Mission: Readiness Featured in Report on Military Readiness and Resilience

Mission: Readiness’ work was recently featured in the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) 2017 Annual Report to Congress: Providing the Science to Support Military Readiness and Resilience. The CPSTF is a panel of public health and prevention experts appointed by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their annual report identifies ways that recommendations from CPSTF can be utilized to support the readiness and resilience of the United States Armed Forces, improve the health of our military communities, and increase the population of young people who are eligible for service.

CPSTF’s 2017 report discusses the threat that weight issues, tobacco use, and alcohol abuse pose to U.S. military active duty personnel. CPSTF notes that a report on TRICARE’s expenses in Fiscal Year 2014 indicated that estimated direct and indirect costs associated with tobacco use and obesity for active duty personnel and their families, and indirect costs associated with alcohol-related problems, were $1.2 billion and $73 million, respectively.

The report specifically highlights Mission: Readiness’ work on weight issues:

“In 2010, Mission: Readiness, a non-partisan national security organization of more than 700 retired generals and admirals, sounded the alarm on the dramatic increases in obesity in young adults, rendering them unfit to enter the military.”

Read the full report.

Mission: Readiness continues to advocate for research-based investments in programs that ensure all young people have the foundation they need to lead healthy and productive lives, and have the option to serve in the military, if they choose.

Learn more about our work to address childhood obesity and nutrition, as well as other challenges facing America’s youth.