Lieutenant Colonel Eric Reinkober, the head dude at the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion Kansas City office, hates the term "Army Fat Camp." But he grudgingly admits that, because of America's ever-plumping obesity problem, the upper echelons of the U.S. military have started discussing the possibility of creating a special program within basic training for recruits who come in a little heavy.
See, the Army's got height/weight standards for recruits. Taller people are "authorized" to carry more weight than shorter folks, Reinkober says. If a potential recruit's weight is right on or over the limit for their height, the recruiters pull out the measuring tape and determine a body fat percentage based on the width around the wrist, neck and waist. Recruiters are supposed to work with people to get them down to the proper weight, even if it means jogging with them and coaching them, week by week.
Once a recruit is down to an acceptable weight, they'll receive a date to ship out for basic training. But sometimes, like in the case of high school seniors who have yet to graduate, the ship-out date is months away. And if a recruit arrives on the ship-out date and weighs just one or two pounds over the limit, they're held back.
"It's frustrating to put all the work we do as recruiters into a particular person, and they come up here the day they're shipping and they're two pounds overweight," Reinkober says. "It's almost the biggest waste, a phenomenal waste of investment of your time and energy to say, 'Can't help ya, you're four pounds overweight. Bye.' Or, 'Come back in six weeks.' It causes so many disruptions in our system. Training seats have already been reserved for this particular person, instructors, facilities have been put against this person coming in. So it has this ripple effect of inefficiency if we can't get 'em to ship."
The craptastic economy is working in the military's favor -- last year 170,800 Americans signed up, and this year every service has made over 100 percent of their recruitment goals, Reinkober says. But only three out of ten Americans are eligible for military service, due to disqualifications like the lack of a high school diploma (or its equivalent), medical conditions (you can't get in with asthma, for instance) or legal troubles.
"I'm amazed at how many high school kids, here locally, have DUIs," Reinkober says. "It just boggles my mind. ...They have to have all that closed out before we can enlist them in the Army. You can't be on probation. Even if it's, in your opinion, a relatively minor offense. Wrote a bad check? We cannot enlist you. It's a thing that concerns me, as an American, the number of people between the ages of 18-24 who have problems with the law. I'm not talking about kids in Kansas City, I'm talking about kids in affluent areas, you would be surprised. Whether it's drug use on the side, minor in possession of alcohol, whatever."
That's why the number of people disqualified for service because of weight is disturbing for recruiters nationally. One in five kids between 12 and 19 years of age is considered overweight, and that number is expected to grow to one in four by 2015.
Already, the army is whittling away at itself from the inside. You won't find any soda machines at boot camp anymore, Reinkober says. The mess halls have cut out fried foods and processed sugars. If Army Fat Camp is eventually ok'd -- it won't be called that, by the way -- a recruit who is a couple pounds overweight will be allowed to ship out and join a special group who will work a bit harder than everyone else.
The idea still has its critics. "Some people say, 'Well, you guys should just work with 'em harder,'" Reinkober says. "Easier said than done when you don't have these men and women full-time, when they can go to McDonald's, they can play the PlayStation, sit on the couch, drink soda, Dr. Pepper, and not really be committed to losing the weight. It's very black and white. Either you make it or you don't. If you don't, you're not joining the Army."
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I am an NCO in the US Army, I strongly beleive in the values and standards of our corps. When a member is overweight, not only are they not fit or strong enough to effectively fight to our standard but they do not hold the respected look of a soldier, Imagine a soldier wounded in combat and his buddy cannot pull him, or carry him the 50 meters neccesary to save his life, Imagine an overweight leader taking charge of a physical fitness session to train our war fighters. When I was first inducted into the NCO Corps I told the CSM if I fall below the standards inany way including appearence and fitness that I would request for a reduction board to remove me of my stripes. Our forces need solutions and disciplined warriors not problems and out of standard individuals.
I joined the US Navy in July of 1972, on a 90-day delayed entry program, and did't have to report for active duty, until September. I'd always been battling the bulge, and had high blood pressure, during a pre-screening physical. I wasn't in the best of shape, and hadn't played any sports in hogh school, but I did work as manager for football and baseball, my last two years. I hiked up a mountain on July Fourth weekend and joined the Navy on the 11th. I worked a summer job before reporting to the AFEES induction center, to begin my basic traing. My weight was 201 pounds at 5 foot 6 inches. Two months later, I weighed 179 pounds, and I was sent to vocational school in Florida, for six months. The Vietnam war ended before, I got out of vocational school, and I went to another school for a type aircraft, and then into a squadron. Back then, there were so many druggies and alcoholics, returning from the war, and so many druggie college grads being commissioned as officers, my weight wasn't much of an issue, though I maintained at 175 pounds.
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