How Military Service Fuels Eating Disorders
Written by Mike Urban
The military has perfected the craft of training soldiers to be efficient servicemembers. During the Civil War, soldiers used bottles for target practice, and now they use pop up targets which look life-like. The ratio of rounds shot to enemy killed in the Civil War was astronomical compared to the efficiency of soldiers today. Sure, some of this is related to better weapon technology, but more has been related to effective and realistic training.
Servicemembers learn through repetition and rehearsal. They’re exposed to real-world scenarios over and over until they become second nature.
We learn to function in environments and situations which many people would run from. We learn to take action regardless of emotion.
To be clear I am not saying we are emotionless or in any way robotic. The fact is many of us are very emotional, but we are trained to have an automatic reaction which occurs regardless of emotion. This leaves many of us to prioritize our servicemember responsibilities over our individual emotions. It serves an amazing purpose – to keep us alive in times of war – but what happens when it no longer serves this purpose?
Many of us leave the military and are able to seamlessly reintegrate back into civilian life. But others find this to be the catalyst to new problems. Scores of servicemembers find themselves struggling to deal with their emotions after ignoring them for years.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, a survey of 3,000 women in the military found that over 60% of respondents had an eating disorder, and in the Marine Corps alone, 97.5% met the criteria for an eating disorder.
Both men and women in the military are more susceptible to developing eating disorders. Looking back on my time in service, I realize now that many components of military training and culture inherantly promote disordered eating, negative body image and emotional silencing.
One factor that increases the risk of developing an eating disorder is the focus on meeting specific height and weight requirements. For servicemembers, failure to meet these standards means the possibility of losing their career. If your command believes you might not meet the requirements, you are pulled aside and measured with a tape measure. If you are within a certain range, you are considered “muscular,” and meet the weight requirements. If you fail, you are put on a “diet plan” and given a timeframe to lose weight. This can lead to food restriction and feelings of shame and guilt around food. It can lead to negative feelings towards one’s own body, and the perception of being “lazy and undisciplined,” especially in combat arms units. I know firsthand as I was always taken aside to be taped, and while I always fell into the first category, I felt shame due to being perceived as “overweight”.
Popular perception of what a “warrior” looks like also plays a role. “Warriors” are thought to look lean and muscular.
While we want our country’s warriors to be strong and ready for combat, we cannot forget that we are all also human.
There are many servicemembers who do not fit this stereotype and perform just as well, and in many cases, better than those who fit this image. This unrealistic standard can greatly affect a servicemember's self-esteem during and after service is complete.
In basic training, servicemembers are taught to eat fast as it instills “discipline”. This practice is replicated during the entirety of the enlistment period. Many veterans report difficulty enjoying mealtimes or not being able to eat with family years after leaving the military due to their now habitually fast eating habits. This can lead to negative emotions around food: shame and guilt in one’s inability to eat “normally”. While this practice may serve to save an individual’s life in the military, it can destroy one’s long-term relationship with food.
In combat arms and other elite units, we were taught to do as much as we can with as little as possible. In Ranger school for example, we stayed awake for multiple days, and at times had one meal every other day.
Those who could push themselves to the limit were rewarded and looked up to by other servicemembers.
This serves to increase stress and weed out the “weak” but can continue well after leaving the service. Seeing food as a limiting factor and learning to do more with less often contributes to long-term disordered eating. While I never developed a medically-diagnosed eating disorder, I did later become involved in ultra-sports. I set my sights on running as many consecutive miles with as little food as possible. Later on, I found out that I performed much better when my body was well nourished.
When my mission was over and I reintegrated into civilian life, I struggled with the transition. There is a lack of services for servicemembers, which may be due to the lack of awareness. Four and a half years after my time in active duty, I’m honored to work as the National Veterans and Military Business Development Representative at Banyan Treatment Centers. At Banyan, we are prepared to address the unique needs of our servicemembers. We have built the first eating disorder program which is part of the VA’s care in the community network. If you know a veteran or are a veteran who is struggling with these issues, please visit our website nourishinrecovery.com to learn more about our services.
Mike Urban is an LCSW and veteran who currently works as the National Veterans and Military Business Development Representative at Banyan Treatment Centers. He began his career in the substance use field and eventually began working with individuals who had co-occurring Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and Eating Disorder. During COVID he learned of a shortage of SUD care for veterans and built an SUD program for veterans. He then learned of the lack of resources for veterans with eating disorders and opened the first veterans focused eating disorder program. In addition he operates and sees eating disorder clients at his own private practice. He is certified in accelerated resolution therapy (ART).