title: Obesity and national defense: will America be too heavy to fight?
abstract: Obesity has been a topic of intense interest in the United States for several years. Rising rates of obesity have led some to question whether or not America will be able to readily sustain a fit fighting force into the future. This study seeks to describe at what point, projecting current trends in obesity and military accession, there would no longer be a sufficient number of qualified applicants to support an effective military fighting force. By analyzing trends in national obesity data and military accession records, the authors were unable to determine a realistic time projection of a year in which the United States would no longer be able to find enough qualified military applicants as a result of increasing obesity rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, 96 MDOS/SGOL, 307 Boatner Road Suite 114, Eglin AFB, FL 32542.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gagnon
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Uniformed Services University, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, A1038, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799.
authors.forename: Mark B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Stephens
mesh_terms: D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D008889:Military Personnel; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology