{"id":1532605,"date":"2025-04-26T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1532605"},"modified":"2025-04-26T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:00:00","slug":"fit-not-fat-hegseth-vows-course-correction-as-report-finds-two-thirds-of-reserve-troops-are-overweight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/fit-not-fat-hegseth-vows-course-correction-as-report-finds-two-thirds-of-reserve-troops-are-overweight\/1532605\/","title":{"rendered":"“Fit, Not Fat”: Hegseth Vows Course Correction As Report Finds Two-Thirds Of Reserve Troops Are Overweight"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Fit, Not Fat”: Hegseth Vows Course Correction As Report Finds Two-Thirds Of Reserve Troops Are Overweight<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed his dismay on April 25 after a new report<\/a> found that more than two-thirds of U.S. military reserve personnel are overweight.<\/p>\n

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth participates in a morning physical training session with troops stationed in Warsaw, Poland, on Feb. 14, 2025. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander C. Kubitza<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Washington-based think tank American Security Project (ASP) published a white paper this week that found that nearly 68 percent of reserve troops are overweight or obese.<\/p>\n

In 2018, when the Department of Defense last surveyed obesity rates in the reserve military components, it found that around 65 percent of reserve troops were considered overweight or obese.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of young adults interested in military service remains sufficient to maintain current force strength. However, as overweight and obesity disqualify thousands of applicants each year, services are incentivized to violate body composition enlistment standards to meet recruitment goals,\u201d the new ASP report reads.<\/p>\n

Hegseth took to social media platform X on Friday to call<\/a> the report\u2019s findings \u201ccompletely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what happens when standards are IGNORED \u2014 and this is what we are changing. REAL fitness & weight standards are here,\u201d the defense secretary said. \u201cWe will be FIT, not FAT.\u201d<\/p>\n

HEGSETH: “Troops… need to be fit, not fat.” pic.twitter.com\/qhZuLwM3Hn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Fitness standards remain a multi-faceted challenge for the military.<\/p>\n

The Army rolled out its Future Soldier Preparatory Course in 2022 as a means of helping prospective recruits meet the minimum fitness and academic standards to serve. The Navy launched a similar preparatory course in 2024.<\/p>\n

While pre-ascension courses can help prospective recruits get in shape to serve, the ASP report raises concerns about current active and reserve component members.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the reserve component\u2019s obesity-related challenges are similar to those in the active component, commanders and policymakers will not be able to combat these trends with a uniform approach,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

The report notes that reserve components face unique challenges in keeping their troops in shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cArmed with far less data and public attention, the reserve component faces an uphill battle reconciling complex systems of duty status-dependent health care benefits, a force spread all over the world and across 54 states and territories, and critical medical records siloed between DOD and private providers,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

Last month, the defense secretary ordered a military-wide review<\/a> of fitness standards.<\/p>\n

Hegseth had been outspoken about his concerns with fitness standards in the military even before taking on his current role as the defense secretary. Several of his past comments have focused on whether women should serve in combat roles.<\/p>\n

During his confirmation process, senators asked Hegseth to elaborate on his views on women in combat and other issues concerning military fitness standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about the capabilities of men and women, it\u2019s about standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSat, 04\/26\/2025 – 14:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/fit-not-fat-hegseth-vows-course-correction-report-finds-two-thirds-reserve-troops-are<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Fit, Not Fat”: Hegseth Vows Course Correction As Report Finds Two-Thirds Of Reserve Troops Are Overweight Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1532606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1532605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-6qHr","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/image28152329_0-LXrGhj.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1532605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1532606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1532605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1532605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1532605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}