Are school lunches a national security threat?

[April 20, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- A group of retired military officers says high-calorie school lunches are threatening national security.

A study by the group Mission: Readiness finds that school lunches are making American kids so fat that fewer of them can meet the military's physical fitness standards. That, in turn, is putting recruitment in jeopardy.

A report from the group, being released Tuesday, says that 27 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 are too overweight to join the military.

One of the officers, retired Navy Rear Admiral James Barnett Jr., says many young Americans are simply too fat to fight.

The officers are pushing for passage of a wide-ranging nutrition bill that aims to make the nation's school lunches healthier.

[Associated Press; By MARY CLARE JALONICK]

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