70% of Young Americans Can’t Meet Physical Requirements for Military Service – IOTW Report

70% of Young Americans Can’t Meet Physical Requirements for Military Service

Congress considering fitness waivers.

Truth Revolt:It seems that sitting around all day staring at screens and playing video games could mean the end of the world’s greatest military power.

According to the Military Times, Congress is considering fitness waivers for new recruits because so many can’t pass the rigid physical requirements. As it turns out, soldiers need to have developed muscles somewhere besides their thumbs.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) recently pondered if  the physical requirements could be eased for incoming recruits needed for high-demand areas like computers.

“If there is some sort of requirement that has been there since the 1950s simply because it has been there since the 1950s, should we look and see if that continues to be applicable today? Of course,” Thornberry said. “At the same time, I think it would be a mistake just so we can get more people in the front door. That’s not a good answer for the country.” read more

34 Comments on 70% of Young Americans Can’t Meet Physical Requirements for Military Service

  1. NO! Our people in uniform need to have the ability to defend us and themselves PHYSICALLY, in addition to being able to do it from a high-tech console where they are flying drones or whatever. My answer for this problem: extend boot camp until the little fatties have reached the required weight and fitness levels. The discipline required to get there is the same discipline required to be an outstanding soldier. The flab is a sign of that lack of discipline. Do not compromise here! Teach the discipline, no matter how long it takes!

  2. Captain Pike’s Virtual Army, operating from deep within the decentralized Basement Command Network. Sounds great, but somebody still has to deploy and retrieve the actual fighting robots. And we end up with the weird scenario of “war fighters” far away from the battlefield and logistics Schleppers on the tip of the spear.

  3. Add to that the fact that many of them think and act like David Hogg and Cameron Kasky, along with their cheering/jeering audience. And Nasalis Larvatus Maher as the Pied Piper. Huston we have a problem.

  4. The last 10 years or so you could see the decline of physical ability of your average 18 year old in the gym. 10 or 15 years ago there were always a few in that age group benching 275. A few at 315. Now days most are just using the bar. It’s pathetic.

  5. Tired Mom has the right idea. The only potential problem I see is that many of those who have adopted bad nutritional and fitness habits that have made them overweight in the first place will revert to their sedentary ways and there will be a huge post-basic training washout rate — despite the “fat boy” programs that are supposed to be in place to guard against retaining those who refuse to stay fit and healthy.

    BB is on to something that is working against boys becoming fit men. So-called “toxic masculinity” will be the death of our country if it’s allowed to become a social norm.

  6. The first function of any soldier
    is “To fight as infantry”. When
    the crap hits the fan that’s the
    last line of defense. Lose that
    and you lose wars. If they need
    limp wrist techs, hire them as
    private contractors, NOT soldiers.

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  7. Maybe battalions of patriotic lesbians is the way to go since too many males are soy boys. /sarc
    Aggressive, oh yes, but you have to keep them from tearing each other up.

    Dang, Soy is in the average American diet to he extent that I don’t buy prepared foods. I have to even go speciality mayo to get away from the inflamatory soy.

    You all hit on great and the real points.

    1
  8. We have a dear young friend who literally worked his butt (and gut) off to get into a large city’s police force. To help him, I gave him a Fitbit for Christmas. He lost the weight, got physically fit and the next summer we watched him graduate from the academy. He was so proud. And he’s just the kind of guy any police force would be eager to have. Because he lives and works in another city, we haven’t seen him for the past year and just a couple weeks ago another young man (who earned his place with the Tacoma Fire Dept last year) who is also good friend of our police officer, told us that he’d regained an alarming amount of weight but, apparently, there is no internal program that would demote or oust him if he doesn’t lose it. Now, here’s a great young man who has the disposition and personality to be a great cop but he’s putting himself, his colleagues and the public in grave danger. I think this situation might be caused by the public unions. I don’t know.

  9. @AbigailAdams March 4, 2018 at 11:56 am

    > How did we think this would work out with so many boys being raised by single women?

    Oh, they’re quite capable of doing the job. They usually shoot up a domestic target. But, they shoot it up quite well.

  10. AA, So sad to hear about the young man gaining. I really believe obesity, inflamation and diabetes go hand in hand with prepered foods (diet of many Americans) and stress, and all three things feed off each other.

    The gov has been horribly at fault. The food pyramids they put forth for decades reflect crap science, but mostly what is currently pushed by the lobbyists and producers. What should be eaten by animals is on our food pyramid.

    Praying for him will help in unbelievable ways. I have said a prayer for the fatties I see, when I see them. I will pray hor your LEO friend.

  11. Plain Jane — thank you for your prayers for him. Very much. He’s a fine, upstanding Christian man himself and he struggles with his weight. We all thought this was a turning point on that score. He’s still young (mid-twenties), so I’m sure he’ll conquer this. I’m grateful he’s got great buddies who love him and who aren’t afraid of being direct with him.

  12. All done by design.
    Would you rather face a squad
    of BB’s or a squad of Hogg’s ???
    Nuff said… Soy & estrogen in the food
    does the trick.

  13. @AbigailAdams March 4, 2018 at 11:56 am

    You said it! Going back to the 70’s The “I’m a single Mom group” complain,complain and then some more. I use to say well
    look who’s raising them! How did they think it was going to work out?

  14. Considering that a standing army is the one thing our Founders feared the most this is a good thing. The Constitution prohibits any money being appropriated to the army for a term of more than two years. Disband the army and replace it with a citizen’s militia forbidden from ever being deployed overseas. The last time American troops fought to defend American homes, families and freedoms their uniforms were gray and they lost the war. We have two oceans that do more to protect us than any military force.

  15. Single, working mom here of a six year old boy. Not by choice. A couple things: If a child is raised up in “the way he should go,” he can be everything God created him to be. I know that He is faithful and true. I am standing on that promise. I learned about soy twenty years ago and have eliminated it from my diet, almost completely. Unless he’s not with me, he eats whole, healthy, homemade food. To the extent that, almost every school day, I bring him a hot meal and have lunch with him. He’s so accustomed to good food that he thinks any meal that isn’t hot is a snack. Lol, On the occasional day that I send him a sandwich, he asks me when he’s having lunch as soon as I pick him up from school.
    We do not have cable, or a gaming system. He doesn’t watch anything that I have not pre-screened. He received a kids tablet for Christmas that is locked. No internet. He is permitted to use it, for a short time, on weekends only.
    He is REQUIRED to play outside every day. Rain or shine.
    He started memorizing scripture at age three.
    I don’t want to make out like things are better than they are. I’m doing a lot of things wrong. Things rarely run smoothly. He has too many friends with far fewer restrictions. However, I do believe, that he will be a fine, well mannered, hard working, honorable man one day. That’s when I’ll take a break!
    I know others that are raising they’re kids similarly. it’s not hopeless.

    On mayonnaise, it’s super easy to make! If you’re not into making it, Trader Joe’s sells a nice Mayo with real eggs and canola oil. Even comes in a glass jar. Cheers!

  16. There’s always a few in each platoon that come in overweight to basic training. Most manage to make it through. Then they go to AIT and pack some of that weight back on. By the time they report to their unit they’re nice and comfy and you end up having to physically carry them on platoon runs. Then they go on profile and get chaptered out.

  17. @Indimex — I didn’t mean moms who are awake. On the Left hand side of the equation are way too many women who, for whatever reason, prioritize having a baby or babies and who give zero consideration of ever getting married or having a father in their children’s lives. And there are too many lesbians who think two women are just as good for children as a man and woman in marriage. That’s a ‘nother level of screwed up. I’m not including you or women like you in that critique.

    Best wishes to you! With God all things are possible.

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