# Army general declares Americans too fat or criminal to fight in rebuke of service leaders **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 5, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961 "2022-09-05T02:22:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961/122 "2022-09-14T14:02:06Z")
Ah ok so it to totally made sense that if birthday #51 had been called and you were #53, you wouldn’t be surprised to get a letter soon. I wonder at what rate people who enlisted in that situation (but not in the national guard) ended up in Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961/123 "2022-12-02T17:56:01Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My father joined the Army in late 1953, a few months after the armistice was signed which effectively ended the Korean War. He served for, I think, three years, as a tank driver, but spent all of his service time stateside, most of it stationed in Texas. > > However, the VA considers him to be a Korean War veteran (the cutoff, apparently, was in January of 1955). My dad has never claimed to have served in wartime, and he finds the fact that he’s considered to be a war veteran kind of comical, but it does apparently mean that he qualifies for some additional VA benefits. My father is the same - joined the Navy in 1953, served until 1956, and after a horrible six-month stint at Thule in Greenland (supporting the completion of the air base there) spent his military career largely toodling around the Mediterranean. He’s never claimed to be a war veteran, and it’s only in the past five or six years he’s decided to start using the VA medical facilities (which he now loves). Like so many, he joined up so that he could go to college afterwards. Which he did. > [@Chefguy](#): > > This is one reason I’ve never joined one of those organizations. If you served during the conflict, you’re a veteran. End of story. Rear echelon folks may not be getting shot at, but they are serving their country in time of war. It’s not their fault that they were never under fire. Friend of mine was in the first Gulf War. He was stationed at a base in northern Saudi Arabia, working in the motor pool. Apart from one or two stray SCUDs (or similar) going by, he was never under threat of anything except sunburn and extreme boredom. But he was still there, serving his country. He doesn’t go on about it though. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961/124 "2022-12-03T18:45:29Z")
the strange thing is the military is responsible for getting fed by the school system because in the depression and the early 40s everyone was malnourished so after the war they suggested school lunches because at least the kids had one meal a day ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961/125 "2022-12-03T18:55:02Z")
Which is why my district just said “Screw it - we’ll feed everyone!” Every student gets free breakfast & lunch if they sign up. We even kept it going during plague, with drive-up pick-up of bags of groceries a couple times a week. Most in our town don’t need it, but those that do - **do**. Makes for much improved student behavior as well as increased GPA. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961/126 "2022-12-03T19:35:21Z")
And after a certain point, it’s cheaper to just give meals to everyone, than to pay a bunch of bureaucrats to determine precisely which students “need” or “deserve” it. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961/127 "2022-12-03T20:31:25Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > We even kept it going during plague, with drive-up pick-up of bags of groceries a couple times a week. We drive by a middle school to get to our vet’s office, and we noticed that all during the lockdown they were giving away free lunches. And this is in a relatively affluent neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961/128 "2022-12-03T23:02:32Z")
As an added bonus, there isn’t a stigma for those that need it. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2022, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961/129 "2022-12-05T04:56:13Z")
It’s also a way to ensure students are at least getting some healthy meals with appropriate portion sizes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-general-declares-americans-too-fat-or-criminal-to-fight-in-rebuke-of-service-leaders/970961.md?page=6)