and a flop” and maybe some other payback requirements.
WTF are “homework issues”?
Ain't teenagers so much as the older recruits. With the economy in the crapper there's a lot more recruits pushing the 35 year-old cutoff age of enlistment. Bootcamp isn't a bunch of pimply-faced boys anymore. There's quite a bit of graying hair and wrinkles mixed in as well these days.
Bar I hang out at has alot of kids(20’s and 30’s).
I’m a bit passed the half century mark myself.
Practically to a man, the young guys I see coming in this place look like the Pilsbury Dough boy. Maybe not grossly overweight, but almost rounder than they are tall.
A good proportion of the gals are the same.
Not exactly. It seems if a kid is off his meds and is able to function without them for over a year, keep a job or in school, and pass the tests then they can be considered for enlistment (Source: http://www.dbpeds.org/section/fall98/adhd_military.html ). But I think your correct about how the meds (and Ritalin is only on of many prescribed at this point) messes with their heads. I known few people who didn't have some issues due not learning coping mechanism to deal with ADHD and permanent changes to the brain (I cannot prove the second one, it's just experience with many friends who did come off).
Either way, there are pro and cons to someone with actual ADHD being used in the military. There is theory I've read about that people with ADHD are natural hunters because there is a lack of ability to choose to take in, so they take in everything at once and are considered more aware (therefore unable to focus. There are also two other states, hyperfocus and brainfog, which float intermediately between if someone is truely ADHD). However, there is the down side where your confronted with someone screaming in your face and you can't even hear them cause you can't concentrate on them cause your ability to hear has been shot at that point due to all the directions you've been trying to pay attention to. Point being if ADHD kid is trained right, they'll do well, they may just be sent back in WOT a bit, which probably is good.
Yeah, you kind of wonder what kind of parents would stand idly by and watch their kids get obese. In my house, we don’t allow anything with too much corn fructose or chips. Saves $$ and is healthier. When my son was in Boy Scouts, there was this one kid who was already fat and his Dad would feed him tons of smores at camp outs. Had to restrain myself from commenting on that one.
- 35 percent ineligible for medical/physical problems.
— 18 percent ineligible for illegal drug use.
— 9 percent ineligible for mental problems.
— 18 percent have too many dependents.
— 5 percent have a criminal record.
King obuma’s “army.”
Marking
Why is it that reporters cannot think mathematically???
“The report, drawing on Pentagon data, says 75 percent of the nation’s 17- to 24-year-olds are ineligible for service for a variety of reasons, including:
— 35 percent ineligible for medical/physical problems.
— 18 percent ineligible for illegal drug use.
— 9 percent ineligible for mental problems.
— 18 percent have too many dependents.
— 5 percent have a criminal record.
____
It does not occur to the reporters that many with medical/physical problems ALSO may have mental problems, obesity (hell-o-o), too many dependents, etc. Instead they straight-line add up the categories and come up with 75%. Morons, morons in our press corps (Or “corpse”, as Obama pronounces it).
I love to hear contingency plans like that. Do you know of more?
Kinda like when TSHTF, the cooks will be formed into the "cannon fodder" brigade.
Maybe that has something to do with it but I think a bigger problem is parents being afraid to let their kids outside to run loose. Instead they’re kept indoors playing video games and chatting with friends on the computer where parents feel they’re safe.
Predators are not dealt harshly enough with and too many are released into society to continue to prey on the most vulnerable.
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