Seventy five percent of young people unfit for military service.

[Switchback]

Desire to serve does not cut it. You are doing no good when you are a liability. I will argue that the heavier you get, the more of an effort it takes to do ANY physical activity. Throw on some gear and activities that demand any endurance what-so-ever, make you a liability.

As you mention asthma being one of those things taht you cannot change, I would take it that you agree that obesity CAN change. Here's a simple solution that you continue to overlook: For shose so interested in service, lose some damned weight and then try again.

Just like in LE (which I have personally seen too much), we have enough liabilities working along side of us, why make it any worse in LE and the military.

[retdetsgt]

My personal feeling, they (the military) has very little room worry about enlistments being down when they turn people away for petty reasons (and I know many of the reasons are legit and I agree with most of them (just not all)).

Trust me, the more they need people, the lower they make the standards. A friend of mine was turned down by the Army in 1963 because he had a MIP alcohol conviction. Turn the dial ahead a couple of years and LBJ's escalation of the war and they are taking people with minor felonies. I suspect that may be why the Marines lowered the bar on fat people. They need enlistees too badly right now. I bet once Afghanistan and Iraq are over, they tighten up again.

But if you're overweight at 18, it's more likely that you have terrible eating habits. Just because 7-11 sells 64 oz soft drinks doesn't mean people have to walk around drinking one and they don't need to "super size" the shit they eat at McDonald's either. I have no sympathy for people in that situation.

The problem the military faces with things like asthma is judging the severity of it. Too often, you can't allow too much personal judgement to go into things like that because of the risk. I don't know much about asthma, especially whether or not it gets worse or better, but I do know that you can't have someone in a combat situation having to reach for an emergency inhaler. It's no doubt easier for the military to just draw a line in the sand and say no than to let some doctor take 45 seconds to make a judgement and be wrong.

[puma2]

Physical fitness / excessive weight: as has already been said, there is a simple solution: control your diet and exercise until you pass the requirement. If you really want to get the job, show some discipline up front.

Asthma: even minor asthma can be a major liability in the wrong situation. I was with a fellow police officer who had minor asthma. He was disqualified from military service, but qualified to be a police officer. When another officer used the OC spray on a particularly difficult suspect, the officer with minor asthma got some of the spray. We were able to book the suspect after a paramedic saw him, but the officer had to go to the emergency room because he was having trouble breathing. It wasn't a major issue in the US with a good hospital nearby. However, in a remote area of Iraq or Afghanistan, it could have been a huge problem.

[CACBAND]

Here's a simple solution that you continue to overlook: For shose so interested in service, lose some damned weight and then try again.

I don't keep overlooking it, as I said in my last post:

If they want to serve bad enough than they can cut the weight before getting in

I was just pointing out that one branch, for now, feels they can fix it.
I also don't feel bad for people who super-size their meal and have a 64+ oz soda from the gas station.

Like I said I see the reason(s) for the rule(s), it doesn't make all of them right to be zero tolerance though. And I know a desire to serve does not cut it. Heck I had one recruiter flat out tell me to lie about my asthma, “they’ll never know” (his words not mine). Truly, I’d bet he was right, but I wasn’t going to lie and risk them finding my medical records from when I was 12 and 13 years old.

Granted I know I kind of derailed this on to me and asthma (along with fat people).
But to try and get it back on track:
It’s hard to think that only 1 in 4 people are truly capable of being in the military. They need people to do things other than fight, why not allow some to enlist on waviers with limits on the MOS and deployment they can take.

[retdetsgt]

But to try and get it back on track:
It’s hard to think that only 1 in 4 people are truly capable of being in the military. They need people to do things other than fight, why not allow some to enlist on waviers with limits on the MOS and deployment they can take.

Like I said in the beginning, I bet it's only one in four that apply. I think it says more about the people who want to join right now. It's a lot easier to get people to enlist in peace time than during a war.

I could agree with the second part only if they get paid less than the regular people. Why should they get the same pay and benefits as the person who is eligible to be in combat and deployed anywhere? If someone is put on limited duty because of an on the job injury, that's one thing, but starting out that way is something entirely different.

[CACBAND]

I could agree with the second part only if they get paid less than the regular people. Why should they get the same pay and benefits as the person who is eligible to be in combat and deployed anywhere? If someone is put on limited duty because of an on the job injury, that's one thing, but starting out that way is something entirely different.

I'd be good with that. If they had limited duties elsewhere they likely would be making less too than those doing the full job anyway. My desire is just to see a way for those who wish to serve their country have a way to do it.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

My desire is just to see a way for those who wish to serve their country have a way to do it.

You'll be pleased as punch with the President's new civil service program then.

[MPcorpssmprFI]

I have been in the Military for 9 years and I am concerned with the weight problems of the newer guys, and their attitude's. I am currently serving in Iraq 3rd tour. I don't want to be the guy (but I will if I have to!) that has to carry the fat kid that got shot to the medivac site when he was to lazy to take his a** to the gym and get in shape. It puts me and every other soldier, sailor, Marine, and Airman at risk. Then you put these kids on a remedial workout regiment and they want to file IG complaints saying that you are picking on them and hazing them. NO kid I am saving your life and maybe someone else's too. These big Bonuses just attracted a lot of wrong people into the Military. And it's only getting worse.

[Cat_Doc]

I'm not going to dedicate time to check into the story for validity, but I doubt that 75% of our youth are unfit for military duty. Maybe 75% of those trying to volunteer; but not 75% of our youth.

I thought I saw a short blip in the article where some professor with military expertise said he suspects the high percentage is based on excusing done by recruiters?

[CityOfChicago]

I'd assert that 50% of Americans are unfit for being Americans.

That may be a conservative estimate, though.

[Cat_Doc]

I'd assert that 50% of Americans are unfit for being Americans.

That may be a conservative estimate, though.

9/11 should have been a wake-up call as should the active shooter. It does not seem to have sunk in, though.

However (and maybe I am overly optimistic), I think if something occurred such as what hit our Greatest Generation; we will step up the plate as those honorable men and women did.

[CityOfChicago]

However (and maybe I am overly optimistic), I think if something occurred such as what hit our Greatest Generation; we will step up the plate as those honorable men and women did.

Like terrorists hijacking 4 civilian airliners, flying 2 of them into office building felling them, the third into our military's headquartes, and the fourth into the ground, resulting in the deaths of thousands of American civilians?

Something like that, perhaps?

[CityOfChicago]

Colonel B.P. McCoy, USMC. "The Passion of Command:The Moral Imperative of Leadership":

"America does not possess a warrior culture. Let us disabuse ourselves of the notion of the mythical American Warror. To do otherwise is intellectual folly and reflects more wishful thinking and illusion than reality. Any notion of some innate warrior culture or an inherent fighting ability of Americans is an idea born in a hothouse that will wilt once exposed to the brutality of real battle... The fact is that compared to most of the rest of the world, Americans are raised in a society of affluence and relative comfort, insulated from war's grim realities of deprivation and killing. Unlike warriors outside the Western world, we are not familiar with brutality"

The Colonel writes an excellent book on how we must prepare our young 'warriors' for battle. He outlines how we can do this, and how critical it is for Leaders to ensure that this training is provided.

Recommended reading.

[CityOfChicago]

We just discussed this topic in a article about a dwindling pool of qualified apps for Police work and if it is acceptable to waive up to Class A offenses.

The answer to that is "No".

[Cat_Doc]

Like terrorists hijacking 4 civilian airliners, flying 2 of them into office building felling them, the third into our military's headquartes, and the fourth into the ground, resulting in the deaths of thousands of American civilians?

Something like that, perhaps?

Yep. I had a cushy job with DOC at the time, but thought we were going to war. I was too old for the military, but wanted to make a difference on the streets so put my papers in with the SO and here I am.

We are at "war" with terrorists without a state, but I was actually referring to WW II, Allies against the Axis in a declared state of war.

Getting back to the 75%...I know you went to college and enjoyed a youthful style foreign to me but, and I am sure you would have joined in a declared war…as part of Allied Forces I would have been honored to fight shoulder to shoulder with you. This was my point and you would have been a hell of a warrior.

While we don’t have the same physically hard working class of youth we did during WW II, I still can’t succumb to defeatism against our youth if it went big, again. I think American youth would surprise us in a favorable manner.