The U.S. Navy has lowered its enlistment standards once again, this time removing the high school diploma or GED requirement.
This is the second time in recent memory that the Navy has lowered requirements as it continues to fail to meet recruiting goals.
Military.com reports:
The decision follows a move in December 2022 to bring in more recruits who score very low on the Armed Services Qualification Test. Both are rare enough steps that the other military services largely avoid or limit, even as they all find it increasingly difficult to attract the dwindling numbers of young people who can meet the military’s physical, mental and moral standards.
Under the new plan, Navy recruits without education credentials will be able to enroll as long as they score 50 or better on the qualifying test, which is out of 99. The last time the service accepted people without education credentials was in 2000.
“Every year we bring thousands of people to our recruiting stations who want to join the Navy but don’t have educational credentials. And we just push them back,” Vice Admiral Rick Cheeseman, the Navy’s chief of staff, told The Associated Press on Friday.
Cheeseman said last year more than 2,400 affected individuals were turned away for not meeting educational standards.
“I hope all my recruiters have called all 2,442 in the last 72 hours, and we’ll see how it goes… We’ll try to recruit some test takers this weekend,” Cheeseman said.
The Navy, Army and Air Force failed to meet their recruiting goals in the last fiscal year.
The Military.com report explains: “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 higher: 40,600. The total size of the Navy for 2024 is set at 337,800.”
“I need these sailors. So it’s an ambitious goal. We’re telling our recruiters to get 40,600 people to join the Navy,” Cheeseman said. “We don’t expect to get that many. But we’ll get there.”