Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Grandpa Shooter on April 30, 2010, 11:03:46 PM
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I don't think the 25% who are too fat are interested in the military anyway. Those motivated to serve will meet the standards anyway. I do agree that obesity seems to be at epidemic proportions.
Rising rates of obesity among young Americans could undermine the future of the US military, two retired generals have warned.
More than a quarter of young Americans are now too fat to fight, they said.
Writing in the Washington Post, the ex-commanders said the fat crisis ruled out more potential military service recruits than any other medical factor.
They want Congress to introduce laws to give US children better nutrition in schools, with less sugar, salt and fat.
John Shalikashvili and Hugh Shelton, both former chairmen of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote: "Obesity rates threaten the overall health of America and the future strength of our military."
"We consider this problem so serious from a national security perspective that we have joined more than 130 other retired generals, admirals and senior military leaders in calling on Congress to pass new child nutrition legislation," the commanders added.
The warning comes amid mounting fears that childhood obesity has turned into an "epidemic" affecting an astonishing one in three young American people.
Mr Shalikashvili and Mr Shelton pointed to post-school lunch laws from 1946, which recognised that poor nutrition reduced the pool of military recruits.
"We must act, as we did after World War II, to ensure that our children can one day defend our country, if need be."
Obesity rates in the US have surged over the last year, according to one report .
The Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found adult obesity rates rose in 23 of the 50 states, but fell in none.
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too soft and entitled too
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Funny, I was reading the other day that schools are cutting out Phys Ed because of budget shortfalls. Hmm, Johnny can't read, can't do math, and is too fat to join the army. Sucks to be Johnny.
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Well when you put government in charge of raising kids, and governments tend not to be able to do anything right, this is what happens.
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And yet enrollment quotas are consistently met, and the butt of various Jihadis is consistently kicked.
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Well when you put government in charge of raising kids, and governments tend not to be able to do anything right, this is what happens.
Exactly.
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I'm wondering if this perceived threat is against the standpoint of a volunteer military or from the standpoint of a conscription (read draft) military.
As it stands with a volunteer military only about 1 out of every 300 citizens elects to join the military, and they are stating that 75 of out that 300 is too fat to fight. Still leaves 225 of that 300.
Mind you as of 2008 we still had an estimated 118 million fit for service citizens (combined male and female), half of which could be drafted (selective service still only applies to males) in the event of WW3.
For the record I had to lose 15 pounds to join the Navy. In bootcamp I lost another 30 pounds in the course of 2 months due to training and restricted diet. The tubby-tubby's of our nation may not be fit to fight right now, but with the appropriate workup I'm sure a great many of them could become so relatively quickly (4-6 months forced PT and dietary controls).
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Heck, they could just sit on the enemy =D
Works for cops, doesn't it ? :P
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4-6 months is quite a long time if WW3 breaks out, the war could be lost before the fat kids make it out of training.
I don't support the "let's regulate children's diets incase we need them as cannon fodder some day" idea at all.
I realize many prgrams already dictate what children can or cannot eat depending on the circumstances (ie day care). Any new program would pretend that most of a childs daily food consumption is at school, ignore parents feeding their snowflakes KFC 3 times a day, cost more money, and have no effect.
How about we make them pay for the healthcare costs associated with.... oh. Nevermind. =D
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how about we arm the kids so they can play outside? [popcorn]
edit are for arm, wth? =|
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4-6 months is quite a long time if WW3 breaks out, the war could be lost before the fat kids make it out of training.
If WW3 breaks out, I don't think you're going to need that many people to fight it. Unless you mean for after the nukes drop.
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4-6 months is quite a long time if WW3 breaks out, the war could be lost before the fat kids make it out of training.
I also did mention that approximately 120 million of our population were adequately fit for service now. More if you raise the age constriction from it's current standing of 45.
If we did enter WW3, I would draft those 120 million, and direct the rest of the fat bodies to work support roles, much like women did in factories during WW2 when all the able bodied men were pulled from their jobs. Just cause little Timmy is too tubby-tubby to low-crawl under that razor wire doesn't mean he can't stamp sheet metal to build HMMWV's.
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120 million of our population were adequately fit for service now
interesting number i'm doubtful though it makes a nice soundbite
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I also did mention that approximately 120 million of our population were adequately fit for service now. More if you raise the age constriction from it's current standing of 45.
If we did enter WW3, I would draft those 120 million, and direct the rest of the fat bodies to work support roles, much like women did in factories during WW2 when all the able bodied men were pulled from their jobs. Just cause little Timmy is too tubby-tubby to low-crawl under that razor wire doesn't mean he can't stamp sheet metal to build HMMWV's.
:O
Didn't realize you were for a draft, dude.
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:O
Didn't realize you were for a draft, dude.
If it's a choice between draft or get overrun by the next would be Hitler/Tojo/Mussolini, which would you choose? We're talking the next WW3 here, not the next Kosovo.
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Well when you put government in charge of raising kids, and governments tend not to be able to do anything right, this is what happens.
That doesn't have much to do with it. 20-30 minutes of gym class a few days a week aren't making the difference, nor is what schools serve for lunch. The obese kids are obese because their parents give them fast food and pop for every meal at home . Then they let them sit in front of the TV instead of sending them outside.
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Im in the fat is parents issue camp. One decent meal a day helps the kids that dont get enough food. Its just some more calories for little johnny pudge-pot, no matter how healthy it is.
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Im in the fat is parents issue camp. One decent meal a day helps the kids that dont get enough food. Its just some more calories for little johnny pudge-pot, no matter how healthy it is.
All snark aside, I'm of the opinion that it's a combination of both. Parents who either aren't home or can't be bothered to cook proper meals, and schools who cut Phys Ed at every opportunity. That 20-30 minutes of exercise 5 times a week isn't a cure all, but it does serve to ramp up metabolism a bit, which at least helps to slow the weight gain and save some muscle tone.
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Parents feeding their kids fast food all the time, and not encouraging exercise, is undoubtedly the primary cause, but poor nutrition in school lunches almost certainly has some additional effect.
I ate so much sugar and fat back when I was in school, in retrospect I'm disgusted. It probably wasn't as much as kids today eat, but still way too much. I did exercise a lot though, and I've always been fairly thin. Still, I'm sure I was not very healthy back then if I'd had detailed tests done. I was probably pushing my luck with my glucose levels. Exercise can only do so much to negate the effects of bad diet.
Is there any compelling reason to compromise adult "health food" standards when constructing food plans for kids? No cholesterol, very little saturated/trans fat, and if they want sweet stuff, there's this stuff people used to eat called fruit! And there's yogurt! It's not the end of the world to eat doughnuts or a greaseburger once in a while, but if you get into a habit of eating healthy food, why would you want a burger or a doughnut... ever?
Maybe if the government wasn't subsidizing corn and soy feed for animals so that cheap low-quality meat was readily available for fast food, school meals, and microwave dinners, we would all be healthier. If the government wants to subsidize something, it should subsidize fresh produce. The status quo is nothing more than corporate welfare for the meat farming industry (and the corn industry which produces insane amounts of corn-derived sugar additives and corn-derived, hydrogenated oils).
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If we did enter WW3, I would draft those 120 million, and direct the rest of the fat bodies to work support roles, much like women did in factories during WW2 when all the able bodied men were pulled from their jobs. Just cause little Timmy is too tubby-tubby to low-crawl under that razor wire doesn't mean he can't stamp sheet metal to build HMMWV's.
So all I have to do to avoid the draft is eat a lot of pizza and twinkies and play a lot of video games?
Awesome.
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That doesn't have much to do with it. 20-30 minutes of gym class a few days a week aren't making the difference, nor is what schools serve for lunch. The obese kids are obese because their parents give them fast food and pop for every meal at home . Then they let them sit in front of the TV instead of sending them outside.
Which is precisely what I meant by putting government in charge of raising kids.
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I was the exact opposite, I could max out sittups and the run when I joined the Marines. Before bootcamp, the recruiter asked me to help him train the others that were in the Delayed Entry program. My weak point was my measly 14 or 15 pullups. 300 PFT when I graduated bootcamp, gained 20 pounds of raw muscle.
I was secksy!
For the record I had to lose 15 pounds to join the Navy. In bootcamp I lost another 30 pounds in the course of 2 months due to training and restricted diet. The tubby-tubby's of our nation may not be fit to fight right now, but with the appropriate workup I'm sure a great many of them could become so relatively quickly (4-6 months forced PT and dietary controls).
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Wait! You mean pwning at Halo doesn't make me ready?
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So all I have to do to avoid the draft is eat a lot of pizza and twinkies and play a lot of video games?
Just make sure you don't play Wii Fit. :)
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Wait! You mean pwning at Halo doesn't make me ready?
It does if you sign up for a Fobbit MOS :laugh:
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So all I have to do to avoid the draft is eat a lot of pizza and twinkies and play a lot of video games?
Awesome.
Sure. If you want to wind up working for 16 hours in a line assembly sweat shop. >:D Then I'll just wait for you to thin down enough from all the manual labor to draft you. My plan is coming together nicely. *steeples fingers*
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Sure. If you want to wind up working for 16 hours in a line assembly sweat shop. >:D Then I'll just wait for you to thin down enough from all the manual labor to draft you. My plan is coming together nicely. *steeples fingers*
You're supposed to end that with a Monty Burns-style "EHHHH-xcellent..." =D
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Sure. If you want to wind up working for 16 hours in a line assembly sweat shop. >:D Then I'll just wait for you to thin down enough from all the manual labor to draft you. My plan is coming together nicely. *steeples fingers*
But my condition is glandular! I require accommodation!
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I think the army just needs to adapt to the new condition. They could, for example, armor up the lardos and use them as a mobile line of cover...
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I think the army just needs to adapt to the new condition. They could, for example, armor up the lardos and use them as a mobile line of cover...
Full body level IV armor. Can we call it Operation Meatshield? :lol:
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Project Sweating Thunder :laugh:
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[popcorn] [popcorn] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLxY8crqmyo)
MAK10 :laugh:
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Project Sweating Thunder :laugh:
YES! :D