Army Is Breaking its Own Body Fat Standards to Meet Recruiting Numbers, Watchdog Says
Military.com | By Steve Beynon
Published February 25, 2025 at 5:22pm ET
The Army has been recruiting applicants who far exceed its body fat standards and not providing them the necessary medical services as they try to shed the weight and come into compliance, according to a new Defense Department inspector general report.
The Army's Future Soldier Preparatory Course was designed to expand enlistment eligibility for those who historically struggled to meet either academic or physical requirements. Under the fitness track, recruits get 90 days to slim down to Army standards; if they fail to do so, their military career is over before it begins.
The fitness track of the preparatory course allows applicants who are as much as 8% above Army body fat standards to enlist. The normal Army standard is up to 26% body fat for men and 36% for women.
But the inspector general found that 14% of 1,100 trainees between February and May 2024 far exceeded even those expanded limits.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/25/army-breaking-its-own-body-fat-standards-meet-recruiting-numbers-watchdog-says.html
