[untenured]

Well, assuming that Mr. Hackworth's charges are true (and I have no idea whether they are), I would bet that the primary reason that soldiers are in much poorer physical shape than they used to be is because Americans are in such poor shape. Traveling around the world reveals how heavy we are, and morbid obesity and being overweight now afflict people at ever-younger ages. Our restaurant portions are huge by foreign standards, and the only reason they're that big is because that's what we demand.

I don't really know why it has come to this (100 channels of television? Cars? Office work?), but the phenomenon is starkly real, and as long as soldiers are drawn from a U.S. population getting heavier by the day our military will inevitably become less and less fit over time.

Having women in the military, with the concomitant lowering of fitness standards to accommodate them, undoubtedly contributes, but I would be surprised if it were a big factor.

[crystalk]

I would be amazed if "obesity" was 1% of this problem.

I still see scrawny, ill-developed, asthenic and emaciated-looking young males everywhere.

In fact, I will say that I see ten of those, for every ONE in the age group 18-25, that is seriously fat, though rather many look like they get little physical exercise.