Senior Pentagon leaders are placing collectively lists of uniformed US service members who will likely be provided the prospect to attend the UFC battle on the White House subsequent month hosted by President Donald Trump, but tickets will solely be given to those that meet weight necessities which can be a part of army health standards, in accordance to steerage memos reviewed by NCS and sources accustomed to the method.
“Ticket recipients are required to meet the DOW waist-to-height ratio standard of less than 0.55, as well as all service specific physical fitness test requirements,” one of many memos despatched to service members says, utilizing the Pentagon’s most well-liked acronym for the company.
That determine is roughly consistent with standards for service members that the Defense Department put in place earlier this 12 months when it made waist-to-height ratio the brand new physique composition commonplace for measuring a service member’s “warfighting readiness.” It is a part of an intense concentrate on bodily health by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who described his imaginative and prescient for the army in a speech to senior uniformed leaders final 12 months.
There will likely be no “fat troops” or “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” Hegseth said in the October throughout a speech at Marine Base Quantico, Virginia.
The Pentagon declined to touch upon the steerage concerning the UFC occasion.
One protection official stated the choice necessities for Trump’s made-for-TV UFC occasion ship a really clear message to troopers excited about attending: “No fattys.”
Another protection official accustomed to the approval course of stated senior Pentagon leaders have signaled their desire that DoD attendees “look good” on digital camera in the course of the occasion. “Basically, no fat soldiers,” the individual stated.
The steerage additionally directs commanders to solely distribute tickets to “genuine UFC fans” and to concentrate on deciding on junior enlisted and junior officers, in accordance to the memos reviewed by NCS.
And whereas the Pentagon steerage recommends army leaders recruit attendees who stay outdoors the nation’s capital, it notes that service members will likely be required to pay their very own means, although the tickets are free.
The Pentagon has tightly orchestrated the optics of Trump’s appearances with US troops, including at his previous visit to Ft. Bragg the place troopers had been handpicked for the viewers based mostly on political leanings and bodily look. The troops finally chosen to be behind Trump and visual to the cameras had been virtually solely male.