Impacts of Marine Corps Body Composition and Military Appearance Program (BCMAP) Standards on Individual Outcomes and Talent Management

Short abstract

Research suggests that the implementation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Body Composition and Military Appearance Program (BCMAP) could drive marines to adopt unhealthy behaviors, primarily those associated with disordered eating, to meet the standards while disproportionately affecting communities of color and women more generally. Researchers examine how the BCMAP and its associated policies affect marines individually and the force writ large.

Abstract

The U.S. Marine Corps’ Body Composition and Military Appearance Program (BCMAP) standards were not developed from populations that reflect the current makeup of the force and the fitness requirements that they are subject to. Research suggests that the implementation of these standards could drive marines to adopt unhealthy behaviors, primarily those associated with disordered eating, to meet the standards while disproportionately affecting communities of color and women more generally.

Furthermore, these unhealthy behaviors can cause significant short- and long-term mental and physical health problems that could negatively affect individual marines during their service and long after. Although there is some limited research on body-composition standards and eating disorders in the services, there has been little assessment of how the negative effects of policy and the behaviors associated with it affect the mental and physical health of individual marines (particularly those from communities of color and women more generally), career retention, and overall military readiness. Service and U.S. Department of Defense leadership have made talent management and diversity of the force at different levels of leadership an institutional priority; understanding how the BCMAP affects the force will help meet these objectives.

This research will help decisionmakers understand how the BCMAP and its associated policies drive individual behavior, particularly for women in general and communities of color. It will also inform talent-management efforts and discussions about relevant national security implications while providing recommendations and a general framework for policy change.

The authors of this study present the findings from an initial scoping analysis of the individual and institutional impacts of the current U.S. Marine Corps’ Body Composition and Military Appearance Program (BCMAP), offer recommendations for immediate actions and additional research, and provide a framework to support policy change.

Issue

Marine Corps body-composition standards and associated policies may be encouraging behaviors that could cause long-term harm to both marines and the force. Research indicates that the BCMAP was developed using outdated data that do not reflect the diverse makeup of the current force or the physical fitness standards that marines must meet (Hogan, 2015). This can affect the Marine Corps’ ability to retain the ready force it seeks to cultivate while placing marines at risk of adopting unhealthy behaviors that could have long-lasting impacts on their health.¹ Our research seeks to understand two fundamental questions:

1. What is the existing policy, and what are its scientific foundations?

2. What are the possible impacts of the policy, either clear or hidden, on the individual marine and the overall Marine Corps organization?

Approach

We approached our research questions with a research review drawing on publicly available reporting about body-composition standards and their associated impacts. We focused our review on four key research subject areas: (1) existing policy and its scientific foundations, (2) the impact of body-composition standards on individual health choices, (3) the impacts of these health choices on the short- and long-term mental and physical health of personnel, and (4) the impacts on the Marine Corps (including retention and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts). We used qualitative data-analysis tools to conduct a thematic analysis of the literature and then group findings by topic area. Using this research, we propose recommendations for immediate actions and future research and outline a framework to provide a variety of policy options for Marine Corps leadership to consider in the future.

Assumptions and Limitations

Initiated by the RAND Corporation, this research project aims to address a timely topic in the military policy domain. This research was exploratory and relied on existing literature. We did not conduct interviews or collect data collection because of funding provisions.

Our review of the evidentiary base identified that the literature related specifically to the Marine Corps’ body-composition policy and its associated impacts was relatively sparse, with limited sources dated after 2015.² However, the evidentiary base related more broadly to body composition in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and literature focused on similar groups (veterans, athletes) were much more comprehensive and current. Drawing on this larger evidentiary base, we present our findings and recommendations.

Despite the sparse evidentiary base of literature pertaining specifically to the Marine Corps, the significant and recent media reporting surrounding the issue—and efforts by the Marine Corps’ Women's Initiative Team (WIT)³ to bring attention to the topic and have this policy examined and discussed at senior leadership levels—indicate that the Marine Corps and other services are affected by this issue.⁴

Key Findings

We found that the Marine Corps’ emphasis on strict adherence to fitness standards and the importance of physical appearance as a quality necessary to lead marines are two issues that amplify each other. This may drive marines to adopt unhealthy behaviors to conform to standards outlined in the BCMAP. The implementation of the policy likely causes unintended consequences that are at odds with its stated purpose.

Furthermore, we observed the following key findings related to BCMAP and its impact on the force:

• Changes to the BCMAP over the decades have been incremental. Although the Marine Corps may have developed a better understanding of the issue, it still needs to examine the policy more holistically to determine how changes could fundamentally affect both individuals and the force.

• Relatedly, physical fitness requirements have increased for all marines, but revisions to the BCMAP have not sufficiently accounted for these changes. Today's fitness standards, particularly for those ground combat military occupational specialties (MOSs) that were recently opened to women, require that marines build muscle mass, which can lead to increased weight. Although the BCMAP has been revised as recently as 2021, to account for these new requirements, revisions do not appear to sufficiently account for these increased fitness requirements.

• Height and weight tables are drawn from unrepresentative populations and may disproportionately affect people of color and women, particularly women of color. This may have impacts on the health and retention of the force.

• To meet standards, marines are adopting unhealthy eating disorder behaviors; diagnosis rates for such disorders may be underreported. Marines are diagnosed with eating disorders at higher rates than other service members, and women marines in particular are diagnosed more than others. The stigma and hidden nature of eating disorders often mean that not everyone who shows symptoms is diagnosed. Risky behaviors can include self-induced vomiting, laxative and diet pill use, sauna and diuretic use, excessive exercise, and fasting. Existing research notes the significantly elevated rates of these behaviors among service members, including the limited research of marine behavior. Additionally, service members have seen associated short- and long-term mental and physical health impacts, including cognitive functioning impairment, reproductive and skeletal problems, depression, and suicide risk.

• This is an understudied problem; more research is needed to understand the full breadth of impacts. Areas identified as lacking significant study include retention (particularly for women and especially women of color), impact on the health choices and retention of pregnant and postpartum women, and impacts on readiness.

Recommendations

We make the following recommendations based on our research:

• The Marine Corps should take a comprehensive, systematic approach to fully understand and address the deficiencies in the BCMAP, develop a more health-focused policy, and mitigate any impacts from the existing BCMAP through research and analysis. This approach should clearly define the objective of the policy; thoroughly investigate possible alternatives for feasibility, risk, and cost; compare alternatives in terms of outcomes; and assess and mitigate any potential negative impacts of the existing BCMAP.

• For the safety of all marines and the health of the force, we recommend pausing all height, weight, and body-composition measurements as additional recommendations are considered.

• Reevaluate whether height, weight, and body-composition measurements are still necessary for marines and whether those measurements are as representative of overall fitness and health as the BCMAP considers them to be, especially for marines from specific demographic groups and in the context of specific MOS requirements.

• Reassess the need to include verbiage in the BCMAP that directly links weight and appearance to the leadership, discipline, and character of marines. Although appearance is an important functional part of Marine Corps culture, the emphasis to “make weight” can result in unhealthy behaviors and lead to shame. We recommend that the Marine Corps clarify and balance out this tension.

• Develop and implement a body-composition program that directly grapples with the contradictory nature of the existing program; create a new program that delineates requirements both for health and performance and that includes requirements designed to reflect and support the diversity of the force.

Finally, we found to be problematic the absence of substantive research about how all groups are potentially affected by the BCMAP, existing standards and measurement methods, and disordered eating behavior. We view our recommendations as first steps, and we recommend additional research into how service members across DoD are affected by DoD and service policies, how veterans are affected by longer-term disordered eating behaviors and associated mental and physical health comorbidities, and how these factors may influence retention and readiness as a whole across DoD.

We recommend the following to extend research efforts on the topic:

• Conduct an analysis to understand who may be on the cusp of failing standards and therefore may be more at risk for harmful behaviors. This analysis should also include a broader survey or analysis of a large marine population, particularly those of myriad demographic groups.

• Broadly collect and analyze data. From the first recommendation—screening and analysis to reach out to the Marine Corps veteran community—a broader analysis of those potentially affected by the BCMAP and how such manifestations could identify individuals who are still at risk of harm today. This data collection and analysis should also include transgender marines, namely to identify how binary gender standards may affect them and what healthy standards could be.

• Assess whether and how Marine Corps culture may have coalesced around the existing BCMAP. Cultures that emphasize appearance and weight can place members at increased risk for unhealthy behavior. A clear education and communication strategy may be needed to ensure that culture changes accompany policy shifts.

• Understand the totality of the issue by including more research into why service members leave the force and if their decisions are influenced by the BCMAP.

• Conduct more research that explores the impact of the body-composition policy on military readiness and the lethality of the force.