Military recruits weight & fitness issues, not just in the United States……..
“The purpose of the present study was to investigate changes in physical fitness and anthropometry of young men entering the military service in Finland during the years 1975–2015. The study included the fitness test results of 627,142 healthy young male conscripts (age 19.1 ± 0.4 years old).”

“….the increase in mean body mass of young men has slowed down during the last 10 years. However, the total increase in body mass was 6.8 kg between 1993 and 2015.”

The mean distance achieved in the 12-minute running test decreased…..between the peak in 1980 and 2015.”

The relative number of conscripts who ran less than 2200m increased……between 1980 and 2015, and the proportion who ran more than 3000 m decreased from 25.1% to 6.5%.”

“The relative number of conscripts who achieved an excellent or good muscle fitness index decreased from 66.8% to 40.1% between 1992 and 2000, and remained unchanged between 2000 and 2010. However, the proportion who achieved a poor muscle fitness index increased from 8.1% to 31.4% between 1992 and 2010.”

The present study shows……their aerobic capacity has still decreased during recent decades. In addition, the proportion of conscripts with poor muscle fitness has increased. From the national defense and health perspective, more initiatives are needed to encourage young men to increase their level of daily physical activity to be fit and ready for operations.”

M.Santtila, et al
Physical Fitness in Young Men between 1975 and 2015 with a Focus on the Years 2005–2015
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise – Volume 50 #2 – February 2018 – page 292