Obese soldiers get £100 Fitbits in battle of bulge
OVERWEIGHT soldiers are being given high-tech caloriecounting bracelets to help them lose weight.
The £100 Fitbits have been issued to troops who face being discharged for failing Army fitness tests. One infantry unit is understood to have given every overweight soldier in the battalion a bracelet.
The devices track the distance a soldier walks and the number of calories burned, which officials believe will make troops fitter.
Some units are also using civilian fitness instructors for troops who are too fat for training lessons.
Details of the move emerged days after the Ministry of Defence revealed it sacked a 28-stone soldier who was too fat to fight.
Defence chiefs admit the Army has never been fatter, with thousands failing fitness tests. It conjures up images of squaddies in the mould of actor Don Estelle’s podgy character Lofty from the BBC’s 1970s series It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. But some questioned the expense of getting troops fit. One source said: ‘It’s part of a soldier’s personal responsibility to make sure he stays in shape.
‘The Army shouldn’t be spending extra money on fancy pieces of kit to help a soldier lose weight. If he or she is too fat to fight, they should be thrown out.’
MoD figures show about 25,000 troops – around 18 per cent of the Armed Forces – are overweight or obese. A further 1,000 are now suffering from type 2 diabetes.
In some units there are so many fat troops that senior officers have created ‘fat clubs’ to help military personnel to lose weight.
About 300 have been given diet pills, while more than 20 have had liposuction at the taxpayers’ expense.
Latest statistics show that between 2011 and 2014, more than 32,000 male and female soldiers have failed the Army’s basic fitness test. Some 60 troops have been dismissed from the Army for obesity since 2002.
Officers are blaming the obesity on a poor diet being dished up in military cookhouses. Troops can eat three cooked meals a day, starting with a full English breakfast and followed by two hefty meals which include chips and puddings.
The MoD said: ‘Over 95 per cent of our personnel routinely pass fitness tests, but a wearable technology device can be a useful tool for those who need to track injury-recovery and fitness.’