U.S. Army Takes DRASTIC Measures To Gain More Troops Amid Troop Shortage
(TargetLiberty.org) – The US Army has dropped the requirement for new recruits to have a high school diploma or equivalent. The move has been triggered by a recruiting crisis that’s cutting into the Army’s numbers. Now, standards are also falling.
Army Drops Requirement for High School Diploma Amid Recruiting Crisis https://t.co/VWw1tvuyif
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) June 26, 2022
On June 23, the Army announced anyone who starts basic training before the end of the fiscal year on October 1 won’t need to have a high school diploma or GED qualification. Recruits without those qualifications need to be 18 or older and get a score of at least 50 on the ASVAB test, which tests intellectual ability. Normally, it’s possible to enlist at 17 with parental consent, and there are Army jobs open to people who get ASVAB scores as low as 31.
The reason for dropping the high school requirement is simple — poor recruitment. So far this year, the Army has attracted just 40% of the recruits it needs to maintain its strength. In March, the Army reduced its authorized strength from 485,000 to 475,000, opting to let units fall below for the time being and hoping to rebuild them later. At the time, Under Secretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo said the branch preferred to let numbers fall rather than lower standards; now it’s doing both.
Military recruiting is struggling in the face of a competitive civilian job market, but the Biden administration isn’t helping either. With the Army already under strength, thousands of troops were threatened with separation for resisting vaccine mandates. It’s hardly a surprise the Army doesn’t look like the best career option right now.
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