The Czech army has shrunk to just a quarter of its size since Prague shrugged off the yoke of Communism two decades ago, but a new report has prompted it to pursue a different type of downsizing.

Military doctors raised the alarm when they discovered that half of the army’s 22,000 personnel are overweight, and 3,500 are obese, daily Lidove Noviny reported Wednesday.

The army has decided on a quick counterattack: Soldiers will go on a diet and the army may even deploy fat-fighting pills.

The Defense Ministry confirmed the obesity figures but said pills were only a last-resort weapon, following diet and exercise.

The Czechs are member of the NATO alliance and have around 700 troops in Afghanistan.

(Reporting by Robert Mueller, writing by Jan Lopatka, editing by Paul Casciato)

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PRAGUE (Reuters)