The US Navy will begin enrolling more recruits who score in the lowest percentile of aptitude on military admission tests.
“As we continue to navigate a challenging recruiting environment, changing the AFQT requirement removes a potential barrier to hiring, allowing us to expand the pool of potential recruits and create opportunities for employees who wish to serve,” said Cmdr. David Benham, a spokesman for Commander, Navy Recruiting Command, told Military.com in a report Monday.
The new Navy policy will allow the service to hire 7,500 recruits who fall into “Category IV,” which are applicants with a high school diploma who, according to the military, are in the 10th and 30th percentiles on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT ) score. com
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Crew members of the USS Sioux City, a Freedom-class littoral battleship, gather prior to the ship’s commissioning ceremony. (AP)
Benham noted that the AFQT is rated on a scale with other applicants and is “not the deciding factor” in hiring as long as an applicant has a high school diploma. However, Benham argued that the move will help remove barriers to recruitment as the military’s qualified applicant pool continues to shrink, but he also noted that the move will not be a panacea to the Navy’s recruitment woes.
“There will be people who score 10 points who also don’t qualify for a score and therefore can’t compete,” said Benham. “There will be people who score 30 or 40 or whatever but still don’t qualify for an assessment and therefore can’t participate.”
The change could result in around 20% of this year’s pool of active duty soldiers for the Navy falling into the bottom percentile category, although Benham is confident the move wouldn’t result in worse applicants overall.
Members of the Navy Ceremonial Guard stand for the national anthem. (Kevin Dietsch)
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“Anyone who comes under this policy change will still meet the requirements to serve,” he said.
The change comes as all branches of the military have faced recruitment headwinds in recent years due to a tight job market, pandemic restrictions and a smaller pool of qualified applicants. Other factors could also be contributing to the fighting, with some pointing to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate as a barrier to recruitment.
The problem was most pronounced with the Army, which missed its FY2022 recruitment targets by 15,000 soldiers. While the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps were all able to overtake and narrowly meet their targets, all three had to dig deep into their pool of candidates for the delayed entry program to make up the shortfall, and they fell short of their targets bring back for 2023.
The Army missed its 2022 recruitment targets by 25%. (US Army)
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A Navy spokesman contacted by Fox News for comment on Tuesday confirmed the change, noting that it is a “pilot program that will be reevaluated in October 2023.”
The spokesman also clarified that points qualifying individual recruits for specific jobs in the Navy remain unchanged, which cannot be waived.
“The ASVAB consists of 10 different lineage ratings that are critical in determining what jobs or ratings a prospective Sailor would qualify for the service,” the spokesman said. “The individual Navy rating requirements are based on these landline scores, not the AFQT aggregate score. To qualify for enlistment, the individual must still meet the minimum line score requirement for a particular Navy rating.
“The change means that prospective sailors who have a high enough ASVAB line score to qualify for a Navy rating will not be held back by a low AFQT score relative to what their peers do on the test.” , may vary.”
Michael Lee is a writer at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @UAMichaelLee