By Tracy Beanz & Michelle Edwards
Obesity in the United States Armed Forces costs the Pentagon more than $1 billion per year, with nearly 70 percent of U.S. troops being overweight or obese. And, across all armed services, that number is rising. A new study explains how our military faces an unprecedented challenge, with active-duty manpower at an all-time low. Obesity is the leading cause of recruitment disqualifications and separations, contributing to the largest recruitment crisis since 1973. Last year, over 52,000 applicants were disqualified due to obesity. The situation—made worse by the pandemic—is so dire that strategies like easing fitness standards, granting weight waivers, and retaining service members with obesity have been vital to sustaining sufficient force strength.
As a result, the estimated cost of obesity in active-duty service members now exceeds $1.35 billion annually, with obesity-related health issues, such as diabetes, hypertension, and musculoskeletal disorders on the rise. Undoubtedly, the ultra-processed food industry in our country—which actively shapes U.S. dietary guidelines—only exacerbates the problem. In 2023, the Department of Defense spent over $1.25 billion in direct care for active-duty personnel with obesity, and $99 million was lost due to productivity declines from hospitalizations.
Existing weight management programs are worthless and worsen the crisis, leading to unhealthy short-term weight loss and rapid weight gain. That trend corresponds to the Defense Health Agency’s approval in 2021 of the dangerous drug semaglutide for weight management. Initially approved by the Food and Drug Administration for diabetes and sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, the drug was shown to suppress the appetite. Since 2018, active duty service members have been increasingly prescribed drugs for weight loss when the Defense Department authorized insurance coverage of those drugs—known to provoke suicidal behavior and other devastating side effects. American Security Project (ASP) researchers, who conducted the investigation, wrote:
“America can no longer afford to ignore this [obesity] crisis. The United States armed forces face an unprecedented challenge as obesity prevalence among service members continues to rise. As combat and incidental injuries become less prevalent year-over-year, rates of obesity-related conditions, including diabetes, osteoarthritis, hypertension, and steatotic liver disease, increasingly meet or exceed civilian trends.”
According to the report published on September 4, 2024, unlike most diseases affecting service members today, obesity itself is not classified as a disability or a disease by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Services branch. Because of this, it is difficult to identify and treat obesity proactively. That statement might be confusing to many since it is quite simple to notice obesity visually. Nonetheless, the report notes that without the official written classification, which offers associated protections, service members face bias and discrimination for “exceeding weight standards.” They become ineligible for promotion, educational privileges, deployment, and disability compensation.
The American Security Project’s investigation, titled “White Paper — Costs and Consequences: Obesity’s Compounding Impact on the Military Health System,” makes no mention of the Department of Veterans Affairs program called MOVE!, a 20-year-old weight management program for veterans supported by VA’s National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (NCP). According to its website, the mission of MOVE! is to help veterans adopt a healthy lifestyle, meet health goals, and manage their weight by providing tools and approaches for healthy eating and physical activity based on the latest research.
Past that, MOVE! offers “weight management medicines and surgery.” In 2023, MOVE! was pleased to report on a new procedure to help address obesity. “Endobariatrics is a new field within GI endoscopy that allows us to offer weight loss interventions and procedures to patients all through an endoscope,” remarked Dr. Jennifer Kolb, gastroenterology, West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, adding, “The main treatment option in is an Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG), which is a minimally invasive weight loss procedure.” The first ESG was completed at West LA VA Medical Center in February 2023, making it the first VA to perform this procedure.
But is ESG surgery and dangerous drugs like semaglutide the answer? During its investigation, ASP critiqued the existing military policies focusing more on body appearance and fitness standards than actual health outcomes. They found several contradictions, such as exemptions for service members who pass fitness tests despite being obese, which has a strong chance of leading to additional health problems in the future. This approach results in inaccurate body composition measurements and unhealthy weight loss strategies, impacting long-term health risks. Instead, the report suggests shifting from appearance-body composition standards to health-focused metrics, with better training and education for diagnosing and treating obesity, with a greater focus on preventative measures. Essentially, the goal should be to stop obesity before it progresses.
In addition to lost productivity from hospital stays and increased costs associated with replacing personnel let go due to obesity, the report also highlights the gaps in data collection and reporting on obesity-related separations. It calls for the Department of Defense to publish more transparent data on administrative separations related to obesity. This approach would help policymakers better understand and address the rapidly growing obesity crisis in our nation’s military.
The ripple effects on overall military readiness and national security from having a military that is largely obese can’t be overstated. The report concludes that obesity is a complicated and multifaceted challenge impacting recruitment, retention, healthcare costs, and, importantly, the ability to adequately defend our nation and its people. ASP recommends a more holistic, health-based approach as a solution. Perhaps they will look at a ketogenic diet? Importantly, clean, uncontaminated, whole foods are the answer for not just our nation’s military but its largely unhealthy and obese citizens as well, with close to half of the nation affected by obesity. We live in uncertain times, and America can’t defend itself when the majority of its Armed Forces are obese.
