The Texan troops were ridiculed online, with critics nicknaming them “meal team six” and “the green buffets”.
Hegseth tired of seeing ‘fat troops’
Social media users questioned how their physique fitted with the new military fitness regime imposed by Hegseth, which requires all military staff to meet strict height and fitness requirements, and to be weighed twice a year.
In a highly unusual move last month, Hegseth gathered 800 of the US military’s highest-ranking officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia to say he was tired of seeing “fat troops”.
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” Hegseth said. “It’s a bad look.”
Last week, Trump requested Texas Governor Greg Abbott send 200 National Guard troops to Chicago in order to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from protesters, as the Administration has ramped up its deportation drive.
The Texas military department said the speed of the deployment, which took place in less than 24 hours, meant that some troops who did not meet new military standards slipped through the net.
“The speed of the response necessitated a concurrent validation process, during which we identified a small group of service members who were not in compliance and have been replaced,” a spokesman told Task and Purpose.
The statement, which came in response to a question about whether guardsmen were being weighed, did not state how many members were being replaced.
It followed a statement from the National Guard Bureau on October 9 saying that its troops are “required to meet service-specific height, weight, and physical fitness standards at all times”.
“When mobilising for active duty, members go through a validation process to ensure they meet those requirements. On the rare occasions when members are found not in compliance, they will not go on mission,” the statement read.
“They will be returned to their home station, and replacements who do meet standards will take their places.”
The Texas troops, who joined 300 federalised members of the Illinois National Guard, are currently blocked from going out on patrol for two weeks following an order from a federal judge last Friday.
The legal back and forth mirrors a similar ruling in Portland, Oregon, where National Guard troops were deployed by the Trump Administration to defuse protests outside of an Ice facility.
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