Two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, John Shalikashville and Hugh Shelton are sounding the alarm in an article published in the Washington Post. They say obesity is threatening American national security.
Last March, a study revealed that more and more Americans are becoming obese and this includes more and more young people. Obese people, however, are not recruited by the U.S. Army and this threatens the future of national security because future recruits will be too overweight to be selected.
The retired generals write: "Since 1995, the proportion of potential recruits who failed their physical exams because of weight issues has increased nearly 70 percent, according to data reported by the Division of Preventive Medicine at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research."
They go on to add: "We consider this problem so serious from a national security perspective that we have joined more than 130 other retired generals, admirals and senior military leaders in calling on Congress to pass new child nutrition legislation."
They want a law requiring schools to serve healthier food to children and support President Barack Obama’s project to add one billion dollars annually to nutrition programs for children.