SAN DIEGO — The Navy is giving another chance to thousands of sailors who otherwise would be kicked out for repeatedly failing their physical fitness tests because they exceeded body fat limits.
The service branch loosened its body fat restrictions in January and is allowing those who failed their exams three or more times to get one more opportunity to be tested this spring under the more lenient guidelines. The Navy said it has been losing too many talented sailors. Some were resorting to liposuction, diet pills and other measures to save their careers.
The Navy allowed about 2,400 sailors who passed a preliminary test under the new rules to stay in, reducing the number of failures on their records from three to one, said a Navy spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen. In the past, three failures were grounds for being kicked out. The sailors will be measured again this spring and allowed two failures instead of three.
The changes are the latest by the military looking to improve its abilities to recruit and retain talented people as it builds up its cyber-warfare strategy and faces competition from a rebounding economy.
A 2014 Pentagon study found that roughly two-thirds of Americans would not qualify to enlist in the armed services as a result of health problems, obesity and the failure to complete a high school education.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the service is not lowering standards but rather adjusting to reality: People today, in general, are bigger but not necessarily fat. The Navy is also considering larger uniform sizes for the first time in two decades.
“It's far more realistic,” Mabus said of the new body fat standard.
The number of sailors booted from the Navy annually because they did not meet physical standards has more than doubled from 694 in 2011 to 1,536 in 2014.
All branches are reviewing their job standards to modernize their forces and prepare for the opening of combat posts to women.
From drone operators to cyber-warfare officers, “there are a number of officers in jobs where it is really obvious why it would not make a whole lot of difference what their weight is, other than to the extent that the culture in the military disrespects it and therefore, they can't lead,” said former Army officer James Joyner, who teaches at the Marine Corps University.
He believes the military must change.
“It's absurd the percentage of high school teenagers who are considered to be too fat to join the military,” Joyner said. “Maybe there are two problems: One, obesity, and the other that the standards are out of date and not relevant.”
