By Wallace White | Daily Caller
The U.S. Army is breaking with its own fitness standards on body fat percentage to gain more recruits, a report from the Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General found Feb. 18.
The Army Future Soldier Preparatory Course, established by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs (ASA[M&RA]), gives recruits who do not meet base fitness standards 90 days to fall in line, and allows individuals who are as much as 8% above the required body fat percentage — 26% for men and 36% for women — to enlist. However, the DOD Investigator General found that 14% of 1,181 trainees at the Army Training Center and Fort Jackson (ATC&FJ) between February and May 2024 exceeded these expanded limits.
“Aggravating the issue with the lack of medical resources, ATC&FJ leadership allowed trainees into the program who did not meet the body fat percentage standards established by the ASA(M&RA),” the report read. “Of the 1,181 trainees who attended the ARMS 2.0 pilot program from February 12, 2024, through May 22, 2024, 14 percent (163 trainees) exceeded the allowable 8 percent above the body fat composition limit for initial entry, with the highest being 19 percent.”