'Too fat to fight'?

• Position: The Army - Physical-training program of the armed forces - Brief article

Something's different at Fort Jackson, the Army's largest training post, in South Carolina. The most common (and dreaded) of exercises, the sit-up, is almost gone; the long run has been downgraded; and exercises that look like yoga or Pilates routines are in. The official goal of the Army's new physical-training program is to reduce injuries and better prepare soldiers for combat in rough terrain like Afghanistan. But the program was also created to address the issue of unfit recruits. Excess weight is the leading reason the Army rejects potential recruits, a problem that has worsened in recent years. A...