The Army has lost too many really good personnel through

their obsolete weight program. Most men who are body builders would not meet the Armies Weight program. There are much better methods of testing body fat than using a tape measure or obselete weight tables. If they were serious they might go to what most police departments or state highway patrols to and use a water displacement test to obtain an accurate measurement of real body fat percentage.

Retired

Another method would just be relying on the physical agility tests to tell the story. You have plenty of people who are "normal" that can hardly do a push-up, but plenty of "overweight" individuals who, as you sited, can do far more.

If someone passes all the endurance and strength tests with flying colors, why should their weights matter at all? Some people have naturally broad, stocky frames, and can still be in perfect health. My brother practices mixed martial arts and is a carpenter, he weighs 210 pounds and is 5'9". By the BMI, he's grossly overweight, but I'd dare any doctor to look at his daily regimen and nutrition and tell me he's unhealthy.

Absolutely, Hellcat. That's the way it was back when I served in the US Army in the late 80's and early 90's (during the first gulf war). Every six months we took the Physical Training Test (pushups, situps, and 2-mile run), and we got weighed. Those of us above a certain weight limit (based on height) had to have our bodyfat measured (using the old tape system). At the time I was 5'11" and weighed 190 to 195 pounds. But as long as my bodyfat was below 20% and I passed the PT test, I was fine.

But as far as recruiting and enlisting overweight soldiers, that's really not a big deal. When I enlisted I was about 210-215 pounds and about 25% bodyfat. My recruiter explained to me that basic training and AIT would burn off alot of excess weight, especially the fat. Sure enough, after 8 weeks of basic training I had dropped 25 pounds, my bodyfat went from around 25% to under 20%, and my 2-mile run time went from 20 minutes to 14 minutes.

If only I were still in such good condition, alas...

I know there are people who just have too much bulk to pass some of the tests. However, there are some people who are milking the system for all it's worth.

I served with a guy who was, basically, fat and a slob in his appearance and demeanor. Every six months, when the PT test was coming up, he'd work out like crazy and take a few days off to spend in the sauna. Every six months, he'd just barely pass.

Everyone who worked with him hoped that he'd miss his weigh-in some day.

And there were lots more like him, too.

One of the most frustrating things I remember from my service was how inconsistently PT test were administered in units and between units.

I recall some NCOs "pencil jockeying" their troops in order to make their squads look better. Prior to deployments, the same thing would happen at the company level. For some reason, entire units would pass the APFT at their unit, and then have 1/3rd of them fail while processing at MEPS a few weeks later.

The same thing used to happen during rifle qualification. When graded on paper, you'd see whole platoons score sharpshooter/expert, but then you'd see dramatically less when the went to a computer scored rifle range.

Because APFT and rifle qualification scores are among the biggest point gainers for promotion, you'd see a lot of undeserving people make E-5 and above due to fake PT and rifle scores (and often, subsequently flunk PLDC or BNCOC because of it). This is one of the main reasons I got out of the Army.