Charge of the chubby brigade!
Shrinking Army relaxes its rules to allow in overweight recruits
WOULD-BE Army recruits who fail fitness tests could be sent to boot camps instead of being rejected in a bid to combat the military’s manpower crisis.
Under old rules, anyone who failed BMI and physical assessments would have been kicked out of the recruitment process automatically.
But the military is desperate to boost its depleted ranks, with the Army having dwindled to 73,000 members despite a target of 82,000.
A defence source said of the move: ‘Youngsters are not as fit as they used to be. Society has changed so we have to change.’ Up to 200 applicants have already gone through the four-week ‘soldier development course’, which aims to boost confidence as well as improve physical fitness.
The shake-up will also allow those who suffer from asthma and eczema to join the Army for the first time.
It comes amid a £3.1million recruitment campaign which includes adverts aimed at enticing Love Island fans who suffer with self-doubt.
Colonel Nick Mackenzie, the Army’s head of recruitment, said: ‘ We are constantly looking at our publications and our policies to ensure we can get more people into the Army. Whereas previously if you had asthma that’s it – you are out, gone – now we need further medical evidence. We are bit more lenient to letting people come in.’
He said those who were on the ‘borderline of being overweight or unfit’ could now attend the soldier development course in Pirbright, Surrey.
‘It is a four-week course, so those people [with] borderline fitness, they are a bit slow on their run, or they were just a little bit too large, we effectively try and coach them through a fourweek course that they then meet the minimum standard required.
‘[There are] some rules we have tried to relax to give people the opportunity to join the Army,’ he said.
Col Mackenzie said that if the applicants were still not able to meet the required standard after four weeks they would not be allowed in the Army.
‘Some of those people go on the course because they are lacking a bit of confidence,’ he said. ‘It’s about bringing people on and nurturing them through the process. One part of it is about fitness, some of it is about confidence.’
The Army will run nine courses every year, with up to 50 people enrolled on each one.
As many as 200 people have gone through the process since it was launched in September. More than 80 per cent reached the required standard to join the Army.
Recruitment of soldiers has been handled by outsourcing giant Capita since 2012 when it was given a controversial £495million contract.
A National Audit Office report published in December 2018 revealed ‘ significant problems’ in the recruitment partnership between the Army and Capita.
It accused the firm of ‘underestimating the complexity’ of recruiting for the military.
Defending the recent relaxation of rules, Colonel Mackenzie said: ‘We are allowing extra people to have a chance to get in.
‘We are actually giving people a chance because it is good to give people a chance. Some of these people might not get in, but some might, because they’ve been given a focused bit of training to get in.’
In September 2018, research found children were less fit than they were 16 years ago.
British teenagers aged 15 to 19 also have the highest rates of obesity in Europe, according to a report by the Nuffield Trust think-tank and the Association for Young People’s Health.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: ‘I know from my own experience the confidence, selfbelief and camaraderie a career in the Armed Forces can offer.
‘The latest recruitment campaign reflects these unique opportunities and I hope it will build on the success of last year’s campaign, which led to a record number of applications in recent years.’ Recent posters from Capita have attempted to woo ‘ phone zombies’, ‘ class clowns’ and ‘snowflakes’ with designs declaring: ‘Your Army needs you’. Others have stressed that it is acceptable for soldiers to cry, pray and show emotion.
‘It is good to give people a chance’