Considering Evolution, should the body fat standards be relaxed across the U.S. Military?

Sorry folks, but all of you are wrong. The current system works perfectly for what it was designed to do: it is a force reduction tool. When you are facing draw downs and have to reduce your active duty strength by 30 thousand troops, the fastest way to do that is to put as many impediments in place as possible to cut people. Consider this, the majority of people who have problems passing the BMI is us older folks. When I was in my 20's BMI was not a concern. After 30, my metabolism changed (evolution sucks) and I began to gain mass. Just like all of you, I spent a large part of the day in the gym or on the road and still had problems. Looking at my relatives, it was inevitable since all of us have the same issues with weight. I would be willing to bet that the standards would be changed quickly, if the military found itself short of bodies in the future. Of course, this is all just my humble opinion.

The way bodyfat is measured needs to be reevaluated however it should not be any easier. In fact I would say it should be tougher. I mean do you want somebody who has nearly a quarter of their body weight as body fat as a soldier? I don't I know that for sure. If you don't or can't adhere to the standard find another job.

I think it's all crap, on person healthy is not the same as another's!

I think they should be replaced with more frequent testing using fitness standards (it's easy to ramp up for tests twice a year). Appearance is basically unimportant, other than being a loose proxy for fitness. I understand that people want/like certain types of what they define as a "military appearance", but the bottom line is that appearance only matters as it pertains to whether or not people can physically perform their jobs. Just my $0.02.

Not relaxed, but made more efficient and correct

To a point, absolutely...and then again no. I was always having to be taped because of my body type and build....but never failed the skills tests (ie: push ups, sit ups, and swim/run). However, there are certain disciplines in the military that must maintain very high standards of performance and their physical skills portion should count more than a "Body Fat/Weight" measurement that doesn't take that into account. It is a very hard balance to take.

I think the military should look at at a more accurate way of determining body fat. The way it is currently don has too much room for error. You can get tapped by one person then have another person tape you and they both have different results.

Has evolution occurred since the BMI and its standards were implemented?

No! They should not be relaxed. We have lowered are standards enough and now we are paying for it with these new young. I'm stressed, I need a perm no run profile because I'm fat, I'm sick and I need and LOD... Enough is enough with the lowering of our standards. I'm fact we should raise them and start discharging those who don't meet them.

Speaking as someone that has scored a 300 and been right at the max allowable body fat % in the same day I feel that they need to find a more accurate way of measuring body fat...or make the weight standards realistic... I hate seeing people that can barely pass the pt test with bigger waists than me get sub 20% body fat because they have a big neck...just my 02 cents but I know I'm not alone there is countless great soldiers and pt studs with small necks that sweat buckets everytime this sham of a body fat test comes around