Mission: Readiness Says We Are "Still Too Fat to Fight"

When I see someone drinking or eating fake food, I try to figure the real price of a $1.49 Gatorade (plenty of refined sugar and petroleum-based artificial color) or a $3.79 chicken sandwich (chicken's feed full of antibiotics, pesticides and genetically engineered corn and soy). Estimates place the damage to our collective wallets in the hundreds of billions of dollars; the costs, though, are manifested in ways many of us never imagine.
 
We know about the ballooning cost of health care, which we all pay for, no matter how pristine one's diet. But how about this one, courtesy of the "Still Too Fat to Fight" report recently released by Mission: Readiness, a nonpartisan national security organization of senior retired military leaders calling for smart investments in America’s children.

"Because our country has failed to improve fitness and reduce obesity among our youth, the military has had to work much harder than in the past to recruit and retain enough qualified men and women who can effectively serve our country. For example, many accepted recruits are diverted to special training to address their inadequate physical fitness before they can even begin regular basic training. The costs add up. The additional medical expenses for soldiers on limited duty in the Army because of sprains or bone fracture injuries that are caused in part by some soldiers being less fit or overweight than other soldiers total half a billion dollars a year. The military’s TRICARE health insurance system serves active duty personnel, their dependents and veterans. It spends well over $1 billion a year on treating weight-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease."

Our hard-earned tax dollars at work!

Personally, I'd vote for keeping the local library open every day or keeping the lights on at night at the neighborhood basketball court, but some consider me a little old-fashioned.

Click here to read the"Still Too Fat to Fight" in its entirety. And click here to read its precursor, "Too Fat to Fight," which was released in 2010.