With the obesity crisis getting worse, how is the US military going to be able to recruit young healthy men?
America would probably end up being the fattest military in the world.
shareBoot camp is supposed to get them in shape.
shareYou gotta be in some kind of shape before boot camp. At least able to pass a MEPS screening.
To seriously answer the op's questions, it is a concern raised by some in the military but fortunately there are still lots of American men who are physically fit. Indeed the USA still has the fittest, most athletic people on earth. The "obesity" thing is an average that doesn't apply to every person.
"Indeed the USA still has the fittest, most athletic people on earth."
I had to google that one because I see plenty of fat, flabby, couch potatoes in the U.S. addicted to opioids. Our diets are horrible with too much processed foods, sugar and salt.
The fittest were Finland and Uganda. They're both much more active.
https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-fittest-countries-reeal-how-to-stay-in-shape-2019-4#finnish-employers-want-their-workers-to-stay-fit-finnish-companies-spend-an-average-of-220-a-year-per-employee-on-physical-activity-providing-saunas-workout-facilities-and-gym-vouchers-according-to-npr-9
Healthiest: We don't make the top ten.
You shouldn't have stopped reading with that quote, and you might not have misunderstood so badly. You just reposted some commentary on the average, despite me dismissing such opaque thinking in the next sentence.
For one thing your own WHO study (well, the one your source linked to, in case you didn't click on it past the lame Finland fluffing), which purports to show the percentage getting "insufficient exercise" as they define it, has US men roughly mid pack at around 30 something% (it's not precise). US women, it may surprise you, rank worse in the 40s% and worse in the global comparison.
One might find that odd, given how dominant US women are in global sports, thought to be ahead of the curve (no pun intended).
What you miss is that that 30-40% still leaves 60-70% of Americans who are getting enough exercise as WHO defines it. If you only see fat couch potatoes then you need to get out more yourself.
And outfits like that don't measure the quality or intensity of that exercise in any meaningful way. Being "active" might just mean walking. It's not surprising that a third world nation like Uganda, where people often lack vehicles, has a smaller percentage not getting much exercise. Doesn't mean Ugandans are getting a wide breadth of high quality exercise or producing extremely fit people.
Plus these studies often contradict each other, depending on methodology. I saw one a few years ago that showed US kids, even on average, were the most active in the world. That study looked at sports and serious extra curricular activities (e.g. gymnastics, swimming).
It's common knowledge that US students play more sports than any other nation's, and the US is the world's #1 sporting nation. It's not just the Olympics the USA dominates, but sports in general, from strong man competitions (those guys are some BMI busters, lol, showing the flaws in that metric) to fitness titles ("Fittest Man on Earth”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Froning_Jr.)
The US also dominates elite military competitions.
Lots of Americans are lifting weights (still way more than in any other nation), running, doing combat sports training, swimming, ruck marching, or performing a bigger variety of intense training than any other population on earth.
So yes, my statement was correct. The USA is a land of extremes. It has the largest people on earth (some fat, some muscled up). It has delicious but often unhealthy food (though countless healthy choices are available in the endless variety Americans have access to), and more plentiful and affordable food than any other country.
The USA also has the fittest, most athletic people on earth.
"Obesity is a common, serious, and costly disease
*The prevalence of obesity was 42.4% in 2017~2018.
*From 1999–2000 through 2017–2018, the prevalence of obesity increased from 30.5% to 42.4%, and the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%.
* Non-Hispanic blacks (49.6%) had the highest age-adjusted prevalence of obesity, followed by Hispanics (44.8%), non-Hispanic whites (42.2%) and non-Hispanic Asians (17.4%).
The prevalence of obesity was 40.0% among young adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.8% among middle-aged adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 42.8% among older adults aged 60 and older.
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
"What you miss is that that 30-40% still leaves 60-70% of Americans who are getting enough exercise"
That's an assumption which is different from a fact.
Facts & Statistics
Physical Activity
Only one in three children are physically active every day.
Less than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day; only one in three adults receive the recommended amount of physical activity each week.
Only 35 – 44% of adults 75 years or older are physically active, and 28-34% of adults ages 65-74 are physically active.
More than 80% of adults do not meet the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, and more than 80% of adolescents do not do enough aerobic physical activity to meet the guidelines for youth.
Obesity
Data from 2009-2010 indicates that over 78 million U.S. adults and about 12.5 million (16.9%) children and adolescents are obese.
Recent reports project that by 2030, half of all adults (115 million adults) in the United States will be obese.
https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/resource-center/facts-and-statistics/index.html
Trump is obese, too. He doesn't exercise and eats fast food.
I love how you just spun your wheels posting all that crap while failing to address anything I said, LOL.
As long as the US has enough fit people to dominate Olympic medal tables, it will be able to continue fielding the greatest military in the world.
PS - And Trump is a unique energy dynamo, regardless of diet.
I prefer facts. CDC and HHS have facts. You have a worthless opinion.
Trump is still obese.
I posted facts, you anti-American moron. The problem is you suck at logically interpreting facts. These are facts:
"The United States is the most successful nation of all time at the Summer Olympic Games, having amassed a total of 2,520 medals since the first Olympics in 1896...Of the 2,520 medals won by Team USA over the years, over one thousand have been gold. The dominance of the United States can be shown in the fact that only two other nations, Russia and Germany, have reached a combined medal tally of 1,000....In the most recent Summer Olympics, held in Rio de Janiero in 2016, Team USA emerged with 121 medals, making it their third most successful Olympics in history. The team were able to claim 46 gold medals across a record 35 sports, including men’s basketball, women’s water polo, and tennis mixed doubles.:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262864/all-time-summer-olympics-medals-table/
UFC Heavyweight Champion: Stipe Miocic (Ohio)
Currently 4 UFC champions and historical dominance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UFC_champions#Current_champions
"Fittest Man on Earth", 1st 4 time world CrossFit champion: Rich Froning Jr. (Michigan, Tennessee)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Froning_Jr.
2019 world CrossFit champion: Matt Fraser (Tennessee); Americans claimed 11 of the top 15 spots. An American team led by Froning won the team event, as it has 4 of the past 5 years.
https://games.crossfit.com/leaderboard/games/2019?division=1&sort=0
World’s Strongest Man, 2019 champion: American Martins Licis (Latvian born, moved to US at age 4)
Brian Shaw (Colorado) won 4 WSM championships, among other titles, and has probably been the strongest man in the world in recent years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Shaw_(strongman)
World’s Fastest Man, 2019 world champion: Christian Coleman (Georgia), US Olympic veteran Justin Gatlin finished 2nd.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_World_Athletics_Championships_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_100_metres
Current Golf Rankings (USA has 12 of the top 18 spots, not including Jordan Spieth who's in a lull but still has a good chance to emerge as the greatest of this era)
http://www.owgr.com/ranking
Current champions across several weight classes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_world_boxing_champions
Utter historical dominance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_heavyweight_boxing_champions
Who cares what Trump looks like? What matters is he's an indefatigable worker and political warrior, which is what your comrades really complain about.
So America has the fittest, strongest, and fastest men on earth, along with the best fighters, most of the best golfers, and I could go on and on. Facts.
"Indeed the USA still has the fittest, most athletic people on earth"
Source?