Wars weighed down? Generals vs. snacks.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Citings - Brief article

SOME OF the nation's top military brass--300 retired generals and admirals, including Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and James M. Loy, former deputy secretary of homeland security--are worried that American kids are too fat to fight.

Their report, issued in September, urges policy makers to reduce the availability of junk food in schools for q the sake of military readiness. "400 billion calories of junk food are being sold in our schools every year," the report laments. "That's the equivalent of 2 billion candy bars. Put them on a scale and they would weigh almost 90 thousand tons. That's more than the aircraft carrier Midway." Earlier that month, first lady Michelle Obama delivered the same message on television, agreeing with celebrity physician Dr. Oz that "the...