June 5th, 2009, 03:57 AM
posted to soc.support.fat-acceptance,alt.support.diet.weightwatchers,misc.survivalism,talk.politics.guns,alt.rush-limbaugh
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Would-Be Soldiers Too Fat to Serve, Military Has Had to Turn Away48,000 Basil Butt Recruits Since 2005
On Jun 4, 7:13*pm, Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Jun 3, 10:15*pm, wrote:
On Jun 3, 10:52*pm, Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Jun 3, 8:30*am, wrote:
On Jun 2, 7:26*pm, Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Jun 2, 12:34*pm, Gandalf Gay wrote:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=7142589&page=1
Amanda Turcotte wants to be all that she can be, but she's 25 pounds over
the Army's weight limit.
Her recruiter is sweating her down to regulation size with a grueling
daily exercise regimen.
"If you need to puke there's a garbage can right there," Army recruiter
Sgt. Jessica La Pointe told Turcotte during a recent workout at an
Annapolis high school. "That's fine. You can come back and finish up."
With fast-food diets and couch potato lifestyles expanding the waistlines
of the nation's youth, the former professional kickboxer says she must
become personal trainer to many recruits just to get them to boot camp.
"We do get people who come in the office that are overweight by Army
standards," La Pointe told ABC News. "And then what we do is try to work
out a program through nutrition and exercise."
The standards vary by service. The Army allows 26 percent body fat for
men, and more for women. When recruits are asked their weight, "everybody
lies," La Pointe said.
Obesity is a national epidemic. Three in four military-age Americans is
unqualified to join the military. The No. 1 reason: obesity. One in five
military-age Americans is too fat to serve. The military has turned away
48,000 overweight recruits since 2005, more than all the American troops
fighting in Afghanistan.
Leo Knight-Inglesby was one of them. Two years ago, when he wanted to join
the Air Force, he tipped the scales at 361 pounds -- way over the Air
Force limit.
"I was eating everything in the house," Knight-Inglesby told ABC News
during a break from basic training. He said a recruiter told him, "You
need to lose some weight -- a large amount of weight."
He's now at Boot Camp at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas,
after dropping a staggering 161 pounds. He said he did it the old-
fashioned way -- exercise, and dropping a daily McDonald's habit.
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