In a blunt assessment delivered to top military recruiters, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed that a significant portion of young Americans are ineligible for service, being "too fat" or "too dumb" to join the armed forces.
A Candid Critique at the Pentagon
The remarks were made during a gathering at the Pentagon on Thursday, 19 December 2025. Hegseth, while celebrating positive recent recruitment figures, outlined the fundamental challenges faced by recruiters. "I know it’s not easy on the basic ingredients on recruiting," he stated. "Too many of our young people are too fat or too dumb — not dumb, that’s wrong. You know, we’re just not educating them properly or they’ve got criminal records, or ADHD, or all these other things."
This focus on physical readiness is a hallmark of Hegseth's tenure. He has previously instituted wide-ranging new fitness tests, competed in a public pull-up challenge against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and criticised "fat generals" in a September speech.
Recruitment Rebound Amidst Policy Claims
Despite his stark critique of the recruitment pool, Hegseth credited the policies of the Trump administration for driving a surge in interest. He specifically pointed to initiatives like the "warrior dividend" bonus check for troops, suggesting young Americans are now eager to join a "war-fighting entity, not a woke institution."
However, data indicates the recruitment recovery began before the current administration. The US military faced a severe slump during the pandemic, with the Army missing its 2022 recruitment goal by a staggering 25 percent. The tide turned dramatically by the end of fiscal year 2024, with all service branches hitting their targets.
Observers attribute this turnaround to multiple factors:
- The waning impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- The return of recruiters to school campuses.
- Programmes like the Army’s Future Soldier Preparatory Course, which helps marginal candidates improve test scores and fitness to qualify.
This momentum has continued. The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the military is seeing its highest level of enlisted accessions in 15 years, with all branches again meeting their recruitment targets for the 2025 fiscal year, which ended in September.
Parallel Trends and Persistent Hurdles
The recruitment surge is not confined to the Department of Defense. The US Border Patrol is also training a record number of recruits, bolstered by unprecedented funding and hefty bonuses from the Trump administration to support its immigration crackdown.
Nevertheless, significant hurdles remain. The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly struggling to meet a goal of hiring 10,000 new personnel by early next year, partly because many new hires are failing physical fitness requirements—echoing the broader concerns about national fitness raised by Secretary Hegseth.
The defence secretary's comments, while controversial, highlight the ongoing tension between ambitious national security recruitment goals and the perceived physical and educational preparedness of the modern American youth.
