Today Vasti Cedeno will leave for Fort Jackson, S.C., to start nine weeks of Army boot camp. When two of her mentors were killed while serving in Afghanistan, she decided her "life's mission" was to join the Army. But even with her mind made up, her body kept her down. Cedeno weighed nearly 275 pounds.
"I was too ashamed to go into the recruiter's office," she said.
Cedeno turned it around. Through diet and exercise, the Emerson resident dropped 112 pounds in a year, and she figures to lose more if Fort Jackson combat training stays true to reputation.
Military officials hope Cedeno, 27, represents the start of a trend. The scales are not tipping in the right direction for young people, and a new report says the sharp rise in obesity rates has become a matter of national security.
Over 9 million young adults -- 27 percent of all Americans ages 17-24 -- weigh too much to join the military, according to the report released last week by Mission: Readiness, a nonprofit group of 130 retired admirals, generals and senior military leaders that promotes health and education for American children. Their findings come on top of a Pentagon report released last year that said 48,000 military recruits had flunked weight standards since 2005.
"We also lose upwards to 12,000 young men and young women a year before they even finish up the first term of enlistment," said retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Norman Seip. "That's another person who has been recruited, trained and left because they're not able to maintain standards."
| Part-time daughter's brand new husband almost was one of those. They told him what to eat, gave him extra PT, and allowed him to retest every few months for a year. He just squeaked in under the wire. Ptd got there, and an hour after the wedding she poured all his sugary, caffeinated sodas down the drain, and started planning menus. Within a month she reported proudly that he'd dropped nine pounds, was sleeping properly, and was running even better. She's definitely a long-haired general. |
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