Report: 70% of Youth Ineligible, Unfit for U.S. Military

Of the 34 million youth aged 17 to 24 in the United States, only 29 percent could actually serve, according to a report from The Heritage Foundation. As the military relies on volunteers to fill ranks each year, it’s a crisis authors Thomas Spoehr and Bridget Handy say is not in the future; it’s here now.

“More and more young Americans do not qualify to enter the military due to lack of basic education, drug use, criminal background, or—the top reason—simply being too fat,” according to The Looming National Security Crisis: Young Americans Unable to Serve in the Military.