The U.S. army has been dismissing a number of soldiers who are overweight and don't meet its fitness standards. The Washington Post reported that obesity is the leading cause of ineligibility for people who want to join the army.
According to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center the number of military that were considered overweight more than tripled between 1998 and 2010. The increase has caused the military to take out soldiers who are considered overweight and unfit to fight.
"A healthy and fit force is essential to national security," said Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Leslie Hull-Ryde to The Washington Post, "Our service members must be physically prepared to deploy on a moment's notice anywhere on the globe to extremely austere and demanding conditions."
In 2012, the army has kicked out 1,625 soldiers for this reason alone, reported The Washington Post.
After Desert Storm ended in 1991, the army fired thousands of soldiers for being overweight. The next year, the army discharged 3000 people. The discharging for fitness reasons slowed down during the Iraq war, with 112 being fired for being overweight in 2007.
"During a war period, when we were ramping up, the physical standards didn't have a lot of teeth because we needed bodies to go overseas, to fill platoons and brigades," said Stew Smith, a former Navy SEAL to The Washington Post,"During a period of drawdown, everything starts getting teeth, and that's kind of where we are again."
The Daily Mail reported that soldiers have voiced their complaints on blogs and forums, some saying that their obesity was caused by injuries which they suffered while on duties. Some also complained that they are being treated as expendable, despite putting their lives at risk in combat.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
