Guess who I saw this morning? Sergeant Strack! No, he is not the portly fellow at left. The good sarge is my steadfast recruiter buddy. His name really isn't Strack, but I call him that because back in the old days, Army folks coined the term to describe a certain type of perfectly turned-out, spit-shined soldier of the post Vietnam era. My recruiter pal is that, and more. He is physically straight out of Central Casting's "Army Hero" file, and personally the sort of guy you'd trust with your life.
Today at McDonald's Strack insisted on buying my coffee - even though I am not a recruiting prospect!
We cut right to the chase.
Me: How's it going?
Strack: My God...This obesity thing. It's getting worse.
He did not have to elaborate. All around us, we saw the end result of too much face time with extra portions. Young people - and I mean very young kids and newly minted adults - appeared to be fully prepared to survive the winter without consuming another bite of food. And yet there they sat, methodically downing the contents of overcrowded breakfast trays.
"So many kids are just too fat to fight," Strack lamented.
He is not the only one to notice.
In recent days, the Pentagon revealed that the number of overweight troops already on active duty has more than doubled in the last 10 years. Just this week, a Pentagon chief told members of the House Armed Services Committee that the obesity epidemic has reached crisis proportions. How bad is it? About 75 percent of America's soldier pool - 17-to-24 year olds - do not qualify for service because they are overweight, physically unfit, or lacking a high school diploma.
The obesity / physical fitness diad is particulalry troublesome. Since fiscal 2005, nearly 48,000 potential recruits have flunked their physicals at military entrance processing stations.
Army Maj. Gen. Thomas Bostick, who heads the Army Recruiting Command, has predicted that obesity will become the single biggest roadblock preventing young people from serving in the military.
It's not just us. Our good friends in uniform "Down Under" also struggle with extra jiggle around the middle. According to reports from the Australian Defence Force, one in seven soldiers is classified as overweight, with an obesity rate of 14 percent.
What's to be done? This isn't an issue of aesthetics or unreasonable standards of body weight. The troops must be in top shape in order to carry their personal equipment and to survive a battlefield setting. The Americans want to create fitness and education programs. The Australians have commissioned a university study. Good ideas, Western Defense Leaders! Carry on!
Sergeant Strack, meanwhile, employs his own method of field triage. As we sat drinking our McDonald's coffee (the best java going, by the way, a young man across from us prepared to launch into his third Deluxe Pastry Something of the morning. Strack just looked at him, expressionless.
The boy set down his pastry. I swear on Risty's head, I think he actually tried to suck in his gut.
2 comments:
Susan,
"SuperSize Me" is a phrase taught at a very early age.
Course we aren't helping ourselves any are we?
I think KBR is partly responsible for some of 'Our Guys' weight gain while deployed. Of course, KBR is only on the bigger bases, where a good portion of those don't get beyond the ECP. Perhaps they should rethink this policy and move KBR and their kitchens out to the remote FOB's and COB's. Give all the good food to the fighting men and women who will burn off those extra calories doing what they do best. MRE's for everyone else.
The rationale behind the KBR-style overload is, "oh, they'll just burn it off." But the Australians in particular are showing that yes, you really can pack on the pounds while in uniform!
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