The US Navy has begun enlisting individuals who have not graduated from high school or earned a GED, marking the second time in about a year that the service has opened its doors to low-performing recruits as it struggles to meet enlistment goals.
The decision follows a move in December 2022 to bring in more recruits who scored very low on the Military Service Qualification Test.
Both are relatively rare moves that are mostly avoided or limited by the other military services, although they are all increasingly difficult to attract the dwindling number of young men who can meet the military’s physical, mental and moral standards.
Under the new plan, Navy recruits without educational qualifications will be able to join as long as they score 50 or above on the qualifying test, out of 99.
The last time the service hired individuals without educational qualifications was in 2000.
The decision follows a move in December 2022 to bring in more recruits who scored very low on the Military Service Qualification Test. US Navy
“We bring thousands of people to our recruiting station every year who want to join the Navy but don’t have the educational qualifications. And we just pushed them away,” said Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman, the Navy’s chief of staff, in an interview Friday with The Associated Press.
He said that of the more than 2,400 who were rejected last year, a total of 500 of them could score high enough to enter.
He said he’s already messaged his recruiters to begin the new, expanded effort, adding, “I hope all my recruiters have contacted all 2,442 of them in the last 72 hours, and we’ll see how that goes … will try to get some test takers this weekend.”
Navy recruits without educational qualifications will be able to join as long as they score 50 or above on the qualifying test, which is out of 99. US Navy
Following the pandemic, the service has faced significant enrollment challenges. COVID-19 forced the military to close recruiting stations and they were shut out of high schools and many public fairs where they have historically found success reaching potential candidates.
But even as things open up, the military is struggling to compete with higher-paying businesses in a tight job market, especially when companies start offering the kinds of benefits — like college funding — that often make the military a popular choice.
The economic problems are only exacerbated by sharp political divisions in the country and the fear of young people being killed or injured in war.
Last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the Navy, Army and Air Force all failed to meet their recruitment goals, while the Marine Corps and the small Space Force met their targets.
The Navy is the only service that enlists anyone who is considered a “category four” recruit, meaning they score 30 or less on a qualifying test. US Navy
The previous fiscal year, the Army fell 15,000 short of its enlistment goal of 60,000, and the other services had to dig into pools of delayed entry candidates to meet their recruitment numbers.
Last year, the Navy’s enlistment goal was 37,700, but the service brought in only 31,834. This year, Cheeseman said, he set the goal even higher — at 40,600. The total size of the Navy for 2024 is set at 337,800.
“I need this navigator. So it’s a stretch goal. We told our recruiters to get 40,600 people to join the Navy,” he said. “We didn’t fully expect to get that much. But we will do it.”
Recruit training during a strength and conditioning module at the US Naval Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill. US Navy
Other services largely reject such changes.
The Navy is the only service that enlists anyone who is considered a “category four” recruit, meaning they score 30 or less on a qualifying test.
The service increased the number of those category four recruits on the grounds that some jobs — such as chefs or cooks — do not require high overall test scores, as long as they meet job standards.
The Army will only take candidates with the lowest scores into what’s called the Future Soldier Prep Course, which gives them weeks of instruction and a chance to improve their scores to make the grade and enlist.
Rear Adm. Ryan M. Perry, the Navy’s chief information officer, delivers remarks during a pass-in-review graduation ceremony at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois, March 24, 2023. US Navy
The Navy allows low-scoring recruits to take the Future Sailor Prep Course but does not require a higher score to enlist.
In addition, the Army and Marine Corps require a high school diploma or GED equivalent, and the Air Force says it will only hire recruits without a diploma if they score a 65 or higher on a qualifying test. That number is very small — only 110 of the nearly 26,900 Air Force recruits brought in last year had either a GED qualification or no educational qualifications at all.
Other services have expressed concern that low-performing recruits may be more likely to flunk out of boot camp or may pose more disciplinary problems over time.
Cheeseman said he believes the biggest risk is that they fail training camp at a higher rate, but he said the difference hasn’t been as pronounced so far for the low-scoring recruits brought in last year. Overall, 11.4% of those recruits did not complete boot camp, compared to less than 6.5% of the top-scoring sailors.
He said Navy leaders have talked about opening enrollment to those without high school qualifications for a while in an effort to expand the pool of potential sailors.
“We finally decided, okay, let’s go,” he said, adding that the service was looking for other ways to reach untapped talent. “Me, the argument for taking that risk is that we have training camp capacity. We’re not filling the seats. So I’m willing to take the risk.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
