Tuesday, March 4, 2008

German soldiers too fat, smoke too much.


The headline in Earthtimes read; German soldiers too fat, smoke too much.
The article says,
"German soldiers are overweight, smoke too much and do not engage in enough sports, according to a report published Tuesday by the parliamentary commissioner for the defense force. "Male and female soldiers are too fat, partake little in sports and pay too little attention to what they eat," Reinhold Robbe said in his official report to parliament. He called the situation "shocking."
In the 18-29 age-group, military personnel are in worse condition than their civilian counterparts, with 40 per cent of soldiers overweight against 35 per cent in the general population, according to Robbe.
Despite the widespread availability of sports equipment in the army, more than 20 per cent don't engage in any sports at all.
Robbe also noted that an alarming 70 per cent of military personnel were smokers."
Given the history of the German army in the first half of the 20th Century, is an overweight, physically unfit German army such a bad thing?

6 comments:

Dom Cimafranca said...

On the bright side, Poland will be safe! ;-)

Robert Simms said...

In 1939, after the invasion, the Germans declared the western portion of Poland a part of Greater Germany. The portion in the middle was declared a German colony and ruled from the city of Krakow by Hans Frank.Governor-General Hans Frank declared the Poles would be made "the slaves of the German Empire."
All four of my father's grandparents were born in Poland. Fortunately,all arrived in the USA before 1901.

Anonymous said...

AND WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE!..I CAN'T STAND UNKNOWLEDGABLE ACCUSATIONS, FROM UNEDUCATED MINDS. YOU SAY YOUR RELIGIOUS? JUDGE NOT.

Robert Simms said...

To Anonymous, which part of this post do you have a problem with?

If it is because I said "German soldiers too fat, smoke too much." then, well, I was referring to an article. It was the "parliamentary commissioner for the defense force" that claimed "Male and female soldiers are too fat, partake little in sports and pay too little attention to what they eat," .

Are you angry because I wrote; "Given the history of the German army in the first half of the 20th Century, is an overweight, physically unfit German army such a bad thing?" ?
The history of the German army speaks for itself.

Anonymous said...

YES..AND YES I KNOW THEIR HISTORY..AS MY GRANDFATHER FOUGHT ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT. HE WAS VERY WELL FIT..UNTIL HE LOST HIS LEGS. I HAVE FIRST HAND STORIES OF "NOT SO GREAT" AMERICAN TROOPS...ANY WAY YA LOOK AT IT..WAR IS WAR...HOW MANY OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE OVER WEIGHT SOLDIERS!

Robert Simms said...

anonymous,
you seem to be taking this too personal.The fitness....or lack of fitness of the current German soldier has nothing to do with the soldiers who fought in WWII.
If you read the article, you will see it is the Germans who are saying their soldiers are too fat and smoke too much.
If you have a problem with the facts, then argue with Reinhold Robbe....he's the one who filed the report.