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Karl Schembri
The Armed Forces of Malta and the police would not reveal the figures of overweight soldiers currently serving in the army the police corps when asked by MaltaToday.
While the police corps declined to answer questions about the physical state of its members, a spokesman for Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela, who is in charge of the army, said the AFM did not keep records of overweight soldiers.
The spokesman said candidate soldiers are checked for their body weight in relation to their height before their enlistment in a formula called Body Mass Index.
“This formula gives the desirable weight-to-height ratio, thus identifying the underweight, overweight and obese individuals,” the spokesman said. “Unless clinical assessment reveals any abnormality, only those who are found to be obese are not enlisted. On enlistment, all recruits and officer-cadets undergo rigorous physical training.”
After their recruitment, however, soldiers are left to their own to control their fitness.
“Although there is no set policy for serving overweight individuals, all soldiers are encouraged and are provided with the facilities to exercise and to maintain an adequate standard of physical fitness,” the spokesman said. “As a policy, AFM members under the age of 55 years are required to sit for the Army Physical Fitness Test twice a year. Not attending or failing such a test will obviously be reflected in an individual's assessment report. Unless their body weight interferes with the satisfactory performance of their duties, overweight soldiers are not normally exempted any military duties.”
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