I talked to an ROTC cadet about recruiting this past week and I mentioned how easy it was to be disqualified. She told me it comes down to the military not wanting to be responsible for your death. E.g., if a soldier with depression enlists, there's a much higher chance of that solider taking their own life. Basically, poor health (mental or physical) means poor metrics.
Like in many things in life, follow the incentives. Recruiters tell people to lie on the medical forms because that boosts the recruiters' metrics. But somebody with a high rank doesn't want unhealthy troops because they'll be grilled if those troops aren't fit for battle, or worse, take their own lives, so they may keep arguing for stringent health screening criteria.
they don't want to be responsible for health care, esp. because it's absurdly expensive in the US. once you're in the military is responsible for your care, and if it's likely your knees are going to snap during training, even if just 10%, they don't want to take the financial risk.
like, you getting killed is easy; pay out SGLI once and send a flag to someone's house. but the cost of broken troopers goes on forever, and it may cost 2 Trillion in total for Iraq and AFG because of veteran's care.
Like in many things in life, follow the incentives. Recruiters tell people to lie on the medical forms because that boosts the recruiters' metrics. But somebody with a high rank doesn't want unhealthy troops because they'll be grilled if those troops aren't fit for battle, or worse, take their own lives, so they may keep arguing for stringent health screening criteria.