“Obesity is a threat to our national security.”
This is what I heard someone from the military tell CNN’s Carol Costello Monday morning while I ate my Taco Bell breakfast. Of all the things the media tells us are threats to our national security [ISIS, Al-Qaeda, North Korea], obesity makes that list, as well.
According to Costello, of the 195,000 young men and women who signed up for the military, 123,000 were disqualified. Ten percent of them were disqualified for being overweight. And to be quite honest, I just had to laugh.
The fact that young people are [as Costello called it] “too fat to fight” is hilariously
ironic to me.
Do you know why the National School Lunch Program exists in the United States? It was signed into law in 1946 by former President Harry Truman in response to the number of men who were being rejected from the military to fight during World War II.
The problem was obvious—the now grown men who wanted [or were drafted] to fight for their country didn’t get the nutrition they needed growing up and the government wanted to fix that. But the motivation they had to create this project was brought about only because the military was having an enrollment issue. Which is exactly what’s happening right now, with obesity and the military.
Am I saying obesity isn’t a national issue? Absolutely not. However, I do think the military could stand to lose 10 percent of their volunteers.
Twenty-seven cents of our tax dollars goes toward the military, according to the National Priorities Project. That’s more than education [2.5 cents], food and agriculture [5 cents] and veterans benefits [5.8 cents].
And before we can make any more civilians into soldiers, our government should be taking better steps to help soldiers who are becoming veterans.
Almost 20 million veterans are living in the United States today, but military jobs and training aren’t very transferable into the civilian workplace. A lot of veterans are also homeless because of their inability to compete in the workplace. And while Veteran Affairs does indeed help, it does not help enough.
And it’s not like steps aren’t being taken to help tackle obesity in America. First Lady Michelle Obama has been a frontrunner to helping childhood obesity, which could indeed be beneficial to the future of military recruitment.
Even the military personnel who spoke on CNN said that Army recruiters have also become fitness coaches, helping those wanting to enlist lose weight [and please note, your 27 cents does indeed help pay for this to happen]. If they don’t lose the weight with the recruiter, they’re sent to a boot camp, where some succeed, but many don’t.
Obesity in the United States is indeed a growing trend, but it would help American society a great deal if the media stopped treating it as if it’s the biggest problem American society has.
And again, don’t get me wrong. Obesity is an important issue, especially when it comes to the military. Soldiers should be in tip-top shape to fight for our country and the freedoms we have as American citizens.
But a national security crisis? Doubtful.
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