News 77% of young Americans too fat, mentally ill, on drugs and more to join military, Pentagon study finds

[ch33zw1z]

77% of young Americans too fat, mentally ill, on drugs and more to join military, Pentagon study finds

A Pentagon study revealed that 77 percent of young Americans do not qualify for military service without a waiver due to being overweight, drug use, or

americanmilitarynews.com

Mental and Physical wellness go hand in hand.

This little tid bit was a bit odd to include, IMO:

Among the concerns expressed by lawmakers is the COVID-19 vaccine mandate that was only recently ended for the U.S. military. New York Rep. Elise Stefanik (R) pushed for the end of the mandate in her support of December’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).


“Our country must never fall behind in providing for a strong national defense, which is why I am proud to bring an end to the Biden Administration’s authoritarian COVID vaccine mandate on our servicemen and women that has weakened our military recruitment and impaired our military ranks,” she said in a statement.

 

[Moonbeam]

How many with bone spurs?

 

[shortylickens]

Thats what happens when you put money into nothing except the military.
Maybe we should actually start fixing our problems now? Or just go on pretending everything is fine...

 

[Mai72]

Hey, I play Call of Duty and Apex Legends for 10 hours a day!

Doesn't that count as time served in the military?

But honestly, this is how empires fall. Not today. But 20 years for now? Heck yea.

Awesome Quote from William Duran:

"Nations are born Stoic and Die Epicurean."

"Nations are forged by pioneers who are willing to forego present comforts for future wealth and success. Nations crumble when future success and wealth is forgone for present comforts. This same principle can be scaled down to our own ambitions and positioning in life. Always invest in the future. Stagnation is the slow death of the creative and ambitious mind."

Think about how hard our grandfathers and great-grandfathers worked. And, how many young men gave their lives to fight world wars. We have since progressed as a nation in so many ways. We don't have to fight for our food anymore. Its plentiful for most people. Even the poor in America have enough food. We can be entertained 24/7 now. There isn't much of a need to walk outside our homes any more. Today, the average man or woman in the Western world has a better more comfortable life than the king of England, who ruled 500 years ago. That's crazy. But, it comes with drawbacks. The one being all of the modern comforts that we are now experiencing makes people weak and are unable to deal with stressful situations.

 

[Mai72]

Thats what happens when you put money into nothing except the military.
Maybe we should actually start fixing our problems now? Or just go on pretending everything is fine...

The "fix" has to happen from within. I don't see how the US government can "fix" this problem. In fact, they will just make it worse if they did intervene. You can't make people do something that they don't want to do. Take health and exercise for example. Most people won't change untill they are faced with a life threatening illness like heart disease. Even then, most people are unable to change because its hard. You have to want to exercise, and eat better. The government won't be able to change that.

 

[ch33zw1z]

The "fix" has to happen from within. I don't see how the US government can "fix" this problem. In fact, they will just make it worse if they did intervene. You can't make people do something that they don't want to do. Take health and exercise for example. Most people won't change untill they are faced with a life threatening illness like heart disease. Even then, most people are unable to change because its hard. You have to want to exercise, and eat better. The government won't be able to change that.

There are certain things I think the government could help with in this regard. Like tax unhealthy foods and subsidize healthy foods.

Provide real discounts for medical coverage for people engaging in regular exercise.

taxing and education worked well to reduce cigarette smoking, I don’t see why it couldn’t be as effective for junk food and unhealthy lifestyles

 

[Pens1566]

There are certain things I think the government could help with in this regard. Like tax unhealthy foods and subsidize healthy foods.

Provide real discounts for medical coverage for people engaging in regular exercise.

taxing and education worked well to reduce cigarette smoking, I don’t see why it couldn’t be as effective for junk food and unhealthy lifestyles

Some of that was attempted (kids nutrition related IIRC) in the Obama administration and some people acted like it was the end of the fucking world.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Some of that was attempted (kids nutrition related IIRC) in the Obama administration and some people acted like it was the end of the fucking world.

Indeed, off the fuggin' rails, 40% of our country.

 

[eelw]

Ah this is how the US fixes gun violence. There hasn’t been a fat school shooter yet.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Some of that was attempted (kids nutrition related IIRC) in the Obama administration and some people acted like it was the end of the fucking world.

why do you hate freedom? /S

 

[ch33zw1z]

Hey, I play Call of Duty and Apex Legends for 10 hours a day!

Doesn't that count as time served in the military?

But honestly, this is how empires fall. Not today. But 20 years for now? Heck yea.

Awesome Quote from William Duran:

"Nations are born Stoic and Die Epicurean."

"Nations are forged by pioneers who are willing to forego present comforts for future wealth and success. Nations crumble when future success and wealth is forgone for present comforts. This same principle can be scaled down to our own ambitions and positioning in life. Always invest in the future. Stagnation is the slow death of the creative and ambitious mind."

Think about how hard our grandfathers and great-grandfathers worked. And, how many young men gave their lives to fight world wars. We have since progressed as a nation in so many ways. We don't have to fight for our food anymore. Its plentiful for most people. Even the poor in America have enough food. We can be entertained 24/7 now. There isn't much of a need to walk outside our homes any more. Today, the average man or woman in the Western world has a better more comfortable life than the king of England, who ruled 500 years ago. That's crazy. But, it comes with drawbacks. The one being all of the modern comforts that we are now experiencing makes people weak and are unable to deal with stressful situations.

There’s some honest truth here.

I’ll use myself as an example. I didn’t really take care of myself as an adult, was super active in high school thru 20YO. Fast forward to now, I’ve spent 3+ years working on myself. Quite a bit of the exercises I do would’ve just been done in every day life before industrialization. A big one that’s encouraged now is pushing / pulling a sled. It’s actually really good for you. I could go on, but you get my drift. Our grand parents and great grand parents didn’t even have to work as hard as theirs.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I mean, I was too fat to join the military, so I lost a shitload of weight and got in shape, then joined the military. Derpderp.

 

[Ajay]

Some of that was attempted (kids nutrition related IIRC) in the Obama administration and some people acted like it was the end of the fucking world.

Multiple organizations were working on that around that time frame. Most, IIRC, were geared towards improvements in school lunch/breakfast. One of the impediments was that kids didn't like the food. They ate crap at home (like fast food takeout) and had little interest in eating the better quality food that many of us grew up with. Many schools started with enthusiasm, only to end programs when parents called in because their kids were coming home hungry. Add to that that kids staying inside on beautiful sunny days and playing video games (alternating with watching porn in their teens) and it's an unhealthy mess.

This seriously needs to stop, but it will require parents, in particular, to make significant changes - which is really hard because the whole local community needs to change to maintain that discipline. Some of the successful parents I know limited screen time, disallowed the drinking of sugary beverages, got their kids involved in sports at a young age, etc. But those were reasonably well off middle class families - and in some cases, mom didn't work so she could put 100% into the family (shopping for low prices to buy good food, spending time cooking, having healthy snacks around, being with the kids in the afternoon and kicking them off the computer/xbox, whatever and driving them around to each kids game/meet).**

Then there are those, typically lower income (duh) who are single moms or dads trying to bring up their kids while working 1 & 1/2 jobs each week. I haven't really followed this since the Obama years, so I have no real idea what is happening today - but the results seem to speak for themselves.



** It's unsurprising that many want changes in work/life balance post Covid given the insights they gained on their own family life after being around the kids so much. My wife is an educator, and parents have become much more involved in their kids education after watching that education taking place remotely in their own home.

 

[Indus]

77% of young Americans too fat, mentally ill, on drugs and more to join military, Pentagon study finds

A Pentagon study revealed that 77 percent of young Americans do not qualify for military service without a waiver due to being overweight, drug use, or

americanmilitarynews.com

Mental and Physical wellness go hand in hand.

This little tid bit was a bit odd to include, IMO:

And a good portion of those 23% would rather play xbox, playstation than join the new Confederate Army of Northern Georgia, under the command of General Marjorie Taylor Greene with the goal of slipping across the Potomac to begin the invasion of the North!

Guess she'll have to go back to the drawing board!

 

[hal2kilo]

77% of young Americans too fat, mentally ill, on drugs and more to join military, Pentagon study finds

A Pentagon study revealed that 77 percent of young Americans do not qualify for military service without a waiver due to being overweight, drug use, or

americanmilitarynews.com

Mental and Physical wellness go hand in hand.

This little tid bit was a bit odd to include, IMO:

And history once again repeats itself. Personally benefitted by having rigorous physical ed from about forth grade on. Got to pass the presidents test.

JFK calls on Americans become physically fit, Dec. 5, 1961

On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy called on Americans to participate in sports and other forms of physical activity.

www.politico.com

On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy called on Americans to participate in sports and other forms of physical activity.
“We are underexercised as a nation,” Kennedy said in addressing some 1,500 football fans seated in the grand ballroom of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at an annual black-tie dinner. He spoke after receiving the Gold Medal Award of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame for having played on Harvard’s freshman and junior varsity football teams in the late 1930s.

“We look instead of play, ride instead of walk,” the president said. “The remedy, in my judgment, lies in one direction,” he went on. “That is in developing programs for broad participation in exercise by all of our young men and women, all of our boys and girls.”


Kennedy lamented the “sad fact” that “our national sport is not playing at all, but watching. We have become more and more, not a nation of athletes but a nation of spectators.”
He cited the “inordinately high number of draftees” being rejected for military service for physical reasons. To enlist two men, he noted, the Army must call up seven. Of the five who were being rejected, three were being turned down for physical reasons and two for “mental disabilities.”

 

[nakedfrog]

There isn't much of a need to walk outside our homes any more.

Because we built a car-centric country that makes it impractical for many, many people to simply walk to places.

The "fix" has to happen from within. I don't see how the US government can "fix" this problem. In fact, they will just make it worse if they did intervene. You can't make people do something that they don't want to do. Take health and exercise for example. Most people won't change untill they are faced with a life threatening illness like heart disease. Even then, most people are unable to change because its hard. You have to want to exercise, and eat better. The government won't be able to change that.

There's a lot of things that could be done.

 

[IronWing]

It the intent of phy ed is to encourage life long health, sounds good. If the intent of phy ed is to produce higher quality cannon fodder, well, f' that.

 

[Zor Prime]

Mental and Physical wellness go hand in hand.

Exactly.

The "fix" has to happen from within. I don't see how the US government can "fix" this problem. In fact, they will just make it worse if they did intervene. You can't make people do something that they don't want to do. Take health and exercise for example. Most people won't change untill they are faced with a life threatening illness like heart disease. Even then, most people are unable to change because its hard. You have to want to exercise, and eat better. The government won't be able to change that.

Very true. I wasn't ever obese or anything but it wasn't until I was almost 40 that I started to take getting into shape seriously. I knew that the older you get the harder it's going to get, so I'd better get crackin' or get so far behind the curve that I wouldn't even want to anymore. I was 39 with 40 around the corner and I sort of freaked out and contemplated my mortality.

Now I'm in my mid 40s and I participate in challenges and competitions. I had to want it. I've never been in better shape. Nobody was going to talk me into it, I had to make the choice for myself. Knowing one side of my family is susceptible to heart disease also helped, now I have a fighting chance.

First came the exercise then a couple years of that under my belt I then started to look at my diet. I admit I eat trash still more than I should, but I don't drink pop / soda or eat candy or sugar-heavy shit anymore. I make 3 exceptions. Easter. Thanksgiving. And Christmas. That's it. That's when I permit myself to eat pies and cakes, etc.

 

[Sunburn74]

Why is this surprising? Almost half the country is overweight or obese. In addition a lot of military recruits tend to come from the south and rural areas where health is at its worst in this country. I actually think this is great cause maybe it'll make us spend less on the military and more on the public at large.

 

[nakedfrog]

Why is this surprising? Almost half the country is overweight or obese. In addition a lot of military recruits tend to come from the south and rural areas where health is at its worst in this country. I actually think this is great cause maybe it'll make us spend less on the military and more on the public at large.

LOL, you sweet summer child!
I think it's more likely they'll relax entrance standards and just plan to make up the difference in training.

"Spend less on the military"... ah, that's a good one!

 

[Mai72]

Because we built a car-centric country that makes it impractical for many, many people to simply walk to places.

There's a lot of things that could be done.

The government can't fix this issue. In fact, they are the cause. Whenever tehy get involved the issue becomes worse.

For example, Lunchables are now going to be a cafteria staple in every school in America. Lunchables! Talk about junk food.

Why Lunchables are making a comeback for school lunch

The popular boxed lunch aimed at children will now be offered in school cafeterias across the US.

www.bbc.com

 

[nakedfrog]

The government can't fix this issue. In fact, they are the cause. Whenever tehy get involved the issue becomes worse.

For example, Lunchables are now going to be a cafteria staple in every school in America. Lunchables! Talk about junk food.

Why Lunchables are making a comeback for school lunch

The popular boxed lunch aimed at children will now be offered in school cafeterias across the US.

www.bbc.com

Sure, you link that story, but not this one:

US proposes first-ever limits on sugar in school meals

The government wants to cut back on sweet and salty foods, but critics say children will eat fast food instead.

www.bbc.com

I don't agree with your assessment, obviously, and I think this is a weak example you're using to support it. I also very much doubt these will be "a cafeteria staple in every school in America".

 

[ch33zw1z]

The government can't fix this issue. In fact, they are the cause. Whenever tehy get involved the issue becomes worse.

For example, Lunchables are now going to be a cafteria staple in every school in America. Lunchables! Talk about junk food.

Why Lunchables are making a comeback for school lunch

The popular boxed lunch aimed at children will now be offered in school cafeterias across the US.

www.bbc.com

A common piece of disinformation is food sold in school cafeterias is the same as food you buy at the store. I can confirm this is not the case

 

[Fenixgoon]

The government can't fix this issue. In fact, they are the cause. Whenever tehy get involved the issue becomes worse.

For example, Lunchables are now going to be a cafteria staple in every school in America. Lunchables! Talk about junk food.

Why Lunchables are making a comeback for school lunch

The popular boxed lunch aimed at children will now be offered in school cafeterias across the US.

www.bbc.com

Let's take this as hypothetical truth that the government can't possibly solve this problem.

What is *A* solution?

(Mind you that in some other countries, the government does provide school lunches free to almost all students)

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Let's take this as hypothetical truth that the government can't possibly solve this problem.

What is *A* solution?

(Mind you that in some other countries, the government does provide school lunches free to almost all students)

Prioritization of health education in K-12, resulting in young adults who get into the child health industry and govt positions with a focus on children's health, resulting in a government that can actually solve the problem?