Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is outraged after a shocking Military Times report showed that more than two-thirds of U.S. reserve troops are either overweight or obese, seriously failing to meet the prescribed weight standards for the military.
The report cited a new study from the American Security Project (ASP), which showed that roughly 68% of National Guard and reserve troops have been classified as overweight or obese. The study also showed that a significant portion of Active-Duty troops could also be classified as overweight or obese.
As The Daily Wire noted, “because National Guard and reserve service members serve and train on a part time basis, enforcing physical fitness standards can be a much more complicated issue than when dealing with those serving in an active duty capacity — but the risks, in addition to the impacts on military readiness, remain high.”
The ASP study also explained the potential consequences of having overweight or obese troops, noting that they “experience heightened risk for a wide variety of serious health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and osteoarthritis, which may lead to life-threatening health events such as stroke and heart failure.”
Hegseth — who has repeatedly vowed to overhaul military physical fitness standards and has insisted on accountability to ensure that the standards are met — responded to the study in an X post on April 25, where he declared that troops under his leadership would be “FIT, not FAT!”
“Completely unacceptable. This is what happens when standards are IGNORED — and this is what we are changing. REAL fitness & weight standards are here. We will be FIT, not FAT,” the defense secretary wrote, pointing out that a major part of this problem was that even the current fitness standards — which are much lower than they should be — are not being enforced.
Even before being confirmed as defense secretary, Hegseth has been calling for a restoration of the U.S. military’s reputation as the most lethal “warfighters” — and has demanded that military leadership also be held to the same standards.
“They need to be fit, not FAT. Sharp, not SHABBY. Especially our leaders. That’s why we’re reviewing how the department has maintained standards, and whether those standards have dropped,” Hegseth said during a recent speech.
Hegseth has also demanded that standards be increased and reformed so that they apply to all troops equally, regardless of whether they are men or women.
Posts
