A Very Out Of Shape Nation

[KRAM1]

Just saw a report in the Dallas Morning News this morning reporting that 75%...that 75%...of young people in the US between the ages of 17-24 are unfit for military duty! Man, and those standards are not such that one has to be Charles Atlas or able to run a marathon to be able to enlist. Wow. This is really incredible!

Well, maybe not so incredible as I walk across the UNT campus these days...or Denton High, or Ryan or Guyer...or around the square in Denton (yep, I was looking for that pit BBQ joint on the square Quoner wrote about ), or just about anywhere. But, the stat was a shocker to me...this is just plain ridiculous.

Just think, we wouldn't have had so many draft dodgers back in the Viet Nam days if they just learned to eat their way out of shape. I always knew those folks were stupid...now I know why! They couldn't figure out that they didn't have to go to Canada, they just needed to buy more cheetos! Oops, I like Cheetos.....

[TheTastyGreek]

Fatties need love, too.

[UNTflyer]

The report listed several factors, including physical fitness, poor education, past drug use, criminal records, and psychological problems.

But that's OK - if a real war ever broke out, these 75% will likely constitute the front line.

[UNTLifer]

Doesn't surprise me. The schools have taken physical education out of the curricullum, they serve them crap in school cafeterias, kids sit at home after school in front of their computer and don't get any exercise. Plus, we live in a fast food world where the majority of people eat out as opposed to a home cooked meal.

[Green P1]

With the United States mired in this never ending war on terror, I assume the youth of the nation have issued a preemptive strike against the possibility of conscription. Its a brilliant ploy.

[Stan R]

With the United States mired in this never ending war on terror, I assume the youth of the nation have issued a preemptive strike against the possibility of conscription. Its a brilliant ploy.

hah! + one hundred and eleventy four!

[Quoner]

Plus, if there's one thing we have in spades, it's older alumni in good or even average physical shape.

[MDH]

What scares me most about the US is the widening gap between the educated and uneducated. Idiocracy anyone?

[eulessismore]

Fatties need love, too.

A girlfriend can either be fat or little, not both.

[UNTnewbie]

A girlfriend can either be fat or little, not both.

Disagree, My girlfriend is a little fat.

[Quoner]

Disagree, My girlfriend is a little fat.

A little cushion never hurt anyone.

[eulessismore]

A little cushion never hurt anyone.

I agree; those skinny women can bruise you up.

[ADLER]

Just think, we wouldn't have had so many draft dodgers back in the Viet Nam days if they just learned to eat their way out of shape.

North Texas student Marvin Lee Aday, who went by Michael Lee Aday gained sixty-eight pounds in four and a half weeks to avoid being drafted into the US army during the Viet Nam war. The ploy didn't work. When he was called in for an Army physical, the Army determined that he was fit despite being heavy, color blind, having a trick shoulder, and being very concussion prone.

In 1967, when his draft notice arrived, he ran off to Los Angeles, where he became a bouncer at a teenage nightclub.

We know him today as the award winning artist Meat Loaf.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

Doesn't surprise me. The schools have taken physical education out of the curricullum, they serve them crap in school cafeterias, kids sit at home after school in front of their computer and don't get any exercise. Plus, we live in a fast food world where the majority of people eat out as opposed to a home cooked meal.

---I am rather old ..mid 60's... It is interesting to look at old school pictures.... Many of those we that considered fat would not be noticable at all now. Having taught in public schools I can promise you kids are much heavier than they were then.. Then when we bought cokes they were usually 12 ounces (coke bottles were less) and the word "refill" did not exist... you had to buy another. No super size in coke or frys... just buy another one and I don't know anyone that did. (maybe cokes rarely if hot and super thirsty) TV... maybe three channels and often we did not watch much in daytime at all. Forget video games and computers . We spent a lot of time playing "front-yard football" or playing baseball or just "catch" while talking. ....plus most of us walked home after school. My family rarely ate out and most cafes existed for people working to eat lunch or for people traveling. Some families would eat Sunday noon meals out.... we didn't. I never had any pizza until I was at UNT.