WASHINGTON, D.C. – Samuel Ebbeson, a former recruitment supervisor for the U.S. Armed Services, wants the public to believe the country’s childhood obesity problem is threatening national security.

And he thinks government restrictions on school food championed by first lady Michelle Obama could help make it all better.

Ebbeson penned an editorial for Reuters that alleges one in three adults between 17- and 24-years-old are too fat to serve in the military, and obesity among current service members has increased 61 percent since 2002.

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“The military’s health system spends more than $1.5 billion annually treating obesity-related health problems and replacing troops discharged because they unfit,” Ebbeson wrote.

It’s a problem Ebbeson believes starts with fat kids, and he’s calling on Congressional lawmakers to hold firm against a tidal wave of criticism over recent federal restrictions on calories, fat, sodium, whole wheat and other nutritional aspects of school food.

Ebbeson is among hundreds of retired admirals and generals who belong to Mission: Readiness, a group that works to boost the number of folks eligible to join the military. And Mission: Readiness has apparently bought into the line that the government knows better than parents what their children should eat.

“Thanks to bipartisan leadership in Congress and can-do school food-service professionals, school foods are no longer laden with fat, sugar and sodium,” he writes. “Instead, schools serve more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.”

Ebbeson cites a study conducted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity that alleges students are eating more of their entrees, including more fruits and vegetables. The same study alleges students are throwing away less food than before the federal restrictions went into effect, he wrote.

But what Ebbeson carelessly omits is the fact that the Rudd study was based on 12 middle schools in New Haven, Connecticut – hardly a representative sample of the country’s diverse school systems. He also fails to describe the financial implications of the new regulations.

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Schools across the country have experienced a significant decline in lunchroom sales since the restrictions were imposed through the National School Lunch Program in 2012. Many have lost so much money officials concluded they’re better off foregoing federal subsidies for free and reduced-price lunches tied to the restrictions, and dropping out of the National School Lunch Program, to serve students food they’ll actually eat.

A Government Accountability Office report shows total school lunch participation declined by 1.2 million students from school years 2010-11 through 2012-13, with the vast majority leaving after the restrictions went into effect.

Ebbeson also neglected to discuss the more than $1 billion increase in school food waste generated by the federal mandate that all students take a fruit or vegetable, whether they want it or not.

Schools in a total of 48 states reported significant increases in plate waste in 2012-13, according to the GAO report.

The Government Accountability Institute, a nonprofit education organization, estimates that waste tops $1 billion a year, according to Fox 57.

Yet, Ebbeson tries to downplay the serious health and financial impact the federal regulations have imposed on public schools and their students.

“There is, unfortunately, a misguided effort to retreat from these healthy foods. The move is driven by complaints that some students have trouble adjusting to the more wholesome meals and snacks. Some schools, these critics say, are struggling to find healthier ingredients and the necessary equipment and training to prepare the new meals,” he writes.

Instead of encouraging lawmakers to work with schools and nutrition experts to address their very real concerns about the government restrictions, he offers the same solution as Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack – increased government spending to buy schools new kitchen equipment and expensive training for school employees.

But you don’t have to be a general or a federal bureaucrat to understand childhood obesity won’t be solved by the government.

“Childhood obesity isn’t what happens between 7 and 3 (o’clock),” parent Pamela Paulsen told the Chicago Tribune.

And it’s more than a little disingenuous to imply that growing students who munch a piece of pizza at school are putting America in peril.