Obesity was the leading cause for disqualification among hopeful military recruit applicants, and the top driver of separations among active-duty troops in 2023, according to the new American Security Project study. The Washington-based think tank that studies modern national security issues found the Pentagon spent some $1.25 billion last year treating military patients for dozens of diseases related to obesity, and another $99 million in lost productivity among hospitalized overweight troops.

“America can no longer afford to ignore this [obesity] crisis,” American Security Project researchers wrote. “The United States armed forces face an unprecedented challenge as obesity prevalence among service members continues to rise. As combat and incidental injuries become less prevalent year-over-year, rates of obesity-related conditions, including diabetes, osteoarthritis, hypertension and steatotic liver disease increasingly meet or exceed civilian trends.”

Researchers suggested the Pentagon take a more proactive approach to preventing obesity, focusing on providing young, enlisted troops with health and nutrition education and access to quality foods. They also suggested the military replace long-held, appearance-based body composition standards with health-based standards driven by medical professionals and classify obesity as a disease in the military health system so troops can be treated medically for the condition.

“Unlike nearly all other diseases affecting service members today, obesity itself is not considered a disability nor disease by the service branches nor the Department of Veterans Affairs, making it difficult to proactively identify and treat,” the report reads. “Without this written classification and its associated protections, service members face bias and discrimination for ‘exceeding weight standards,’ becoming ineligible for promotion, educational privileges, deployment or disability compensation.”

Last year, the American Security Project found nearly seven in 10 active-duty troops were overweight or obese, according to their body mass index, including some 21% of active-duty troops qualified as obese, a rate that more than doubled in the past decade. Body mass index, or BMI, is a long-used but controversial method of assessing a person’s body classification by height and weight. A person between 25 and 30 on the BMI is considered clinically overweight and more than 30 is considered obese, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The researchers found the weight problem within the military was at least two-pronged because of rising obesity rates among the civilian population from which the military needs to recruit, and the loosening of military fitness standards to ensure the services have enough troops in their ranks amid recent enlistment struggles. The Pentagon, the researchers found, has lowered fitness standards to keep overweight troops in the ranks and increased the use of body composition waivers to bring overweight recruits into the military.

The military services have taken steps in recent years to counter obesity. The Army and Navy introduced fitness courses to engage potential recruits early and get them into shape to qualify for service. The Marines, meanwhile, began using more accurate biometric scanning machines last year to assess body fat.

But the American Security Project concluded those measures were not enough to mitigate the threat of increasing weight problems in the force, which were exacerbated during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, which forced many troops away from daily exercise during lockdowns. Obesity rates have not improved since the lockdowns ended, according to the researchers.

They charge reversing military policies that stigmatize obesity — such as tape measure tests — and focusing instead on providing treatment for troops susceptible to obesity or diagnosed with obesity would improve military readiness and save the services money — up to $1 billion each year, according to the study.

“These recommendations aren’t just well-justified by the existing research, they are highly cost-effective,” the researchers concluded. “Upfront investments in clinical care saves tens of thousands of dollars per patient in the long run, even if those patients remain overweight.”

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Gregg became the first living person in modern American history to have a military installation named for him, when Fort Lee became Fort Gregg-Adams on April 27, 2023, the Army said. The installation just outside Petersburg, the home of the Army’s logistics training, was renamed for Gregg and another Black officer, Lt. Col. Charity Adams, as part of a Congress-led effort to strip the service of honors for Confederate soldiers, including former namesake Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Gregg attended the renaming ceremony last year at the post and was known to frequent the installation since the name change, according to the Army news release announcing his death. He was last at Fort Gregg-Adams on July 31 for a change-of-command ceremony.

“Lt. Gen. Gregg will continue to inspire all who knew him and those who serve at Fort Gregg-Adams now and in the futurem,” Maj. Gen. Michelle Donahue, the installation’s top commander, said in a statement. “His dedication and leadership will never be forgotten. Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Gregg broke several glass ceilings for Black soldiers. In 1972, he became the service’s first Black brigadier general in its quartermaster corps. Five years later, he became the highest-ranking Black soldier — at that time — with his promotion to lieutenant general. In 1981, he retired as the Army’s deputy chief of staff for logistics, capping a 35-year career.

Gregg grew up in South Carolina on a 100-acre farm that grew cotton and tobacco, according to an Army profile.

Inspired by the Black soldiers who fought in World War II, Gregg enlisted in the Army in 1946 and was quickly deployed to occupied, post-war Germany to support supply operations, according to this service biography. In 1949, one year after President Harry S. Truman ordered the military desegregated, Gregg entered officer candidate school.

His first assignment as an officer, in 1950, was at Camp Lee, which would become Fort Lee later that year.

His career took him to Japan, several assignments in Germany and jobs at the Pentagon, including as the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s logistics director. In 1966, Gregg commanded the 96th Quartermaster Direct Support Battalion in Vietnam — one of the Army’s largest battalions in the country boasting some 3,600 troops, according to service records.

Gregg said his command experience in Vietnam was “the most significant point” in his storied career.

“It was four-times the normal battalion size, and I’ll tell you, those young people worked their fannies off to build a logistical base and provide logistical support to our forces in Vietnam,” Gregg said in a 2023 Army release. “I was so proud of them.”

Last year, as the Army settled on renaming Fort Lee to Fort Gregg-Adams, Gregg said he was supportive of the effort to strip Fort Lee and eight other southern Army posts of the names of Confederate generals, many of whom were slave owners. However, he said, he was surprised his name would be considered to replace Lee’s.

“I was very honored that they felt I was worthy but, you know, you don’t take it too seriously,” Gregg said at the ceremony to rename the post. “I was aware that there were a number of really outstanding people up for consideration. When the decision was made that the post would be redesignated Gregg-Adams, I was just overwhelmed.”

The so-called Naming Commission, which led efforts to strip honors for former Confederates from the U.S. military, wrote Gregg proved an officer of “great skill, leading by example and embarking on a career of excellence” in announcing its decision to name the base for him and Adams.

“Though Gregg and Adams served on different missions and in different conflicts, consistent themes of leadership, dedication, and problem solving united their service,” the commission wrote in its August 2022 final report to Congress. “Moreover, in overcoming the sustainment obstacles caused by war, they also helped overcome the social obstacles caused by segregation. Their service simultaneously supported mission success and societal progress.”