(WND)—According to a new report by the American Security Project, two out of three of the country’s reserve forces – nearly 68% – are overweight. On X, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth lamented: “Completely unacceptable. This is what happens when standards are IGNORED – and this is what we are changing. REAL fitness & weight standards are here. We will be FIT, not FAT.”
WorldNetDaily spoke to retired Navy Medical Service Corps officer Lt. Ted Macie, who provided data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database about overweightness and obesity. Using the International Classification of Diseases code of E66, it’s quite evident in the chart below that issues concerning weight have become a genuine problem in today’s military.
Between 2016 and 2029, there was an average of 13,863 cases recorded concerning overweightness and obesity across all branches of service. The average number of cases increased to 21,969 between 2020 and 2023. Incredibly, there was a 190 percent increase between 2020 and 2023, also tripling from 12,249 to 35,531.
“Hegseth is going after the low hanging fruit that should have been dealt with as people failed to meet the standards,” Macie argued. “We have to focus on why our troops fail to meet them and why the Department of Defense (DoD) chose to retain that group of people and purge those who did meet them but refused EUA products,” referring to so-called vaccines available for “emergency use only” – most notoriously, the COVID-19 mRNA shots.
What’s more, he added, “There are things that are consequentially bigger health issues at stake inside the DoD,” including the rise in incidents of myocarditis, pulmonary embolism, ovarian dysfunction and more throughout the military, following the now-rescinded 2021 COVID-19 shot mandate.
The major factor that has an obvious impact on obesity and fitness levels, said Macie, is nutrition. “The food on bases around the country is little more than fast food or genetically altered food,” he shared. Healthy options, to include organic foods for example, are largely unavailable.
“The SecDef needs to acknowledge that the shot caused a variety of adverse health events, including myocarditis, other cardiac issues, cancer and so much more,” Macie asserted. “And on top of that, it’s time to offer [service members] something besides fast food and the other trash provided to help bring the force back to its full strength.”
Having viewed the alarming data provided by Macie, WND also spoke to former U.S. Army public affairs officer Dr. Chase Spears. Having left the service just recently, in 2023, the retired major admitted that part of the Army experience is “fitness based” and Defense Secretary Hegseth is right to be concerned. There are body weight and fitness requirements, and these are based on age and gender, for example.
Spears shared that “while the Army has always had standards to be met, I saw people throughout my 20-year career that were clearly overweight.” These service members were scattered throughout all ranks. However, Spears told WND, it was also “understood that if some people were a high enough rank, they definitely weren’t held to the standard.” As an example, he pointed to the overweight appearance of Gen. (ret.) Mark Milley, who previously served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
For Dr. Spears, the obesity issue in the military is threefold. One, the current fitness standard is “very generous” and there are still people failing to meet this standard. Two, the importance of good nutrition is being ignored. And finally, he said, “it goes back to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s ‘No Walking on Eggshells Policy.’”
To that end, on Monday, Hegseth signed a policy to implement one of the latest reforms to the military since taking office. Officially titled “Restoring Good Order and Discipline Through Balanced Accountability,” he also affectionately dubbed this latest move as “The No More Walking on Eggshells Policy.”
In a video posted on Fox News, Hegseth said the reform “directs a comprehensive review of equal opportunity programs to ensure prompt and impartial investigations, fair treatment to all parties involved, and timely and appropriate resolution of allegations of discrimination.”
Regarding Spears’ third observation about obesity in the military, he added, “I’m not sure Hegseth realizes it or not, but this conversation ties directly to this policy. There’s been a breakdown of discipline the last few years, and it’s the grievance culture that has completely shattered it.”
Spears also explained the difficulty of “calling out” service members of the opposite sex, people of color or those of higher rank. “Heaven help you if you say something, because the current grievance system is going to go into full effect against you,” he explained. “If you tell a soldier you want to talk about his or her weight, you’re putting yourself at risk of an [equal opportunity] investigation against yourself.”
Despite what he sees as a few potential shortcomings, Spears affirmed that what Hegseth is offering is “absolutely key to being able to perform a military task, whether combat related or not.” He added, “You want people who have the mental acuity that comes with a physically fit body to be able to make decisions under stress.”
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