After the Navy ended its 2023 fiscal year 6,000 recruits short, its chief of personnel announced in January that recruits who don’t have a high school diploma or a GED can now enlist. Those candidates must score a 50 or higher on the ASVAB, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, which is a key step for military service.
That allowance makes the Navy the only military branch to put someone in a uniform who hasn’t obtained a high school diploma or a GED, according to a Military Times story about the navy’s new recruitment standards.
The U.S. Army announced that same lowered standard in 2022 but almost immediately reversed the policy after it became public, the story said.
Since the Navy's minimum score is currently 31 on the ASVAB, the 50-or-higher score appears to be a trade-off over dropping educational requirements.
Kirk Lippold, a retired ship commander, tells AFN he was disappointed in the new policy because the navy had prided itself on being the most “technically advanced” military branch, which requires bright, above-average sailors.
“The difference between the Navy and all the other services,” Lippold says, “is that when you are deployed on a ship, you cannot just know your job. You have to know your job and at least one to two levels above your job."
The new educational standards come after the U.S. Navy, in 2022, announced new guidelines that loosened entrance test score requirements. That story, also published in The Military Times, came after the navy barely hit its recruiting goal in 2021 by 42 sailors.
Last year, the navy turned away 2,400 potential recruits who lacked the necessary education. About 500 of those scored high enough on the ASVAB to join.
Many Americans don’t realize the dangers the U.S. if facing around the world right now, Lippold says, which should mean higher standards for young people who might be asked to fight a war.
“Lowering these standards result in lower morale [and] more disciplinary problems,” Lippold warns. “So, consequently, you end up adversely impacting the combat effectiveness of ships and at the end your retention actually goes down.”
