By Maj Gen Joe Arbuckle
STARRS Vice Chairman
68% of active duty troops are obese or overweight according to a report on obesity in the Armed Forces.
This is an example of “equity” where standards are lowered to accommodate the lowest common denominator. The standards problem is twofold: first, the standards for physical fitness and military appearance are too low; second, even those lower standards are not fairly and consistently enforced.
In today’s DEI culture, what happens to a white NCO or officer who counsels a female, especially a minority female about being over weight? Does the fear of being accused of sexual harassment or being a racist enter the picture?
In our day, PT and body weight/height, and body mass standards were enforced. Those not meeting the standards were put on remedial PT programs and given nutrition counseling. In some cases, those not responding were discharged.
When I’m at Ft Carson now, I’m disgusted with the number of overweight troops I see. In addition to being over weight, their military appearance and bearing is poor. All due to low standards and poor enforcement of even the low standards.
Look at Milley when he became CJCS, an example of overweight and poor appearance in uniform. Look at the SECDEF today. If the top leadership in the military does not demonstrate the proper example then the same can be expected in the ranks.
The solution is easy—lead by example, set proper standards and enforce them fairly and consistently.
But that is not happening in a DEI military which is more concerned about identity preferences along with “diversity and inclusion”.
Related comments from What Military People are Saying:
“Yeah, I just retired from the Air Force last May after putting in 35 years; last 5 were the worse; poor leadership, no accountability, people unfit to actually be in uniform (fat/overweight), list goes on and on!”
“When did this downfall start? I work for DoD and see the young military members walking around with beards, needing haircuts, overweight, it saddens me to know that’s what we’ve become. I’ve been retired from active duty for 19 years now, don’t like where it’s going.”
“As a retired Air Force veteran, I’m astounded by the lack of enforcement when it comes to dress and appearance at the local air base. Apparently, being overweight is the new norm along with ponytails, cheesy mustaches, fad haircuts and full beards. I believe supervisors are afraid to say anything so they look the other way. Commanders should be ashamed!”
“I live near a U.S. Military base and as a Vet I can state unequivocally that standards are going down, down, and even further down in a death spiral like I’ve never seen in my 78 years and counting. Even the main gate sentries are ridiculous and wouldn’t last a week in earlier times. They are shorter, fat, visibly out of shape, and completely clueless when asked even a simple question — like “why is the Flag flying at 1/2 mast today?? The answer: you are greeted with is a blank stare and “I don’t know, Sir …” Pathetic .. disgraceful … I don’t think we could “win” against the Salvation Army these days … let alone a real enemy.”
“I retired from the USAF in 2009, still work on the base I retired from and trust me, the standards started getting lowered years ago. It’s so sad and maddening to see the quality of young troops these days. Almost every young airman, and many NCOs, that I cross paths with look like they want to kill themselves, have no pride in their uniforms. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s shameful.”
“I go on post about 4 days a week. Mostly a training base, I’m astounded to see the decline in the past couple of years alone. Graduation days are not even that crowded now. Slovenly uniforms, mud on the boots, hair way off reg, attitudes like you wouldn’t believe, and very little respect. Unbelievable. We were not perfect when I was in, but shit sake this is ridiculous. People think it isn’t their problem, or it’s an exaggeration, but when troops lack discipline and dignity, that’s when we have lost. There is no offense or defense without a show of force.”
“I work on a military base in Colorado and I can tell you it as woke as it’s ever been. People walking around with their hands in their pockets, beards and dudes pretending to be chicks. We won’t stand a chance if war broke out. It’s disgusting!”
“Served 27 years in USAF and worked 18 more at a Special Operations Base. WOKE and diversity has been jammed down our throats. I’m finally done with this whole works. Our military used to be strong. Today, if it’s more than a touch of a button, we’re doomed. We’ve become fat, lax, and lazy. Most cannot even do their basic job. Pathetic.”
“I spent 23 in the military. It was broken when I retired in 2016. It’s still broken. The promotion system is biased. Leadership has no interest in taking care of service members. Lastly, I have been disrespected many times when I go on base to shop by active duty ego driven service members. It’s no longer honor, courage, & commitment. They are pushing junk ideals on a fighting military force. I stuck around for my pension. Not sure I would do it again. They’ve made it impossible to navigate fairly.”
“Being retired from the military and having access to different bases, I have seen a huge decline in the base infrastructure, appearance, and mostly the attitude. Our current administration really just doesn’t care.”
“I still work as a contractor for the military, and I can say with great discomfort that the military I knew is no more. Physical requirements have been rolled back, aptitude tests have been dumbed down, and standards in general are waved for many categories.”
“When I served, we had a mission against our cold war foe and later, world terrorism. Now, why would any young kid join when they see poor leadership that is pushing “wokeism” and dropping standards. I never thought that so I would see so many snowflakes, overweight, woke-warriors in my lifetime serving. There is no way I would survive in today’s military. I would be accused of being too mean, hurting feelings, and being too toxic. So glad I retired!”
“Served 6 years as an Officer and recently left. I went in thinking this was the biggest honor of my life and wanted to do the hardest things possible to give back and give 20 years+. Fast forward to seeing people pushed through my Ranger graduation because of numbers/ difficulty actually removing individuals from the course. Airborne school graduation with individuals standing next to me that fell out of every run, failed pullup test and overweight… Deployment being handcuffed to actually accomplish something…They just sucked any chance of pride from these accomplishments away were I could sit back and say “Damm, I actually did it”. Lastly getting a chance to be an instructor and being forced to push individual’s into the force AS LEADERS, I was done. You could not remove terrible applicants from the school house because it would fall apart in a pile of paperwork. Disrespectful to an NCO or Officer? No problem. Failed a PT test? No problem, try again. Horrible attitude? No issue, they passed minimum standards. Failed academic tests? No issue, recycle and try again. I am absolutely the demographic the Army wants. I couldn’t be more patriotic, I couldn’t have been more motivated and the Army killed all of that. I would never trade those years because of the people I met, but the institution is absolutely broken. If the Army is pushing people like me away, I do not know who they want.”
“What we are seeing is 100 % psychological warfare. Our military has been demoralized to such an extent it is no longer combat ready. If 60% of active duty personnel are overweight and reluctant to fight even going so far as to public voice their disappointment that means our enemy has won.”
“He is right that the individuals eligible are lazy, obese, and couldn’t meet the standards, but that is what the military has changed, they are now extremely diverse and will not discriminate against those things.
“I am on all branches bases, installations conducting business. Must say, as a veteran of 2 wars-conflicts, 14 years Active Duty, it is VERY discouraging and scary to see the utter lack of decorum, respect and discipline we were taught makes the greatest fighting military in the world! Is it a coincidence the USA is at its weakest point over these past 3 years? I think NOT!”
“I can see it turning, I am Retired DOD and was a Marine in the early days, I still go on base to workout and can see it getting soft. Kids want a soft life now.”
“I work as a contractor at a military base. Most of my coworkers are veterans. We are constantly having to be careful not to offend the new kids in the service. It’s gotten pretty ridiculous.”
“I follow military-based accounts on various SM platforms. The substance and morale of the US military has been intentionally gutted. There’s literally no one left in the entire command structure who’s both ethical and competent and recruitment is at an all-time low. Further, military readiness is very low, much lower that reported due to corruption and incompetence. All the units lie about their readiness, e.g., the motor pool reports 90% of its vehicles are ready to go when it’s really 20%. That’s going on everywhere.”
“I have 3 years until retirement and I can’t wait. The woke mindset and the lack of real standards and discipline make the Army a joke.”
“I retired with 21 years of service and have worked as a contractor for the military for 20 more years. The military culture has changed dramatically in 40 years… for the worse. Standards seem to be out the window and there’s very little motivation toward achieving goals. Commanders are scared to make decisions without consulting an army of lawyers, and every decision has to be politically correct and “woke”. Those type of decision-making cycles get soldiers killed. It’s no wonder kids no longer want to serve. Military vets are warning their kids and others not to join. Remove the woke and the esprit de corp will return.”
“We as NCO’s can’t enforce standards because the second we do is Hazing or the soldier will get their feelings hurt and the NCO gets their ass handed. Counseling’s I lost track of how many hours I spend writing counseling’s that were pointless, at the end of the day there had to be a trail and after spending all the time doing all that additional work and spending time away from my family, we get to 1SG office just to have him give the soldier a weak tap on the wrist because he cant afford to lose soldiers. SO WE ARE KEEPING TRASH who are just there showing up daily to do THE BARE MINIMUM and get promoted before those of us who bust our ASS.”
“As a 20 1/2 year veteran myself that works and deals with troops, these kids coming in now CAN NOT MEET THE CHANGED SOFTER STANDARDS SET FOR THEM!!! It is SAD to see these lost kids who cannot follow directions and expect recognition for showing up (Trophy Generation). OUR NOW WOKE MILITARY IS A SAD WEAK JOKE AND I AM SCARED FOR AMERICA!!! I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH DEFIANCE AND LACK OF DISCIPLINE IN NEW TROOPS. WE ARE IN TROUBLE WHEN THE NEXT WAR KICKS OFF.”
“After serving 23 years including OIF, OEF, Desert Storm I have watched the standards drop , discipline disappear and physical standards lowered.”
STARRS Note:
Something else is going on with this letter, Call-to-Action: Evidence-Based Care of Overweight and Obesity in the United States Armed Forces, from the America Security Project. The group leans towards the left (no “diversity of thought” with conservative people) plus has a “Climate Security Program”. One of the signers of the letter is National Security Leaders 4 America, an outright Trump-hating outfit of national security elites.
Just like these people can’t see or don’t want to see the negative effect leftist woke ideology is having on the services and the recruitment crisis, they don’t want to admit this is causing standards to not be enforced, no pride, no discipline. Is the military doing this for fear of losing the person in the retention numbers game? For fear of being called racist? (see below, what have they been teaching in these DEI classes?)
The groups are calling for band-aids or a pill instead of fixing the root problem. Plus all the health organization signers only benefit from money to help fix the problem. And all of the focus, attention, money and time on this issue (that had never been an issue before) takes away from what the military is supposed to be doing. Who benefits from all of this?
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From the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, DC, aka being this way is “bad” thus implying the opposite is the good way to be. How many of these things were “military things”? Respect authority, work hard, follow time schedules….
They removed this graphic because of the uproar on this. Here’s the page it was on:
https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/whiteness
https://www.the-sun.com/news/1149007/african-american-museum-whiteness-chart-protestant-values/
https://www.newsweek.com/smithsonian-race-guidelines-rational-thinking-hard-work-are-white-values-1518333
https://www.businessinsider.com/african-american-museum-in-dc-apologizes-for-whiteness-chart-2020-7
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2286145/african-american-history-museums-website-says-being-on-time-is-a-marker-of-whiteness/
The National African American History Museum suggests being on time, self-reliance, avoidance of conflict and intimacy, and rugged individualism are markers of “whiteness.” . . . .
I retired in 1999 with 30 years total service, and then worked another 20 years as a military contractor.
I watched as the Army went to hell in a hand basket with the WOKE DEI crap being forced on the military.
The overall quality of the force has gone down like the Titanic. And it’s getting worse every day.
The recruits coming into Army are in no way “soldier material”. They fat, soft and lazy.
I discourage any young person to stay away from the military as a career.