The United States Army has loosened its belt on one of its employment test requirements.
The Army recently announced a waiver program to allow overweight enlistees who can’t pass the test for employment a second chance at joining. The Army hopes the program will help increase the number of young people eligible to join the military and give those who are overweight an incentive to get back into shape.
The program allows those who wouldn’t qualify for the military because of their weight a chance to get into shape after joining. Currently, according to an article by The Christian Science Monitor, the program has helped the Army make its recruiting goals despite the tumultuous economy.
If the economy continues to decline, the Army and other military branches could see an increase in applications as people seek any form of employment. While this could potentially do away with the need for the waiver program, experts don’t expect America’s weight problem to diminish anytime soon.
Today there are 26 states where about 25 percent of those 18 to 34-years old are considered obese, whereas there were only a handful of states 10 years ago.
“We support any service who comes up with a scientifically defensible way of expanding the market [of recruits],” Curtis Gilroy, director of accessions policy for The Pentagon, said in the article.”We know that (the weight problem) is even going to increase because the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) says the numbers are going to go up.”
While the Army has been studying waiver programs for some time, they weren’t officially implemented until 2007, during which time 1,500 people, out of a total 80,000 recruits, were enlisted through the program. Those admitted through waivers are required to pass a special set of tests, including a step test and push-up tests. Once enlisted, those recruits have one year to meet the Army’s physical requirements.
“The point is to get the football-player kinda kids,” Beth Asch, senior economist at the Rand Corporation, said in the article. “It’s not to get the couch-potato kids.
“There can be a temptation, not necessarily at the commanding level but at the ground level with the recruiter, who would want to slip in a kid who is overweight and has no business being in the Army,” she continued. “There needs to be monitoring.”
Of all the armed forces branches, the Army has had the most trouble with recruiting. While it has met its active-duty goals, it has had to issue other waivers and enlist more high school dropouts. However, the military as a whole plans to expand next year. The Marine Corps, which doesn’t have a weight waiver, plans to increase to 202,000 enlistees next year, while the Army reached 547,000 enlistees this year.
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