Air Force Loosens Standards To Make Room for Overweight Recruits

In an effort to combat a drop in recruitment numbers, the Air Force has eased its standards as the pool of eligible candidates continues to shrink.

The Air Force will now allow men with up to 26% body fat and women with up to 36%, up from earlier standards of 20% and 28%, respectively. Fox News reports that the branch is expected to miss its recruitment target by 10% this year.

However, while recruits will be allowed to join with greater body fat percentages, they will still be required to meet the same fitness standards as everyone else to stay in the service, according to Air Force Recruiting Service spokeswoman Leslie Brown.

The new guidelines would allow overweight recruits to serve in the Air Force. According to Penn Medicine, women with more than 30% body fat and men with more than 25% body fat are considered obese, and those with more than 36% and 26%, respectively, would be allowed to enlist in the Air Force.

Recruits with mental and behavioral disorders will also be allowed to join as more than 77% of young Americans are presently considered unfit for service. In most cases, young people treated for depression or anxiety are ineligible to enlist in the military, according to Military Times.

The military has struggled to recruit due to “physical inactivity, obesity, and malnutrition among our nation’s youth,” according to Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen Mark Herling. More than half of Americans aged 18 to 25 are overweight, according to The Washington Post.

These alterations in Air Force recruitment come amid the Biden administration’s push for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the military. Critics argue that these initiatives are hurting recruitment, which Biden administration officials dispute.

“When I served, color of skin, gender, it didn’t matter—we were all soldiers,” said Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), who served in the Iowa Army National Guard. “And so, we have an administration that’s trying to make it an issue and is driving a wedge between service members, and I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

The Pentagon has allocated $114 million to DEI programs this year, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

“The perception today is of a military increasingly captured by a political agenda, leaving some to forego military service,” said Brent Sadler, a Navy veteran and senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense.

Gilbert Cisneros, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, testified at a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing that “diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential to unit cohesion and trust.” Cohesion cultivated by DEI is vital “to deter and defeat adversaries,” he stated.