We ain’t half fat, Mum. Shock f igures reveal 10th of armed forces are clinically obese
ALMOST one in ten British troops are clinically obese, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Shocking figures expose the Ministry of Defence’s failure to tackle a crisis which military experts say could cost lives in combat.
Data supplied under Freedom of Information rules shows that in July, there were 8,662 obese soldiers in the Army, 4,666 in the Royal Navy and 4,274 in the Royal Air Force – the highest figures ever recorded.
The scale of the problem was graphically illustrated recently when obese troops were caught on camera at a motorway service station. One is believed to belong to the Army’s Scottish division.
Last night, Colonel Richard Kemp, former Army commander in Afghanistan, called on the MoD to sack soldiers who cannot stay in shape, even if it led to a reduction in numbers across the Armed Forces.
‘It is expensive and fraudulent, frankly, to retain troops in service who are this out of condition,’ he said. ‘They would be a danger to themselves in any sort of fighting situation and a danger to fitter troops serving alongside them.
‘It is embarrassing to see troops in such poor physical condition wearing the uniform.
‘They are only retained because of the manpower crisis which the Government has failed to solve.’ Obesity i s measured using the Body Mass Index (BMI). A score of 30 or more signifies obesity which can lead to life-threatening illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and bowel cancer.
The July statistics reveal that 398 troops have type 2 diabetes and, in an effort to tackle the obesity crisis, 160 personnel have been prescribed diet pills and 16 given liposuction.
They also show that more than 30,000 of the Armed Forces’ total strength of about 190,000 members are considered overweight, according to the Body Composition Measure, which focuses on body- fat percentage rather than weight.
The claim that a blind eye is being given to obese troops is supported by figures showing that only about 20 soldiers have been sacked for being chronically overweight since 2012. Of these, two tipped the scales at more than 22st.
Commanding officers of infantry units have also introduced ‘fat clubs’ and hundreds of soldiers, sailors and airmen have been given Fitbit bracelets to help them to fight the flab.
The Mail on Sunday recently revealed that the Army is introducing a new fitness test that will be impossible to fail.
A leaked document showed the Soldier Conditioning Review, which will come into force in April, does not have pass or fail grades. Troops will be given a mark from one to ten
‘A danger to fitter troops serving alongside them’
and advised on how to improve their scores. It will replace the current Personal Fitness Assessment, which sets basic standards for a 1½-mile run, press-ups and sit-ups, according to troops’ age and gender.
An MoD spokesman said yesterday: ‘Our personnel are required to pass our challenging fitness tests, and those who do not pass are provided with diet and fitness support, in order to reach and maintain a healthy weight.’
THE last thing Britain needs now is a General Election. The most likely result of such a poll would be a country led by Jeremy Corbyn, not least because voters would punish the Government for forcing them to trudge yet again to the polling stations.
But important figures in the Tory Party are playing games which might easily lead to such an outcome, secretly plotting against the Prime Minister. This is foolhardy beyond belief. Whatever their opinions about Brexit, Mr Corbyn is not going to give them what they want.
The people of the United Kingdom are tired of being asked what to do by their MPs. Politicians have in most cases fought and struggled for years to win office and power. They should use it.
And that may involve a certain amount of thought, a certain amount of flexibility and a certain amount of courage.
It is clear that there is, at present, no parliamentary majority for any of the obvious or practicable compromises which would enable this country to leave the EU in good order.
An Election might seem the simplest solution, but there is no guarantee that a new Parliament would be any less deadlocked than this one. It might even lead to new proposals for a second referendum, a dangerous reopening of a clear democratic decision which could lead to dire consequences.
We are in this mess because far too many politicians have put the country last and party, or personal ambition, first. Trapped in their tiny Westminster echochamber, our leaders continue to debate as if this was a mere theoretical issue.
But it is not. Increasingly, it is dawning on Whitehall that a no-deal exit on March 29 could lead to serious problems, simply because so much of our international trade and transport is regulated by rules which will simply vanish after that date, and cannot be simply or quickly replaced.
If Chequers does not work, and it is increasingly plain that it will not, then Tory MPs – and sensible members of other parties too – have a duty to set aside ambition and political rancour, and find an exit from the EU that will implement the referendum result and keep Britain prosperous and safe.
Fat soldiers are a danger to us all
WHAT use is a soldier who is too fat to fight? Troops have to be fit and reasonably athletic, or they are just armed civil servants in uniform. They are a danger to themselves, to other servicemen and, in the end, to the country itself. Yet figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday under Freedom of Information rules reveal that nearly 9,000 soldiers are officially obese. And, as our pictures show, the problem is sometimes shockingly obvious.
Like so many other problems in our Armed Forces, this stems from a recruitment crisis that has put pressure on commanders to relax the rules so as to keep numbers up. Outsourcing of recruiting has not worked. It is time to return to older methods.
Face it: police need feet on the streets
POLICE chiefs love technology, whether it is helicopters, CCTV cameras or DNA tests. But the more they come to rely on it, the less effective they seem to be at preventing or detecting crime. Their latest flirtation, with facial scanners searching crowds for suspects, has a nasty Big Brother aspect to it.
Some good hard-wearing pairs of shoes, and men and women prepared to patrol the streets in them, would do more good than any of this costly, complex gear.