'Fat troops' fallout continues as some Texas Guardsmen sent home over fitness concerns

[Zorro]

Some Texas National Guard soldiers deployed to Chicago have been sent home for failing to meet fitness standards after an ABC News photo of heavyset troops went viral.

"A small group" of the 200 National Guard soldiers sent to Illinois last week have been replaced for not being "in compliance" with its validation process, the Texas Military Department confirmed to military news site Task & Purpose over the weekend.

The switch comes after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he was tired of seeing "fat troops" who give the military "a bad look" in a speech to hundreds of military commanders on Sept. 30.

After the speech, Hegseth mandated that active-duty troops take two physical fitness tests each year and work out every day. Hegseth praised the Texas National Guard replacements in a social media post.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fat-troops-fallout-continues-texas-163952142.html

[newdeal2]

1. How embarrassing

Mostly for Pete and Miller.

[Attilatheblond]

2. One wonders what is the matter with the commanders of the TX Guard that some people are too out of shape to function

I know it's a voluntary force, but they do get a little pay, do yearly training, and are SUPPOSED to be ready to go active in emergencies. Looking at pictures of those TX Guards getting out of their transport, all carrying expensive equipment, it looks like the cos player should NOT be in the Guard, getting pay for being unfit.

[Aristus]

7. Someone needs to act as road guard during PT runs.

That will do the trick. Worked for me. I joined the right out of high school. Thirty pounds overweight. PT and PT runs every morning left me in breathless agony. They made me serve as a road guard during PT runs. I wore a reflective vest and carried a flashlight. When the running formation approached an intersection, it was my job to run ahead to the crossing, hold up traffic there until the formation passed, then run faster to catch up with them again.

I lost the thirty pounds and then some by the end of Basic.

Not incidentally, that was right around the time I started having some success with women.

[Traildogbob]

3. So is

The lard ass in the Oval gonna get canned for being a Lard Ass? Whatta you say War Czar Peter ?

[dutch777]

4. Between gardening duty in DC and this sort of thing not a big boost for recruitment to the NG and Reserves

If you want to really improve morale and recruitment, pretty much do the opposite of what Trump/Hegseth are doing. (Of course recruitment gets easier as the economy worsens and AI eliminates entry level jobs, which they are amply facilitating). Many NG and Reserves are ex active duty that want to get the retirement benefits after 20 years given how few pension with health care benefit programs are available in the private sector especially in more rural areas and red states. Has been the case for decades that NG/Reserve unit commanders were a bit lackadaisical on fitness and other standards for fear that they would have few or no troops to lead if they pushed too hard. Hope is if the s**t really hits the fan they will have a month or so getting ready to deploy to whip people back into shape. Never has been a perfect system and even more so as these units are usually equipped with old tech and have way too little training time to stay crisp on what they have.

[uponit7771]

5. Stull question the efficacy of this thinking especially of KegsBreath is leading it

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

6. Trump has moved on from big, burly military personnel. He now wants them slim and trim,

like beauty pageant contestants.

[bluestarone]

8. Gosh, kind of like saying military are a bunch of

Suckers and losers. THAT'S what republicans are all about, from their president on down!