US military says US kids are too fat to fight

[David43515]

That`s the problem though, most public schools don`t get all thier funding from the govt anymore. Many of them have signed exclusive contracts with Pepsi and Coke to allow only one or the other to be sold in thier vending machines. The drink companies get a group of loyal customers from an early age, and in return they buy things like TVs and supplies for the school. They look like heroes for "giving back to the community", and they get a tax break for thier donation, and in the meantime the kids are slowly groomed to be loyal to a particular brand.

 

[blindsage]

So, then, it is the government's fault?

Yes, partially.

 

[Blade96]

i ate crap when i was a kid and teen. The reason why I wasnt fat was because i was a free-range child and teen who was gone all the time with the other kids in the neighboorhood for example playing street hockey.

and as a teen gone all the time with the few friends I did have.

concentrating on food but food is just part of it.

that and i dont think the military should be poking their nose in thinking 'potential recruit'Think 'potential recruit' when the kids are teens.

It just makes the country also sound like warmongers as well. To me, anyway.

 

[Archangel M]

The military is noticing the high-percentage of "fatbodies" who can't make it into their basic training companies because they are so out of shape. It was a problem back when I enlisted and has been getting worse every year.

And remember:

School lunches have been called many things, but a group of retired military officers is giving them a new label: national security threat.

It's a special interest group...not "The Army".

 

[pmosiun1]

This is either too funny or too sad.

 

[MBuzzy]

Well, one of the biggest concerns in the active duty military right now is inability to pass PT tests and overweight people. I don't agree with these people saying kids being fat is a problem because they can't fight. Kids being overweight is a problem because they are unheathy and the school food system sucks. BUT, in the end, the military is a microcosm of the rest of the country. If we have that problem within the military, it is obvious that it is a problem outside. particularly something like this. If people can't stay fit when they have a mandatory fitness program, how can people outside the military do it? It is a serious problem either way and should be solved one way or another.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I notice the enthusiasm to blame the meals served at public schools.

One might consider that first of all, that is one meal out of three.

Second of all, children don't have to eat the meals served in public schools, they can bring their lunch.

Third, it's the parent's responsibility.

So when we say let's blame the public school system for feeding our kids crap, what we might want to do instead is look in the mirror (parents) and think about why your kids eat crap.

Maybe it's not somebody else's fault all the time. Maybe it's yours.

 

[Empty Hands]

Maybe it's not somebody else's fault all the time. Maybe it's yours.

However, the school does have their own responsibility for actively making things worse. Not all responsibility must be placed in one spot - everyone gets their share.

Also, do you have kids, or remember what it was like in the lunch room? The kids with healthy lunches from home were the ones desperately trying to pawn off their carrot sticks for a hamburger or some chocolate milk. Kids are individuals, and a parent can only do so much short of standing over them and making sure they eat the healthy lunch they brought and not trade it for something else.

Again, the school can at least avoid actively making the situation worse.

Also, this is as good a spot as any for this rant. Again, the argument you bring up involves scrupulous personal choices for everyone involved to combat a systemic problem. You know very well that not every single person is going to make the "right" choice. This applies to eating healthy, not being a racist and refusing to hire minorities, or any other systemic issue. Not everyone will do or even want to do the right thing. So to avoid degrading everyone's life, we propose systemic solutions to systemic problems that doesn't involve everyone acting in the same way that we know they won't. Hence anti-discrimination laws. Or fines for letting your dog poop all over the place. Or CPS for when you as a parent really screw up. You can point fingers and assign responsibility all you want, but that does nothing to fix the issue.

On that note, the schools should stop accepting fast food contracts to let McDonald's and Taco Bell feed the kids a "healthy" lunch. They can stop actively making things worse. They can stop making all the options bad ones so that everyone must behave in the right way to make the outcome decent. Because we know that won't happen.

 

[Satt]

Does it really matter if the kids are too fat? At some point in the future aren't we going to fighting wars like a video game? I say in that case recruit ALL the fatties!
:shock:

...all joking aside...when I was in the US Navy, we sat around a lot, but you HAVE to be able to move quickly and FIT into SMALL spaces!
%-}

 

[Bill Mattocks]

However, the school does have their own responsibility for actively making things worse. Not all responsibility must be placed in one spot - everyone gets their share.

School boards are run by elected officials, often concerned parents. And as I said, parents can choose to allow their children to eat school lunches or not. It is all on the parents, I believe.

Also, do you have kids, or remember what it was like in the lunch room? The kids with healthy lunches from home were the ones desperately trying to pawn off their carrot sticks for a hamburger or some chocolate milk. Kids are individuals, and a parent can only do so much short of standing over them and making sure they eat the healthy lunch they brought and not trade it for something else.

That goes to upbringing. "I can't control what my child does" not only doesn't really fly, even courts don't accept it as an excuse (for example when people sue parents for the acts of their minor children).

Again, the school can at least avoid actively making the situation worse.

School is run by the school board.

Also, this is as good a spot as any for this rant. Again, the argument you bring up involves scrupulous personal choices for everyone involved to combat a systemic problem. You know very well that not every single person is going to make the "right" choice. This applies to eating healthy, not being a racist and refusing to hire minorities, or any other systemic issue. Not everyone will do or even want to do the right thing. So to avoid degrading everyone's life, we propose systemic solutions to systemic problems that doesn't involve everyone acting in the same way that we know they won't. Hence anti-discrimination laws. Or fines for letting your dog poop all over the place. Or CPS for when you as a parent really screw up. You can point fingers and assign responsibility all you want, but that does nothing to fix the issue.

I don't agree. Since concerned parents can take control over what their kids eat - or run for school board and control what is fed to them - I fail to see how it is a societal problem. It seems to me that a lot of parents simply don't want responsibility for their own failures.

On that note, the schools should stop accepting fast food contracts to let McDonald's and Taco Bell feed the kids a "healthy" lunch. They can stop actively making things worse. They can stop making all the options bad ones so that everyone must behave in the right way to make the outcome decent. Because we know that won't happen.

Ask the school board, they control the contracts. If you're a parent and you're not on the school board or even attending meetings....

 

[sfs982000]

Reading through alot of the comments on this post there have been a lot of great points brought up. I have to say that as a military member myself I took it upon myself to prepare myself as best as I could for the training that awaited me. I feel that it ulitmately comes down to the individuals. What I mean by that is if you have a kid that is considering military service, that kid has a responsibility to themselves to research the minimum physical requirements and begin preparing themselves. I knew that my cardio needed improvement prior to leaving for basic training so I got off my butt and started running.

 

[Archangel M]

It isn't just the military thats noticing this:

Officials: More recruits failing physical fitness

When the Jackson Police Department tried to recruit new officers this spring, more than a third of the applicants were not able to pass the initial physical fitness test.The city's police academy's initial fitness exam includes push-ups, a 1 1/2 mile run, an obstacle course and a flexibility test, Deputy Police Chief Gerald Jones said.

 

[Ken Morgan]

It isn't just the military thats noticing this:

Officials: More recruits failing physical fitness

Ok, is it just me, or should you not be prepared for the job "interview"?

If you want to be a cop or in the military and you don't have enough brains to be in shape before you do the PT test...then good, you're too dumb to be in either group. Darwin wins again.

 

[Haakon]

It isn't just the military thats noticing this:

Officials: More recruits failing physical fitness

The Washington State Patrol is seeing the same thing.

http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=12408385

Washington State Patrol holds tryouts that nearly a third fail

...the new WSP physical fitness test. For a 25-year-old male, it's 29 pushups, 39 sit ups, and a mile and a half run in under 13 minutes.

Nearly a third of these men and more than half of women will fail this test, leaving fewer recruits for troopers to choose from.

I agree with Ken, people should be better prepared for the physical part of the testing. All of the requirements are published online, it's not difficult for someone to test themselves to see if they can do it, if not then hit the gym or track until you can.

 

[Ken Morgan]

My son's best friend joined the navy and my nephew joined the army six months ago, they ran every day and hit the gym every day so they wouldn't get killed during basic. Common sense to me.

 

[shihansmurf]

Its interesting that when you're in Recruiting school you're told that only about 3 in 10 are qualified for military service. Now, I thought it was a bunch of B.S. at the time but now into my 3rd month of recruiting I have to eat a bit of crow on that one.

Most of the people that come into the office get DQ'd for education, law violations, and other causes, however I have to send a lot of folks away to loose weight. Point is, there are many reasons people are not eligible to serve and to call the obesity problem a threat to national security is silly.
Irrespective of my personal views on weight control, I think that the choice to conduct ones eating and exercise habits as one sees fit is up to the individual. If a person really wants to wear the uniform they will make the neccessary changes to accomplish that goal, if not then odds are they're not the type of people that we want serving in the first place.

As an aside, my son takes his lunch to school because I don't approve of the crap that they feed the kids. I know that taking an active interest in your children and actually parenting is an antiquated notion nowadays, but I'm forced to wonder if more parents did so, how serious of a childhood obesity problem would we have?

Mark

 

[sfs982000]

Its interesting that when you're in Recruiting school you're told that only about 3 in 10 are qualified for military service. Now, I thought it was a bunch of B.S. at the time but now into my 3rd month of recruiting I have to eat a bit of crow on that one.

Most of the people that come into the office get DQ'd for education, law violations, and other causes, however I have to send a lot of folks away to loose weight. Point is, there are many reasons people are not eligible to serve and to call the obesity problem a threat to national security is silly.
Irrespective of my personal views on weight control, I think that the choice to conduct ones eating and exercise habits as one sees fit is up to the individual. If a person really wants to wear the uniform they will make the neccessary changes to accomplish that goal, if not then odds are they're not the type of people that we want serving in the first place.

As an aside, my son takes his lunch to school because I don't approve of the crap that they feed the kids. I know that taking an active interest in your children and actually parenting is an antiquated notion nowadays, but I'm forced to wonder if more parents did so, how serious of a childhood obesity problem would we have?

Mark

Very well put. It's funny to see how many parents don't take an active part in the raising and well being of their children and yet are the first ones that point the finger when something goes wrong.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Very well put. It's funny to see how many parents don't take an active part in the raising and well being of their children and yet are the first ones that point the finger when something goes wrong.

It's an entire generation, as far as I can tell.

"They feed our kids crap, that's why they're sick and fat!"

OK, so pack them a lunch and don't let them eat the crap. And try to remember, it's one meal a day that they eat at school. What are you serving them for breakfast and dinner? What exercise are you making sure they get?

"Our kids don't listen to us, they do what they want to!"

Then you are a lousy rotten parent and no mistake.

"We can't control what the schools serve to our kids!"

Every public school system is controlled by a local school board (in the US) and parents can run become board members. In some locations, the local boards BEG people to get involved, to no avail. Anyone who is not willing to become a board member can still attend school board meetings and make their opinions heard. There is the PTO or PTA or any number of organizations that influence school boards and the rules and contracts regarding what the kids get fed at school.

But no, everything is someone else's fault. The government is too powerful, the lobbies are too powerful, they kids are too powerful, nobody will do what parents actually want. Woe is them.

And what cure do they want? They want the too-powerful government to FIX things by, get this, MAKING MORE LAWS to force people to eat good food and get more exercise! Yes, the solution to government run amok is to hand them more power and control over our lives. Brilliant.