Retired military leaders say many Americans are 'Too Fat to Fight'

Echoing sentiments expressed by First Lady Michelle Obama - that the obesity epidemic is not merely a healthcare crisis, but a threat to national security - a coalition of former military personnel issued a report to Congress titled "Too Fat to Fight."

The study, signed by former ranking members of the U.S. military, states that 27 percent of Americans who are of age to join the armed forces would not be able to do so due to the physical limitations inherent of unhealthy weight. If the growing rate of childhood obesity continues - the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that it's tripled since 1980 - the servicemen say future generations will have even more trouble finding healthy new recruits to defend the country.

"Being overweight or obese turns out to be the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service," write the authors. "Today, otherwise excellent recruit prospects, some of them with generations of sterling military service in their family history, are being turned away because they are just too overweight."

In addition to making situations requiring physical exertion substantially more difficult, the conditions of overweight individuals and obesity can lead to the need to buy Actos to treat diabetes and the need to buy Lipitor to reduce the chances of experiencing a heart attack due to excessively high cholesterol levels. Both of these treatments are available as cheap drugs from Canada from a Canadian internet pharmacy.

Military members attack junk food in schools
The organization of retired military officials - called Mission: Readiness - is asking Congress to do more to remove junk food from schools. Citing a University of Minnesota study from March, the servicemen note that vending machines are present at almost 90 percent of high schools nationwide, and of those, not quite 10 percent offer alternatives to unhealthy candy and chips typical of vending machines.

In support of Mission: Readiness' initiative, General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, contributed an op-ed to the news site Politico. He makes a point to say that parents have the greatest responsibility to make sure their children are healthy. However, noting statistics that say kids are absorbing almost half of their daily calories while at school, he says more must be done to improve nutrition on the educational front.

"When parents send their children off with a brown bag or lunch money, they shouldn’t have to worry about being undermined by junk food for sale at school," writes the four-star general.