Fighting Weight: How Military Recruiters Take On Obesity, Case By Case

Marcus Robinson wanted to follow the older brother he idolizes into military life. He also needed the Army benefits to help pay for college. "I had to do it because I didn't want my parents to worry about paying for school," the 18-year-old says.

But last year — midway through his senior year of high school — Robinson tipped the scales at 240 pounds, making him too heavy to qualify under the U.S. Army's fitness standards.

"I would look at pictures of myself and I would get upset," Robinson says. Repeated attempts to lose weight on his own didn't work. House-bound pandemic life and his summer job at an ice cream parlor added still more pounds.

An increasing percentage of young people face that same problem. Across all segments of the military, 31% of young adults ages 17 to 24 cannot enlist because they're too heavy, according to the Department of Defense. The Army, the military's largest branch, needs to recruit about 130,000 people a year to carry out its missions, and therefore faces the brunt of the recruitment challenge that childhood obesity presents.