I am a former Army officer who left the Army in 2001, just 4 months before 9/11. The scrutiny on weight was always relentless, but for officers it was 10 times worse. Often a soldier or officer who looked skinny was often given a "pass" if he/she lacked in other areas. I am 6'1" and used to play college football. My genetics just don't support a skinny frame, no matter how much cardio I did. I was down to 218 lbs, and 12% body fat......and they STILL called me overweight because I did not make the height/weight chart. I got tired of continually being asked about my weight, when I was running faster than the "thin" people, and I was a much better officer. But in the Army, they look for ways to discriminate against you to compare you to your peers. So that is why I got out...yet ANOTHER Captain who left the Army.

I also saw some of my soldiers unjustly crucified for weight. When I was Lieutenant, I remember one soldier who worked her ass off for months, and my Commander berated her for coming in 0.5% short of the goal. She was in tears, and I wanted to plant my commander in the ground for being such a prick. But I don't have to worry about it any more yeah!

Here is a stat....the promotion from CPT to MAJ used to be about 70% when I was in the Army in the late 90's. My Year Group (YG '97), was promoted 97% to MAJ!!!!! That means a lot of CPTs got out..and they continue to get out. Screw the Army for eating their own...no pun intended. LOL>

I'm in agreement with the Captain above. I'm an Iraq war vet who is a 'big-framed guy'. I have always struggled to pass the Army's 'tape test', which I think is unfairly biased to shorter people. I know soldiers who are in the 5 1/2 foot height range who have beer guts that jut out, but don't have to tape because they meet the height-weight ratio. I'm 6' 3" and have always had to tape, and barely pass. I constantly do well on the Army Physical Fitness test and run 3 miles every morning, but the Army still looks upon me as a substandard soldier. I have seen several examples of soldiers leaving the Army because they were tired of being persecuted for having a few extra pounds, even though they did any and everything asked of them, including combat duty in Iraq. I find it interesting that when it's time to hit the combat zone, the Army doesn't care what you weigh, they use you as they see fit, but as soon as you're back stateside, you're a disgusting piece of crap who can't get promoted or awarded.

Also of interest is that the Army penalizes soldiers for being a few pounds overweight, but now they're giviing waivers for felonies, including rape, lowered the scores on the ASVAB so that soldiers that can barely read can get in, and they are taking soldiers with known psychological problems. Bottom line, you can be a criminal, stupid, and crazy and not have problems, but if you weigh a few pounds more, you are persona non grata.

I am (was) a female sailor and also considered overweight by the standards that were set. I have a large frame and bulk up immediately when weight lifting (even light ones). It didn't matter that I scored excellents and outstandings on my physical readiness tests. Nor did it matter that I was the best damn corpsman in my clinic. I always went above and beyond, and like many others, putting my family second to the Navy. I always had to be taped. I ran 3 miles every morning, 3 miles at lunch (part of the fat body program, and worked out in the gym for an hour after work. And I still could not make weight.(And no, I didn't eat like a horse, thank you very much). When I joined the navy, I was 671/2" and weighed 170lbs (after starving myself and living in saunas and not drinking water for the entire week before weighing in). I was considered over weight standards then and just barely taped in.

My Senior Chief was very prejudice against me due to my weight. He fought every 4.0 my senior petty officers tried to give me. And he always made sure I had a 2.0 in military bearing...Unbelievable!

People like to say its because of diabetes and potential health problems. I maintain a blood pressure of 106/62, a heart rate of 64 (resting), normal blood sugar, and low cholesterol. I stay active and eat healthy and still, I am considered overweight. If they were truly worried about the health of their sailors, marines, and soldiers, why not be concerned with these tests. I find amusing that all of the human chimneys walking around the military aren't targeted at all. They not only endanger their health, but those around them.

I think overweight people should be allowed to proudly serve. What should matter, is can they do all the same things a skinny person can do? 62 pushups, 100 situps, and a 9 minutes swim(450) time?(my personal scores, btw) You damn skippy, I can....oh and btw, my run time for the mile and a half was 11minutes and 30seconds.

What I am trying to say, is that everybody is not meant to be the size that the CDC (or whoever) is dictating us to be. Some people are meant to be a size 2; some are meant to be an 18. What should matter is a persons worth. As a corpsman, can I get to that injured sailor or marine to administer the life saving efforts needed so that they may return home alive. Yes...yes I can. Can I be successful at what I do and still maintain the pride that I still carry within me a navy hospital corpsman? Yes...I was a damn good sailor, and an even better corpsman....and I miss it, damn it.

I lost 110 lbs before I went to parris island. They dogged me throught my time in the corps, even though I was running down guys who weighed 40 lbs less than me. They even paint red stripes on you so they can pick you out during pt. I was throwing up during boot camp to keep my weight down. They treated me like a criminal when my weight wouldn't budge. So I was soo fat and lazy and sloppy, then how did I make it through, without going into the pork chop platoon?

As a soldier currently serving here in Iraq, I am "overweight". I have been over my body fat percentage since '05 (the year my first kid was born). I worked out twice a day everyday for 9 months after his birth. Finally I took a PT test and passed my height and weight in April of 06. Oh I did this when I was a week pregnant with my second child. I am currently 2% over my body-fat percentage, stuck in a combat zone, and would rather be fat, homeless, and with my kids than be here. I am just wondering who made these standards and if they ever considered what pregnancy does to a female's body. Why am I being held to a standard that is reasonable for a 17 yr old little girl that hasn't had kids? The Army will pay for lipo but you know what everytime I see my little pooch on my tummy I AM MORE PROUD OF BEING A MOMMY THAN BEING A SOLDIER.

Yet another stupid mindset which causes a necessary part of the military to self-destruct. Fantastic. The recruiters should hardly be bitching if they have to make quotas that seem unreasonable, given that their own comrades drive out the soldiers of whom the US military could make good use.

My brother had a friend in high school, top athlete in track, football, you name it, who ran into a wonderful snafu created by a ditzy Army doctor. The doctor put him at fifty pounds more than his actual weight, and even after he reached less than five percent body fat and was getting hunger shakes on a regular basis, they refused to change his diet plan because of one stupid error. Thank goodness he finally got out.

I served in the Army from 1985 to 1989, and fought the weight issue the entire time. My normal weight, in those days, was about 195, and I'm 5'10" -- too close to the maximum. I was constantly harassed about it until I starved myself down to 166, a weight I had last held in 8th grade -- pictures of me from that time make me look like a skeleton. Of course, at that light weight, I lacked strength and had trouble doing enough push-ups on the PT test. I got out -- was I doing the Army better as a 195 pound Spec. 4, who was healthy, or as a civilian?

But we're all telling the same story -- the standards are meaningless. The standards are also a double-standard -- there should be one PT standard, not one for men and one for women. This isn't sexism. The argument used for having a minimum 2-mile time requirement is that "the platoon can only move as fast as its slowest member." Why, then, should men be discriminated against, the platoon can move only as fast as the women, who have a separate standard.

Wars always change the face of the military, and we're seeing that now. It remains to be seen how the ongoing conflict will change recruitment and PT standards, but you can bet it will do so on a long-term basis.

I got out of the Army a number of years ago. One of the things I really hated was the easily manipulated point system they used to promote people. In order to make things "fair" they would rely primarily on APFT and rifle qualification for promotion points.

Both of these were routinely "pencil jockeyed" in many units. As somebody who always played by the rules, it was painful watching some people get promoted based entirely on BS points.

Though, I must add it was nice seeing these people who supposedly scored 300 on their PT tests and qualify expert at their units, flunk out of PLDC or BNCOC because they couldn't qualify or pass the APFT.

Blood Army now we will who gets promoted now nothing on the right sleeve and two rows above your heart time to deploy..

I was an infantry soldier who was not overweight. However, I knew several people in the units I served with who were considered overweight. Now, of those I remember, approximately 20 throughout my 6 years, I would say 7 of them were fat slobs. The others usually did the required 270 (Infantry company usual standard) on the PT test, and more than half of those scored 295 or above. In my mind, this was more about appearances than health. When I was at ft lewis, they were booting people out of the ranger bat because they had tattoos. Zero tolerance carried to its mindless extreme.