It's a Shame

"Then they matched those needs with exercises. Some of those are already in use by the Army, but others are new and still others are drawn from century-old routines. There are drills that mimic climbing, that teach soldiers how to roll and that require swift lateral movements. Some are done in body armor.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/us/31soldier.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me
The program was largely the brainchild of two former gym teachers who now run the Army Physical Fitness School based here. They are a military version of Click and Clack, finishing each other's sentences and wisecracking with the alternating beat of gas-fired pistons.
One, Stephen Van Camp, is a former professional kick-boxer who unwittingly ran a marathon with a fractured ankle. "That's not tough. That's stupid," he now says. The other, Frank Palkoska, is a former Army officer and West Point fitness instructor who adorns his office here with black-and-white photographs of 19th-century exercise classes and an assortment of retrograde equipment like medicine balls and wooden dumbbells.

Under General Hertling, the new regimen will also include a makeover of the mess halls at its training bases. At Fort Jackson, there are more green leafy vegetables, less fried food, and milk instead of soda. The food line includes color-coded messages to encourage privates to eat low-fat entrees ... evidence suggests many soldiers are becoming overweight, particularly during or soon after deployments."

It's very discouraging that the Army has to ignore the best science to try and solve their obesity issues.  The troops need quality fat, no more gatorade or Hooahh Bars, and a science based diet vice the USDA's abomination pyramid.  My forecast is the low fat approach won't help a bit, and may hurt.  Low fat makes you fat or hungry, impairs virtually every aspect of health, reduces mental acuity, makes you susceptible to hypo-glycemia when you don't re-feed every 2-3 hours, and in results in high blood sugars, accelerated aging and nearly always to metabolic derangement.  And it's a damned dirty shame because our troops deserve better!!
One day, when this is long since proved a failure, we'll see a test - let competing teams offer the diet and fitness regimen that creates the best Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.  That's the only approach that will truly serve our fighting forces, their health, their performance, and their mission accomplishment.

Here's where the low fat rubber meets the murderous road - it's a stretch to say the man's low fat diet resulted in this outcome, but it's not impossible, as Lierre Kieth documents in her masterwork, "The Vegetarian Myth."  Low fat is low health and mental impairment.
"FORT McPHERSON, Ga. (AP) - Sgt. Rashad Valmont of the Army Reserve was fasting to meet strict military weight guidelines and nearly catatonic when he shot and killed a supervisor, the soldier's lawyer said.
Details of the shooting were revealed for the first time Monday at a military hearing to determine if there was enough evidence to go to trial.
The lawyer, William Cassara, said that Sergeant Valmont, who faces a premeditated murder charge, was dehydrated, exhausted and delirious when he burst into Master Sgt. Pedro Mercado's office in Fort Gillem in June. Mr. Cassara said Sergeant Valmont had spent weeks trying body wraps and sauna treatments and starving himself."