Pool of potential enlistees is shrinking - due to obesity - any suggestions?

A decade or more ago - Accessions Command was quoting these numbers: only 27% of 17-24 year-olds were eligible to enlist without a waiver! The big spike that significantly drove down that number was about obesity and overall lack of physical fitness in applicants, increases in childhood diabetes (related to same), increases in COPD, and increased use of prescription meds to control behavioral issues such as ADD.

we need another recession like in the 80's . I weighed 130 lbs. when I went in lol...

It's a problem for our military and our Nation as a whole. Will continue to drive up health care costs, etc. Our previous First Lady was addressing it, and the Surgeon General should as well!

We had a female at Minot; oh she pissed me off. And management done a horrible job with her. She was a tall person to begin with, very over weight. She was seen by many of us, at the gym on a treadmill with burger king on the treadmill. Seriously, that is how she done lunch. NO ONE is suppose to deploy in this condition. She had regular ankle waivers and other BS in combination with her being excessive over weight. I get sent to Dharhan in late 95. Who shows up one month into my deployment? HER! Who takes the crap for this fat lazy unintelligent, can't do her damn job, piece of crap? ME! because she is not only from my unit, but from my flight.

I say, if you can't keep up, you need to be gone. I mean we are talking AF standards and you can't meet them?

Sorry, yes, I get a little hot under the collar over this issue.

I got out as a CPL and I've seen a lot of NCOs who looked obese to me and should've gotten out of the Army. I also thought the measurements for my age was ridiculous.

On a related note, the Army’s 2015 Health of the Force report, released in November, says 13% of Soldiers are classified as obese and 78,000 soldiers do not meet body mass index standards, a measuring of fat based on height, weight and neck size. Soldiers who don’t make BMI standards are 36% less likely to deploy than soldiers who meet the standards.
The report calculates it would cost $4.2 billion to replace everyone in the Army with a BMI greater than 30, which is why physical fitness programs are so important.
http://armymedicine.mil/Documents/Health_of_the_Force_Report_Nov_2015.pdf

Get out more when you're young. Go outside and play instead of video games.

Is that soldier for real in that photo?

The target audience here is the parents of this country. Being a good parent will provide guidance and health conscious advice to the children of this nation. Many of our military are the children of veterans who have prepared them for life as a soldier. I think the ROTC program should be a little more aggressive in expanding their role in the academic development starting in middle school. Obesity will continue to be a problem, but informing children on the importance of maintaining good health will be key in keeping this country militarily ready.

Obesity itself is not a major issue, fat can be burned off and you can teach someone how to properly maintain themselves. The real issue, in my opinion, is going to be with the problems that are caused by obesity that could have lasting effects, even if the individual loses their weight. This includes but isn't limited to diabetes, heart problems, joint issues, even excess skin if the persons weight was severe enough.