Recruits who went through the Army’s successful pre-bootcamp prep course in order to rapidly lose weight were not consistently monitored as they shed pounds and may have faced “increased risks” to their health because the recruiting program was short on nutritionists and other medical personnel, an Inspector General report found.
But officials behind the course insist the recruits who have attended the course have emerged in “far better” health than when they arrived, with most moving on to traditional boot camp. However, they admit that fully staffing the course has been a challenge.
Brig. Gen. Jennifer Walkawicz, deputy chief of staff for the Army Training and Doctrine Command, or TRADOC, told Task & Purpose that the Army has had “no significant adverse health effects” from trainees participating in the program or when they moved on to basic training or advanced individual training, AIR.
“I would contend that these young men and women, while they entered probably not in the best shape of their life, they are far better off from a health perspective when they leave than when they started,” Walkawicz said. “We’re very focused on being deliberate about that and making sure that we’re placing the safety of these young men and women first and foremost ahead of anything else.”
The IG did not note that any trainee had been harmed or suffered injury in the course from the staffing issues, instead noting that a smaller medical team overseeing recruits at or beyond body fat limits created a higher risk of health issues that had staffing been fully manned or if the pool had been recruits with a traditional level of fitness.
A boon to recruiting
The course, known as the Army’s Future Soldier Prep course, has been a boon for the service’s recruiting efforts, allowing previously disqualified civilians — either for fitness or academics — a path into the Army. The IG report is the first watchdog critique of the Army’s touted program based at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, which was set up in 2022. In fiscal year 2024, the course was responsible for bringing in one-fourth of the service’s 55,300 recruits, or about 13,200 trainees.
The three-week prep course is split on two tracts, one for academics for recruits seeking improvement on written aptitude tests, and a fitness-oriented tract known as the Assessment of Recruit Motivation and Strength 2.0 Pilot Program, or ARMS. About two-thirds of trainees come in for academic help and one-third for fitness help. The ARMS program is aimed at applicants who must lose weight or, more precisely, meet the Army’s body fat composition standards for enlistment.
A combination of not enough medical staff and applicants arriving at the course too far over body fat limits put trainees at an “increased risk of suffering adverse medical consequences while trying to lose weight in a short time,” the IG said.
Since the program’s inception, trainees have averaged about 1.2% of body fat loss per week, according to Walkawicz. The program instructs trainees on healthy eating habits, nutrition, diet, exercise and sleep. However, Walkawicz said, as the program tries to reorient recruits’ approach to diet, it does not include instruction “specifically on eating disorders.”
But recruits who lose too much weight too quickly — which the Army sets at 2% of body fat per week or more — are singled out for individual instruction.
“If they’re losing too much too fast or they’re not losing enough, they are given specific, more one-on-one counseling and more nutritionist time, more dietician time to figure out what specifically could help them improve and meet the standards. It’s monitored very closely,” she said.
Increasing body fat limits
The course launched with a body fat upper-limit set at 6% above the standard. About a year and a half ago, the limit increased to 8% “because we saw success in the program, we realized that we could allow others at a higher body fat to come,” Walkawicz said.
But the IG found that around 14% (164 trainees) of the 1,181 who attended the pilot program between Feb. 12, 2024 and May 22, 2024, exceeded the 8% limit.
One recruit arrived at the course 19% over the body fat limit.
Walkawicz said that previously trainees who were over the 8% threshold were allowed to stay in the course as long as they met cardiovascular and metabolic screenings and had no other comorbidity issues. Around 92% of them “graduated with no issues whatsoever,” she added.
Once trainees enter the ARMS program, they are screened for their cardiovascular and metabolic health, blood pressure, height/weight/body mass index, and body fat percentage.
Trainees at “increased risk,” receive additional metabolic screening (hemoglobin A1C and fructosamine) before, and during ARMS, according to the IG.
Since the IG report’s findings, which are from 2024, the Army has instituted tighter restrictions. Trainees who arrive at Fort Jackson that are more than 10% over body fat limits are given an entry level separation right away.
“That sounds like we’re not following the policy, but the difference between the 8 to the 10% — we believe that variance could be in how the person is taped,” she said. “We now believe that’s acceptable risk in that 8-to-10% category. But once you’re over 10%, they never even enter the future soldier prep course.”
The IG recommended that the Army review how trainees entered ARMS above allowable initial entry body composition standards and that they develop a process to ensure trainees meet the standards.
Walkawicz said since the IG report’s findings, TRADOC has worked with the Army’s recruiting command to put checks and balances in place since November which has led to a drop in “the prevalence of people showing up in excess of body fat.”
“They have career counselors at every [Military Entrance Processing Stations] station and they have made their senior career counselor responsible for personally taping these individuals prior to when they get on the bus or the plane to ship to us at Fort Jackson,” she said.
Staff shortages
The IG also found that due to medical shortages across the Army, there were not enough nutritionists for trainees: one dietitian was supporting nearly 400 to 500 trainees at a given time. A Fort Jackson regulation requires one dietitian per 700 trainees and an advisory recommended one per 100 trainees, meaning that the Army met the “required” number of dietitians and not the “recommended” number, the IG said.
The IG also said that the program did not have sufficient combat medic specialists, strength and conditioning coaches, nutrition care specialists, or physician assistants required by Fort Jackson regulation.
Officials told the IG that having a dietitian assigned to the course was challenging so they have partnered with a local Military Treatment Facility since July 2024 to use one of their dietitians. But rather than indefinitely relying on local clinics to donate staff, Walkawicz said that prep course officials are working to get staff permanently assigned to the prep course as an official duty station in fiscal year 2027.
“Just as the Army is focusing on health and holistic fitness and trying to embed those organic medical capabilities into our operational units, we’re really taking the same look and approach as what is the right mix of medical providers and cadre inside future soldier prep course,” Walkawicz said.
The IG also found that trainees who attended the academic portion before ARMS did not receive the required weekly assessments by registered dietitians or consistent metabolic and cardiovascular screenings or medical clearance before going on to basic training, which was required by regulation.
What the Army found is that dual track trainees entered the academic portion first with the idea that “while you’re in the academic track, it’s very likely you’re going to lose the weight you need to lose,” Walkawicz said. “What that allowed though is a gap where we weren’t screening those individuals appropriately because we put them into the academic track first.”
Now, trainees are getting the same screenings as if they were going into the ARMS program first, she said.
The IG found that in internal communications, the TRADOC command surgeon and ATC&F division medical director acknowledged the increased risks to trainees’ health, “including the risk of death,” while trying to lose weight quickly to meet composition standards.
The commanding general disagreed that those communications “acknowledged trainees’ risk of death” and instead said it “described comorbidities and did not describe risk of mortality,” according to the IG.
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