The US Army is the fattest branch of the military

[Zarvan]

Photo: US Army

Now there’s even more reason to drop and give ’em 20!

The Army is the fattest branch of the US military, which is more out of shape than ever, according to a new report.

A hefty 10.5 percent of all members of the Army are overweight, up four percentage points from five years ago, Defense Department data obtained by Military Times show.



The Air Force is the second-heaviest branch with 9 percent of its members overweight, more than double the figure from five years ago. The Navy weighed in with 5.9 percent of its members needing to toss a few pounds overboard, up from 3.3 percent in 2011.

The Marines, meanwhile, are the fittest branch, with 2.3 percent of its members deemed overweight. That’s still up from 1.7 percent in 2011, the data show.

Overall, the total number of overweight service members has soared from just over 1 percent in 2001,when researchers first began collecting data.

The branch-specific data follow a September report showing that 7.8 percent of the entire military — about one in 13 troops — has a body mass index that is too high. In 2001, when the researchers first began collecting the data, the overall BMI rate was 1.6 percent, or one in 60, the outlet reported.

Military officials claimed BMI, which evaluates an individual’s height-to-weight ratio, isn’t always an accurate way to measure health.

HealthGrove | Graphiq
An Army spokesman insisted to Military Times that the branch takes physical fitness seriously.

“The Army has strict physical fitness requirements and has multiple, coordinated initiatives in place designed to improve the readiness and health of the total Army. These efforts are geared to influence culture change that best facilitates personal health readiness and creates environments where the healthy choice is the easy choice,” said Army spokesman Paul Prince.

And the Air Force told the outlet that the raw numbers don’t accurately reflect the fitness of its members.

“Our Air Force is healthy and fit to fight, with approximately 96 percent of airmen passing the test in the past two years, which is up significantly from the 2010 pass rate of 87.6 percent,” spokesman Maj. Bryan Lewis said.

Soldiers are still far more fit that the overall US civilian population — an estimated 70 percent of US civilians are clinically overweight or obese, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show.

http://nypost.com/2016/10/11/the-us-army-is-the-fattest-branch-of-the-military/