Posted on 09/02/2017 3:01:49 PM PDT by buckalfa
Americans continue to get fatter and it’s delivering a huge blow to the country, both in higher health care costs and undercutting military recruiting, according to a huge new study.
The 14th annual State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation bluntly reported that 70 percent of the nation is obese or overweight.
And while the rate of obesity growth is leveling off, the costs aren’t. The report, for example, said additional health care for obese adults and children is $150 billion a year and billions of dollars more in lost worker productivity.
It is also costly to the military, said the report. Nearly one-quarter of military recruits are rejected because they are obese and it costs the Pentagon $1 billion a year in added health care costs for obese troops and their families.
More stunning, said the comprehensive 101-page report: ” 70 percent of today’s youth are not fit to serve in the military due to obesity or being overweight, criminal records, drug misuse or educational deficits.”
The report is filled with graphics and statistics showing that the epidemic is at a new high, though slowing. It also gives several recommendations to fight it.
It charts obesity in every state and found that West Virginia is at the top, with 37.7 percent obese. Colorado is at the bottom with 22 percent obese.
Some other key takeaways: Nine of the 11 states with the highest obesity rates are in the South and 23 of the 25 states with the highest rates of obesity are in the South and Midwest.
Adult obesity rates have striking racial and ethnic inequities – with rates above 40 percent for blacks in 15 states, and rates at or above 35 percent among Latinos in nine states, compared with rates above 35 percent among whites in one state.
Obesity rates are around 30 percent higher among adults without a college education and with incomes below $15,000 compared with other adults.
Thanks for the reply
The earlier poster said the average score in his area was 15——is that good or bad?
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The pool of young men is large enough to flesh out an army. The problem is that the Romney boys don’t want to serve. Resume conscription.
Forty hours a week? What branch of the service were you in? Where did you deploy to?
Don’t worry, they significantly eased up on the body fat standards for females so many of them could enter and/or remain on active duty.
Not all of them. They need road guards.
If you’re playing ping pong.
When I went through Marine Corps basic in 1973 there was a fat boy platoon. Come to San Diego over your weight limit and you start out in the fat boy platoon and you stay there until you meet the weight standard. We’d see them huffing and puffing by on a regular basis.
Don’t know off hand.
Back in ‘74 we didn’t take the battery of tests until we were already in boot camp.
I have no idea what my score was because they didn’t tell us. (Must have been good enough because they didn’t change the MOS I enlisted for.)
Not all of them. They need road guards.
Here are the minimums:
Military Requirements for Minimum ASVAB Scores
Military Branch High School Diploma GED
Air Force 36 65
Army 31 50
Coast Guard 40 50
Marine Corps 32 50
National Guard 31 50
Navy 35 50
We had a Mexican guy we called Big Lucero. He ended up losing around 50 pounds during the training. Would have been a helluva NFL lineman.
Thus, a score of 90 indicates that the examinee scored as well as or better than 90% of the nationally-representative sample of 18 to 23 year old youth. A score of 50 indicates that the examinee scored as well as or better than 50% of the nationally-representative sample. A score of 15 indicates that the examinee scored at, or below the limit for a canine.
Sounds like AF or maybe navy.
That’s the placement exam for military service.
I understand percentiles.
Thanks-—that explains a lot.
I didn’t even know that this exam existed.
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Couldn’t be Navy; those guys get 12 hour shifts at least every day they are at sea, not to mention getting up for drills, etc. I know one sub guy who told me he was underwater for over two months.
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