Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth voiced outrage at obesity rates among reserve troops.
In a post on X, Hegseth shared a report from the Military Times on a study from the American Security Project, which found that over two-thirds of U.S. reservists are overweight.
“Completely unacceptable. This is what happens when standards are IGNORED — and this is what we are changing. REAL fitness & weight standards are here. We will be FIT, not FAT,” he said.
“We are bringing back STANDARDS,” the Department of Defense’s rapid response account replied.
The white paper cited by Hegseth warned of major problems related to the large percentage of overweight servicemembers.
“Weight-related illnesses in the National Guard and reserves present a growing threat to manpower, mission readiness, and service member well-being,” it reported.
“Despite new preparatory courses helping to drive up recruitment numbers, the reserve component disqualifies thousands of applicants for overweight and obesity each year, and weight-related health complications are major drivers of early separation. Injuries, lost productivity, and hospital visits due to obesity and its over 200 associated conditions hamper reserve component readiness to respond to threats both overseas and at home,” the report added.
The authors of the report urged the DOD to improve its understanding of the crisis and related issues, such as inconsistent health insurance coverage.
“To ensure that the reserve forces are fully prepared to face an array of evolving security threats, the Department of Defense must improve its understanding of the impact of obesity on reserve recruitment and readiness, increase collection and public reporting of this information, and streamline service members’ access to evidence-based obesity care.
PETE HEGSETH ORDERS EQUAL OPPORTUNITY COMPLAINT PROCESS REVIEW
The U.S. military has been pushed to waive stringent health requirements in recent years due to plummeting recruitment numbers. Despite the problems with overweight servicemen being known for some time, it has only gotten worse. Data from 2018 found 65% of reserve servicemen were overweight, a share which grew to 68% this year.
The report cited data from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research showing that the leading disqualifier of applicants for the National Guard and reserves in 2017 was “nutritional, endocrine, and
metabolic disorders, a category that is mainly comprised of weight-related conditions (i.e. obesity).”