The Law of Unintended Consequences -- unforeseen and often undesirable outcomes as the result of a particular action -- is definitely at work in the epidemic of childhood obesity. Unfortunately, this "law," popularized by the late American sociologist Robert K. Merton, is playing out in ways that may be harming our nation's security, according to Too Fat to Fight, a report issued by Mission: Readiness, a non-profit organization tasked with growing the next generation of soldiers.
Citing recent CDC data, this 16-page analysis (free link below) argues an alarming 27 percent of young adults (ages 17-24) -- at least 9 MILLION people -- are too fat to serve in the military. The number of states with 40-49 percent of its young adult residents who were obese or overweight exploded from one in 1996-98 to 39 a decade later. And, more than 50 percent of young adults living in three states -- Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi -- are too obese to enlist right now.
When combined with other disqualifiers -- among them criminal records, a lack of education, medical conditions like asthma and drug abuse -- an estimated 75 percent of young folks would be ineligible to serve, according to a prepared statement given to the House Armed Service Services Committee in 2009 by Dr. Curtis Gilroy, currently the director of accession policy at the Pentagon who oversees active-duty recruiting.
I can't blame you one little bit if you're skeptical about these numbers (particularly because few people, save athletes, gain massive amounts of weight intentionally). I was too, until I reviewed this equally striking USA Today story by Chris Joyner who discovered similar statistical problems with local police and fire department recruiting. Although no national studies have been conducted on the fitness of police officers and fire fighters, localized reports have consistently found about 75 percent of these professionals are overweight and a third would be classified as obese. And, one Harvard expert believes these fitness numbers may foreshadow something much worse: Some departments have lowered their physical requirements to avoid discrimination lawsuits.
The only silver lining in all these numbers is a personal one for me and my family. I recall my XO soldier son, serving in the Delta Company/2nd Battalion -- 124th Infantry division in Kuwait (Army National Guard), spending his late evenings, when he wasn't training or teaching, doing 5-mile runs just to keep up with "the kids" in his unit. Mindful of the dire numbers I cited above, I can't help but be very proud of my son who is giving his best for his unit and his country. I hope you'll feel the same way after watching my son, 2nd Lt. John Beamer, who surprised me last year when he appeared in a National Guard recruiting video.
Mission: Readiness April 20, 2010 Free Full PDF Report
USA Today May 9, 2010
NJ.com/The Star-Ledger April 25, 2010
USA Today April 20, 2010