Apparently, they're considering relaxing the rules on how fat you can be to join the Forces. God help us! The "fat" end of the wedge?
Happened earlier this year if the
BBC are correct. But it's still not enough.
Most teenagers 'too fat for Army'
Two-thirds of teenagers were too fat to join the Army before rules on weight were relaxed, it has been revealed. The Body Mass Index of all recruits had to be below 28 under the old rules. Earlier this year, this was increased to 32, within the "obese" range.
Officials said the BMI requirement was being relaxed as it had been decided larger men could still be fit.
But now the National Audit Office has revealed that only a third of all 16-year-olds met the old target.
"Increasing levels of obesity and resultant health problems amongst young people reduces the number of young people able to join the services," the NAO said.
Edit: Also on the BBC today there's a Q&A on the shortfall with Colonel Bob Stewart (
here).