November 6, 2007: The war on
terror changed a lot of things in the U.S. military, especially attitudes
towards physical fitness. The army and marines have always been more strict
about staying in shape. But this time around, the air force and navy got
religion as well. Both of these services have imposed weight and physical
fitness standards that must be met, otherwise you get discharged (fired). In
2003, 331 air force personnel were discharged for not being fit, or thin,
enough. The rules were then changed to give more slack on the weight (which
often penalized body builders) and instead imposed a simple fitness test (1.5
mile run and timed push-ups and sit-ups, the number varying with age and
gender). Thus in 2004, only one airman got thrown out for failing the physical
fitness test (many more got medical discharges for infirmities suffered because
of work related incidents.) In 2005, seven got discharged for failing the fitness
tests, and in 2006, that rose to 73. In 2007 (which ends on September 30th in
the military), 119 were discharged.
In the navy, 65 got discharged
for physical fitness reasons in 2005, and 1,913 in 2006. Numbers for 2007 have
not been compiled yet, but meeting the fitness and weight standards is a big
issue for many sailors. For years, commanders would cut chubby, or out-of-shape
sailors, who did their job well, some slack. That's not possible any more, and
a lot more sailors are on diets and in the gym as a result.
The air force and navy can do
this sort of thing partly because both services are shrinking their personnel
strength. Automation and downsizing have been hitting the two services, just as
these trends have been showing up in so many civilian organizations. It still
hurts when you lose a scarce technical specialists, but these fellows are
constantly tempted with higher paying civilian jobs anyway.
