Cut on-base fast food to trim a super-sized force, leader says

As the services grapple with increasing numbers of overweight troops in the ranks, booting fast food restaurants from bases could help cut obesity rates in the armed forces, according to the U.S. military’s top enlisted official.

The comments made by Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Troy E Black, the senior enlisted advisor to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. CQ Brown came in an interview late last month on the MOPs and MOEs Podcast.

“If you want to reduce obesity, serve different types of food at the chow hall,” Black said. “Remove immediately all fast-food restaurants from all installations.”

Black discussed the overall value of treating American service members as assets, just as the military maintains tanks and aircraft. In particular, he focused on their physical and mental health

A spokesperson for Black declined further comment this week.

While he wasn’t making a formal policy proposal for such a ban, Black said the idea of removing sources of unhealthy food was an example of something the Pentagon could do relatively easily to improve health without requiring more money or more research.

Dining halls have stricter standards for the quality of food they serve, based on contracts they sign with the Defense Department, Black noted.

But troops often sidestep those options when fast food is also available, he said, and nutrition then becomes a race to the bottom.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t compete with a cheeseburger,” Black said.

Nearly 70 percent of service members are either overweight or obese, according to an American Security Project report released in October.

The study highlighted Defense Department data showing that the obesity rate, calculated using a person’s age, height and weight, has more than doubled over the past decade, from 10% to roughly 21%. At the same time, more than half of young Americans now qualify as obese, and it was the top disqualifier for recruiting prospects as of the time of the report’s publication.

Black noted how the eligible recruit pool has gotten smaller in America due to these pervasive health issues as well.

“Right now, only about 24% of the American population meets the physical fitness standards to join military service — obesity being the larger of the number of disqualifiers,” he said. “We have a societal issue.”