School lunches impact recruitment

[unhappycamper]

School lunches impact recruitment
By Mary Clare Jalonick - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Apr 20, 2010 8:27:39 EDT

WASHINGTON — School lunches have been called many things, but a group of retired military officers is giving them a new label: national security threat.

That’s not a reference to the mystery meat served up in the cafeteria line either. The retired officers are saying that school lunches have helped make the nation’s young people so fat that fewer of them can meet the military’s physical fitness standards, and recruitment is in jeopardy.

A new report being released Tuesday says more than 9 million young adults, or 27 percent of all Americans ages 17 to 24, are too overweight to join the military. Now, the officers are advocating for passage of a wide-ranging nutrition bill that aims to make the nation’s school lunches healthier.

The officers’ group, Mission: Readiness, was appearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday with Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The military group acknowledges that other things keep young adults out of the armed services, such as a criminal record or the lack of a high school diploma. But weight problems that have worsened over the past 15 years are now the leading medical reason that recruits are rejected.

[SoCalDem]

1. The military counts on getting recruits from poor families

especially those who live in small places with no jobs.. But what if too many of those young folks, are out of shape, obese & have diabetes?

[Stuart G]

2. I don't think so..

What causes fat teenagers is they move less. Much less. Many schools have made physical ed optional. Kids exercize less and eat more fast food.
The lunches are only a small part of the problem in my opinion.

[eShirl]

3. what about everything they eat when they're not in school?

I suppose that has nothing to do with it