Replying to a message of Steve Kemp to Ross Cassell:

 SK> I know of at least two guys I served with that weren't able to re-up 
 SK> simply because they ALMOST had enough years to get retirement beni's.
 SK> Both were 18 year veterans...but the MAN refused to let them do
 SK> another  4 years so as to get their 20.

 SK> The excuse was that one was too fat, even though the Captain of our 
 SK> Division was at least 40 lbs. heavier. The second got no explanation. 

The AF was denying reenlistment to people it deemed overweight thirty years
ago.  One of the SAC Elite Guards was continually being harassed by those
(usually administrative) people for being overweight - the man was a
POWERLIFTER ferchrissake and that weight was muscle.  But the bureaucrooks
decided he was too fat and wouldn't let him alone.

Way way back when I arrived at Clark AB, Philippines, I was ordered to take
the annual physical fitness test (which I'd just done at Goodfellow two months
before, and at Fort Meade six months before that), plus I was only 20 and was
about 25 pounds lighter than I am now; it wasn't much of a problem for me.
Anyhow, the guy (E-6) administering the test had a medical profile that excused
him from everything except getting out of bed in the morning, and he was a real
b*st*rd conducting the test - noting that he would never have to take it again
himself.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+