An Air Force recruit who was rejected from the service because he had undergone weight-loss surgery has filed a lawsuit claiming employment discrimination. (Daniel Ter Haar/U.S. Air Force)
WASHINGTON — A 21-year-old New York man who tried to enlist in the Air Force but was rejected because he had undergone weight-loss surgery filed a federal lawsuit claiming employment discrimination by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other defense officials over his medical history.
Attorneys for Jacob Guthrie argue the Air Force’s recruitment policies violate the Fifth Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses with their “blanket disqualification” of individuals who have undergone bariatric weight-loss procedures that reduce the size of a patient’s stomach.
The lawsuit filed July 9 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia states the Defense Department has maintained a “categorical bar” against potential recruits who have had the weight-loss surgeries but otherwise demonstrate physical readiness and “deployability.”
The Defense Department has 60 days to file a formal response to the complaint. A court hearing date has not been scheduled.
Guthrie fully recovered from weight-loss surgery in 2022, passed the Air Force’s initial aptitude tests, and has continued to maintain a healthy weight, according to the lawsuit.
Guthrie, who is 6 feet, 3 inches tall, weighed approximately 340 pounds prior to the weight-loss surgery, according to his attorneys. He weighs about 220 pounds today.
“All I want to do is join and serve honorably,” said Guthrie, a college graduate with a Bachelor of Science. “This has been a long, emotionally distressing experience. This has not only been a great disservice to [me] but to who knows how many other motivated and qualified applicants across the nation who were denied the opportunity to serve in the [Air Force] because of an out-of-date medical policy.”
Guthrie was turned down for military service in 2024 and received three subsequent denials after submitting waiver requests without ever undergoing a physical evaluation by the Air Force to determine fitness, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint asks for the court to invalidate the ban as unconstitutional and for the Air Force to reconsider Guthrie’s enlistment.
In addition to Hegseth, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, commander of air education and training command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph in Texas, are named as defendants in the case.
The military spends approximately $1.24 billion annually to battle obesity within its own ranks, according to the lawsuit.
More than 100,000 service members received involuntary separations between 2018 and 2022 for weight-related reasons. Yet the military services continue to automatically disqualify otherwise fit recruits who have had weight-loss surgery because of “inflexible” and “outdated” standards implemented nearly 20 years ago, according to the lawsuit.
Guthrie, who underwent what is known as a “laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy,” claims he meets Air Force enlistment standards. His complaint argues the Defense Department’s policy for rejecting recruits who have had the surgery is applied inconsistently and “fails to address modern medical science and evidence-based treatment” outcomes.
Unlike the categorical ban on applicants with a history of bariatric surgery, there is no blanket exclusion for weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic or Wegovy, his attorneys said.
“Individuals like Jacob Guthrie are being disqualified from serving in the most advanced military in the world based solely on medical history despite being fully fit, healthy and mission ready,” said Michelle Salermo, one of the attorneys representing Guthrie.
Obesity was the leading cause for denying military enlistment to an estimated 52,000 recruits in 2023, according to the complaint.
But military policy characterizes bariatric weight-loss surgery as a “permanent anatomical change” that results in strict dietary standards that are incompatible with the military, according to the lawsuit.
But the attorneys argue the weight-loss surgeries have advanced as a “low-risk medical intervention” since the military ban was implemented in 2007.
They said the policy ignores the military’s own body of research showing positive outcomes from weight-loss surgeries for service members and veterans that do not interfere with an individual’s readiness or ability to serve.
“If we’re serious about military readiness, then we need to recognize that ‘fit is fit’ and that a proven commitment to health should be a qualification and not a disqualification,” Salermo said.
