A new report from the Department of Defense reveals that the vast majority of Americans aged 17-24 are unfit for military service.
Citing a Feb. 16 congressional hearing, a DoD report reveals that 77% of Americans in the above age group could not physically qualify to enter the armed forces – a 6% increase from 2017.
A key factor is obesity – which hit nearly 42% in 2020.
In September 2022, a U.S. Army general bluntly said that young Americans are either too obese, too sick, or too criminal to serve in the military.
“Some of the challenges we have are obesity, we have pre-existing medical conditions, we have behavioral health problems, we have criminality, people with felonies, and we have drug use,” Lt. Gen. Xavier Brunson told The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also classifies America’s obesity challenge as a security threat. The organization estimates that 1 in 5 children and 2 in 5 U.S. adults are now obese.
CDC statistics also show that 19 percent of active-duty service members suffered from obesity in 2020, which is up from 16 percent in 2015.
