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COSTELLO: We talk about America's obesity problem constantly, but not in these terms. Forget about rampant diabetes, heart attacks and joint problems. The scariest consequence arising out of our battle of the bulge is the safety of our country. In just five years, so many young Americans will be grossly overweight the military will be unable to recruit enough qualified soldiers. Yes, obesity is becoming a national security crisis. Don't take it from me, take it from Major General Allen Batschelet, who is in charge of U.S. Army Recruiting Command.</s>MAJOR GENERAL ALLEN BATSCHELET, USARC, COMMANDING GENERAL: Actually just under three in 10 young people 17 to 24 can join the Army today, and the other armed services for that matter.</s>ON SCREEN TEXT: Seventy percent of applicants are ineligible. Obesity. National security crisis?</s>BATSCHELET: The single biggest disqualifier is obesity. There --</s>COSTELLO: Wait, we're talking about young people?</s>BATSCHELET: Right, youth obesity. That's right.</s>COSTELLO: So this is men and women, young men and women.</s>BATSCHELET: That's right.</s>COSTELLO: Most of whom are too fat to join the service?</s>BATSCHELET: Well, that's -- 10 percent of them are obese and, you know, unfit to the point that they can't join the service.</s>ON SCREEN TEXT: Ten percent of applicants are too overweight to join.</s>COSTELLO: I mean I realize we have an obesity problem in this country --</s>BATSCHELET: Right.</s>COSTELLO: But that shocks me.</s>BATSCHELET: Yes, it's really -- it's really very worrisome. I, you know, I don't know that it's fair to call it a crisis just yet, but I think it's quickly approaching one.</s>ON SCREEN TEXT: Thirty-five percent of Americans age 20 plus are obese.</s>BATSCHELET: It really becomes a national security issue. You know this is a --</s>COSTELLO: Obesity becomes a national --</s>BATSCHELET: Obesity.</s>COSTELLO: A national security issue?</s>BATSCHELET: In my view it does, yes. It's not a military problem. It is a societal issue. And that -- that's not the only disqualifier, of course. But, in my mind, the obesity one is one of the more troubling because the trends are in the wrong direction. Ten percent disqualified today. We think by 2020 it could be as high as 50 percent, which would mean only two in 10 could qualify to join the Army.</s>COSTELLO: So what do you tell a young person who comes in who -- and is too heavy to qualify? What do you tell them?</s>BATSCHELET: Yes, so we -- recruiters are life coaches and we encourage our recruiters to be that. And so they engage with young people. They want to see them be successful, whether they join the Army or not. And so --</s>COSTELLO: But your recruiters act sort of like "The Biggest Loser" on television?</s>BATSCHELET: They can. They can. So we have programs. It's called The Future Soldier Program. And if you decide you want to join the Army, and we'll begin the enlistment process. We'll get you contracted. And then you can start coming to a recruiting center. We'll have physical workouts, you know, three, four times a week and work with you so that you will be able to meet those standards when you go off to basic training. But there are limits to that.</s>COSTELLO: So -- so give me an example of someone who is -- is just too obese to go into the military and go through the basic training and come out a trim, fighting machine.</s>BATSCHELET: Right. So we had recently had some really neat experiences in -- I think it was Kansas City. A young person really wanted to join the Army. A young lady, as a matter of fact. She lost over 80 pounds working with her recruiter because her goal was to join the Army. It took her a year and she did it, though. And today she is a soldier in the United States Army. Now, a lot of it is determination. You know, if you are really determined that you can overcome that disqualification, that matters a lot to us. I mean you -- we can only help so far. You have to be a willing partner, you know, in that equation, right? So if you're -- if you're a young person who's not committed to overcoming those -- whatever that obstacle might be, you're going to have a tough time joining us.</s>COSTELLO: Want some hard numbers? Last year, of the 195,000 young men and women who signed up to fight for our country, only 72,000 qualified. That's depressing and it's sad because we still struggle with why Americans are so overweight. I have come to the conclusion that we just don't care because obesity has become normal in this country. If you want to explore that part of the story, read by op-ed, "Too Fat to Fight." You can find it at cnn.com/opinion or on my FaceBook page, facebook.com/carolcnn.