The US Army is expanding a boot camp scheme to get more overweight, low-scoring wannabes into uniform, to tackle its worst recruitment crisis in decades and stay ahead of rivals like China.
Top brass announced the creation this month of three extra companies running the Future Soldier Preparatory Course — which helps flabby newcomers get in shape and proceed to basic training.
It comes after the Army last year fell 15,000 soldiers short of its 60,000 enlistment goal, with generals public airing concerns about attracting fit recruits amid rising geopolitical tensions.
The number of young Americans who meet the Army's physical and mental entry requirements has sunk sharply to only 23 percent in recent years. Covid-19 and a vibrant job market have made it harder to find recruits.
Students in the fitness track of the US Army Future Soldier Preparatory Course conduct physical training at Fort Jackson in December 2022. They have access to dieticians, physical therapists, and athletics coaches
Maj. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, commanding general of Fort Benning, in Georgia, said in a statement that fat camps helped applicants tap their 'unrealized potential' and ready them to serve 'without sacrificing the quality needed across the force'.
The pre-basic training camps are aimed at applicants who have 2-6 percent more body fat than the Army allows, or come up short on the academic standards needed to enlist.
Promotional videos show heavy-set applicants with buzz cuts lining up in groups to lift weights and struggling to run across fields carrying kettle balls or lob medicine balls across the turf.
They have access to dieticians, physical therapists, and athletics coaches, and have a chance to test out every three weeks. They must make the cut for basic training within 90 days or face being kicked out.
A pilot scheme began at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in August. It welcomed 3,206 students last year, with 2,965 — or 93 percent — graduating on to basic combat training.
The Army will this month add two additional companies at Fort Jackson and launch a company-sized version of the academic track at Fort Benning, it said in a statement this week.
Promotional Army videos show heavy-set applicants with buzz cuts lining up in groups to lift weights and struggling to run across fields carrying kettle balls or lob medicine balls behind them
Gary Brito, the commanding general for the Army Training and Doctrine Command, said the camps got newbies ready for the 'rigors of basic training' without the Army having to 'sacrifice quality for quantity'.
The expanded boot camps come as Pentagon officials warn that the forces, especially the Army, are struggling to attract new recruits, hurting efforts to maintain a military lead over strategic competitor China.
The Army missed its recruitment goal for the 2022 fiscal year by 25 percent or 15,000 soldiers, the Pentagon said last year. In July, it also cut its projection for the overall size of its force and projected another decline in 2023.
Lt. Gen Xavier Brunson, the commander of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, in September blamed the crisis on young Americans being too fat or criminal to defend their country.
'Some of the challenges we have are obesity, we have pre-existing medical conditions, we have behavioral health problems, we have criminality, people with felonies, and we have drug use,' Brunson said.
It's a different story for those inside the force.
More than a quarter of serving military members struggle to put enough food on the table and many are too worried about committing career suicide to ask for help, a Pentagon report warned this month.
Army chiefs have spoken of 'unprecedented challenges' in bringing in recruits, leading to a shortfall of as many as 15,000 soldiers last year. Pictured: Army recruiters at a career fair in Michigan
The exhaustive study by RAND Corporation researchers paints a grim picture of military life, with 25.8 percent of service people unable to provide their households with enough food to 'live an active, healthy life.'
Those most affected were at the start of their careers, serving in the Army, or to a lesser extent in the Navy, frequently living on bases in Texas, Georgia, California, North Carolina, and Virginia, researchers found.
Many complained that they often had to skip meals, that grocery shopping trips did not fill pantries for as long as expected, or that they simply could not afford to put balanced meals on the table.
Worse still, many refuse to ask for help, in case commanders thought they managed their finances poorly, hurting their career chances and even leading to a loss of security clearance.
The 181-page document, which was produced for Congress, is just the latest study to spotlight the struggles of cash-strapped service members, and it comes as the Army faces its worst recruitment crisis in decades.
English (United States) ·