American Military News by Justin Cooper December 08, 2022
The U.S. Navy is now enlisting prospective sailors whose entrance test scores are the lowest allowed by military standards as nearly every branch struggles to meet their recruiting goals.
All U.S. military branches struggled with recruiting in the 2022 fiscal year. Now the Navy has changing its guidelines to allow it to enlist up to 7,540 sailors – 20 percent of its 2023 recruiting goal – from so-called “Category IV” recruits, Stars and Stripes reported. Category IV recruits are those that hold high school diplomas who scored between the tenth and thirtieth percentile on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT).
That Category IV score range is the lowest from which the Pentagon allows military branches to enlist new recruits, according to Stars and Stripes.
The Navy hopes lowering that standard will help reach its goal of enlisting 37,700 sailors in the new fiscal year that began in October, Stars and Stripes reported. That’s an increase of 4,300 from the Navy’s previous goal, which it barely met, surpassing it by only 42 sailors.
The AFQT is one part of a broader series of tests called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, which measures various skills to find recruits suitable military jobs. But AFQT scores “determine your eligibility for enlistment” at all, according to a military fact sheet.
More:
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/12/navy-now-accepting-recruits-with-lowest-test-scores-allowed/When I enlisted in 74 the GCT ARI score required was around 27. Many in our company were below that and around 5 of us with some college were in the high 70's. So we held all the day watches so the rest of the company wouldn't miss out of any training. We held all the night watches so the rest of the company could get a good nite sleep. We held reviews every evening on what was covered in training that day, even on classes we missed out on. Our company was tied with our sister company for the bottom in competition. No one was left behind in our company.
