US Troops Turn to Liposuction to Pass Fat Test (According To Russian Media Source)

RiaNovosti ^ | October 29, 2013 | Staff

[lbryce]

Troops often call plastic surgeon Adam Tattelbaum in a panic. They need liposuction — fast.

Some military personnel are turning to the surgical procedure to remove excess fat from their waists in a desperate attempt to pass the Pentagon's body fat test, which relies on measurements of the neck and waist and can determine their future prospects in the military.

"They come in panicked about being kicked out or getting a demerit that will hurt their chances at a promotion," the Rockville, Maryland, surgeon said.

Service members complain that the Defense Department's method of estimating body fat weeds out not just flabby physiques but bulkier, muscular builds.

Fitness experts agree and have joined the calls for the military's fitness standards to be revamped. They say the Pentagon's weight tables are outdated and do not reflect that Americans are now bigger, though not necessarily less healthy.

Defense officials say the test ensures troops are ready for the rigors of combat. The military does not condone surgically altering one's body to pass the test, but liposuction is not banned.

The Pentagon insists that only a small fraction of service members who exceed body fat limits perform well on fitness tests.

"We want everybody to succeed," said Bill Moore, director of the Navy's Physical Readiness Program. "This isn't an organization that trains them and says, 'Hey, get the heck out.'"

The Defense Department's "tape test" uses neck and waist measurements rather than the body mass index, a system based on an individual's height and weight that is widely used in the civilian world.

Those who fail are ordered to spend months in a vigorous exercise and nutrition program, which Marines have nicknamed the "pork chop platoon" or "doughnut brigade." Even if they later pass, failing the test once can halt promotions for years, service members say.

Failing three times can be grounds for getting kicked out.

The number of Army soldiers booted for being overweight has jumped tenfold in the past five years from 168 in 2008 to 1,815. In the Marine Corps, the figure nearly doubled from 102 in 2010 to 186 in 2011 but dropped to 132 last year.

The Air Force and the Navy said they do not track discharges tied to the tape test.

Still, service members say they are under intense scrutiny as the military trims its ranks because of budget cuts and the winding down of the Afghanistan war.

Dr. Michael Pasquale of Aloha Plastic Surgery in Honolulu said his military clientele has jumped by more than 30 percent since 2011, with about a half-dozen service members coming in every month.

"They have to worry about their careers," the former soldier said. "With the military downsizing, it's putting more pressure on these guys."

Military insurance covers liposuction only if it is deemed medically necessary, not if it is considered cosmetic, which would be the nature of any procedure used to pass the test. The cost of liposuction can exceed $6,000.

Some service members go on crash diets or use weights to beef up their necks so they're in proportion with a larger waist. Pasquale said liposuction works for those with the wrong genetics.

"I've actually had commanders recommend it to their troops," Pasquale said. "They'll deny that if you ask them. But they know some people are in really good shape and unfortunately are just built wrong."

[lbryce]

This is one of the strangest stories I've seen in quite some time.
The source of the story being a staunchly pro-Soviet news site, it certainly must be held at arm's length to get proper perspective on the meaning of it all.
First, that the US military standards in accepting candidates of such discriminating qualifications is a good thing. But that doesn't seem to be the point of the article, the source of which is colored in its subjective pro-Soviet, anti-US demeanor.
Let's review the facts as they are. It is undisputed that Americans are fat susceptible to all the hazards to health associated with being overweight
Washington Post: October 1, 2013-Americans Are Fat, Stressed, and Unhealthy
The World Economic Forum, sponsors of the exclusive, c-level talkfest held every year in Switzerland, knows what is wrong with us Americans.
We are fat. We are stressed. We are on the verge of a coronary.

Reading the article, the sense of panic that permeates throughout the story about military applicants, personnel being driven to extraordinary means such as turning to questionable surgical procedures to achieve, maintain eligibility seems overwrought, histrionic, standard fare for foreign media sources that like our domestic media that comprise the MSM, in maintaining an adversarial role versus the US, but with a different, more jingoistic perspective, as manifested by Russian news sources, in general.

If you're like most Americans your body/fat ratio is not going to be within normal, acceptable range towards being deemed healthy enough to qualify for the more rigorous standards of US military requirements.

I have no way of knowing whether the anecdotes featured in the story of those panicked seeking alternative methods to dieting and exercise to achieve the target body proportion desirable, as being true.

But, whatever the case, the point of the article seems to be that the US military forces may not be the healthy establishment one might think, where a certain number of personnel have opted for unnatural, potentially dangerous methods, procedures in achieving a healthy life-style condition.

[freedom462]

Immediate, grossly politically incorrect question that comes to mind - how much of this is a direct result of the movement, bolstered by lawsuits and other kinds of political pressure, to universally lower standards to accommodate women and others who normally would not be deemed anywhere near physically capable enough if we used a shred of common sense in our recruitment?

[backwoods-engineer]

The Fat Just Walks Away^TM

[Bryanw92]

Even when I was in back in the 1980’s, people would resort to some extraordinary things to get their weight within limits, and the limits were a lot looser then than now.

So, the big takeaway on this is that the people in the military today will do just about anything to stay in. Keep that in mind FReepers, when you are calculating who will stand with the citizens when the government decides that the Constitutional process is just too slow to make the fundamental changes that our “leaders” deem necessary.

[lbryce]

They said the same thing about the volunteer army, women, gays in the military, that the bulk of the enlistees were from minority groups, eventually proven untrue.

But allowing the relaxing of just such requirements would render the US military as seriously diminished fighting force.

[ealgeone]

damn...shouldn’t we measure them by their ability to:

- run a certain distance in a certain time with field gear?
- perform certain number of pushups, chin ups, sit ups?
- hit a target on the range?
- know how to take care of their weapon?

heck, in high school if our team screwed up we ran. you run enough you lose weight. it was amazing how that focused you.

[blueunicorn6]

Isn’t the brain mostly fat? Maybe we could suck the fat off the Enlisted Soldiers and shoot it into the heads of our admirals and generals to make them smarter. That’s what you call a win/win situation.

[lbryce]

it was amazing how that focused you.

I don't understand why, how your comment are directed at me.

I'm not the one who rejects out of hand applicants who don't achieve body/fat ratio of certain specifications.

It is the military that won't provide for your suggestions as alternative to body/fat proportions they deem unacceptable.

I suggest you to direct your lamentations to the Secretary of Defense.

[Fire_on_High]

I think you misunderstood. Way I read that was more “It was amazing how much being made to run as punishment for screwups kept us focused on not screwing up”.

[ealgeone]

I’m not busting on you.

I’m merely suggesting the military has a proven way of getting folks in shape and that’s what we should be doing.

[lbryce]

In retrospect, I would have to agree with your inspiring suggestion, in which the armed forces would offer a program that would have enlistees transformed into fighting fit condition for those who weren't eligible.

But it seems the army has no need for just such a program.

First of all, they most certainly meet their monthly recruitment quota on what is available to them under current conditions.

Secondly, what happens to those who fail to achieve the requirements even after completing the program? What percent of supposed enlistees that attain the objectives required, make the program worthwhile?

I've thought of other scenarios that makes just such a program a very questionable undertaking.

Another point. Those who seek enlistment but are otherwise not eligible, why spend the money on questionable methods to reducing body fat via liposuction when the money could be better spent using a tried and true method of hiring a sports trainer, dietitian to get you in shape naturally without the health risks associated with liposuction?

[ealgeone]

or we could just put them on Survivor. not many folks are fat at the end of 39 days on that show.