Ex-Generals: This Generation Is 'Too Fat to Fight'

Lean, mean fighting machines are a thing of the past when it comes to America. Fat is currently where it's at, and that's not a good thing for the US military, a group of 100 retired generals and admirals conclude in a new report. "Being overweight or obese turns out to be the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service," the report states. "Today, otherwise excellent recruit prospects, some of them with generations of sterling military service in their family history, are being turned away because they are just too overweight."

Between 1995 and 2008, 140,000 recruits failed their entrance physicals because of their weight, the report said. The retired military leaders want Congress to pass new child nutrition legislation that bars junk food from schools, increases funding to improve the nutrition and quality of school meals, and provides children better access to programs that promote health to begin making future recruits healthier, reports CBS. "The folks that are going to enter the military in 2025 are in school right now," a member of the report group tells Reuters. (More obesity stories.)