The U.S. Navy is expanding its recruiting efforts by allowing the service to enlist thousands of sailors with entrance test scores that fall into the lowest aptitude percentile allowed by military standards, according to a notice from Navy Recruiting Command reviewed by Military.com.
Under the program, the service can recruit and contract up to 7,500 prospective sailors this year who fall under what the military calls "Category IV" recruits, or high school diploma-holding applicants who score within the 10th and 30th percentile on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, or AFQT. Up to 20% of this year's active-duty enlisted pool could fall into the lowest allowable aptitude percentile, Military.com reported.
Last year, the U.S. Navy met its active-duty enlistment goal by just 42 sailors. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army missed its recruiting goal by 15,000 soldiers.
"As we continue to navigate a challenging recruiting environment, changing the AFQT requirement removes a potential barrier to enlistment, allowing us to widen the pool of potential recruits and creating opportunities for personnel who wish to serve," Cmdr. David Benham, spokesperson for Commander, Navy Recruiting Command, told Military.com.
The AFQT is graded on a scale against other applicants and is a barrier the U.S. Navy wanted to remove to expand the applicant pool. It is "not the determining factor" for eligibility as long as the applicant has a high school degree and does not score below the 10th percentile on the test, Benham said to Military.com.
The AFQT is part of the more commonly known Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). While the AFQT determines whether someone is eligible for military service at all, the ASVAB determines the applicant's job prospects.
"To qualify for enlistment, the individual must still meet the minimum line score requirement for a given Navy rating. These ASVAB line score requirements are unchanged by this policy, and they are not waiverable."
Last year, the Congressional Research Service reported that since 1993 the Defense Department's quality benchmarks for recruits have stipulated that at least 90% of enlistees without prior service must be high school graduates, and at least 60% must score above average on the AFQT.
It added that Pentagon regulations require that "no more than 4%" of the annual recruit cohort be in the Category IV bracket. Those who score less than the 10th percentile — Category V —are not allowed in the military at all.
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