Obesity is a rising problem for Americans, and it soon could affect the safety of our country. Americans are becoming too fat to fight. This year alone, 10% of recruits to the United States Army were turned down because they were over weight.

Major, General Allen Batschelet, who is in charge of U.S. Army Recruiting Command says, “In about five years, so many young Americans will be grossly overweight that the military will be unable to recruit enough qualified soldiers. In my view it’s becoming a national security crisis.”

“The obesity issue is the most troubling because the trend is going in the wrong direction,” he said. “We think by 2020 it could be as high as 50%, which mean only 2 in 10 would qualify to join the Army.”

But that doesn’t mean the Army hasn’t taking proactive measures to combat this expanding trend. Army recruiters are now becoming fitness coaches. Our tax dollars are giving these over weight recruits the opportunity to work with the Army to diet and exercise their way to be qualified for recruitment.

The issue could stem from the growing notion that being over weight or obese is now our new norm. According to the CDC, 81% of overweight boys and 71% of overweight girls believe they are just the right weight.

It’s a scary trend that is now becoming a problem even the U.S. Army is having to face.