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“Increases the maximum enlistment age up to and including age 42 for non-prior service applicants” (previously maximum age was 35)

“Eliminates requirement of a waiver for a single conviction of possession of marijuana or a single conviction of possession of drug paraphernalia”

They are having problems meeting the fitness standard right now. It seems these tests just get harder as you age.

Finding it hard to compete with the rigorous ICE recruitment standards?

How many young men do you know who have never tried marijuana, don't have a tattoo and don't have facial hair? A few years ago it seemed the Army didn't actually want to recruit young men. They loosened the tattoo requirements in 2022. The facial hair requirement remains, but that's less of an imposition since you can grow it back.

They'll have to start taking harassment seriously if they want to recruit more young women.

I wonder how many of Gulf War II's 17-19-year-olds they'll get to re-enlist.

When I joined the army as an infantryman back in the early 2000s there were kids who couldn’t start basic training because they weren’t capable of doing 6 pushups. 6.

I believe at the time they were allowing 38 year olds to join for the first time which seemed crazy to me. Now that I’m in my early 40s I can’t imagine going back in

Surprised comments are so negative. I think it's a great thing to expand - the military can be an excellent career path, and this allows more people to take it should they choose.

I know many 40 somethings in way better shape than most 20 somethings. And all things considered, if I were someday somehow sent off to war, I'd much rather be surrounded by the former assuming equivalent fitness.

Effective April 20? Sometimes these days it’s hard to distinguish reality from The Onion.

> Effective 20 April 2026

Oh, come on.

And Americans were laughing when Russia was doing something similar. Pot calling the kettle black.

Seems like they're having trouble recruiting people to serve as America launches headlong into GWOT 2.0 with no plan. It makes sense that people aren't signing up: it's a very unpopular war that was started by assassinating leaders during peace talks and bombing an elementary school, and it's not one they're winning.

And it's also a war with no clear benefit to Americans, which Marco Rubio admitted they were dragged into by Israel.

We are slowly grinding towards another world war the reason similar to world war 2. Ie an ethno state expanding it's territory while considering it's population as some kind of master race so commiting a genocide against the rest. Ironic the victims have become the perpetuators.

I'd rather the old go to war before the young, even if they are worse at it.

Sadly Pete Hegseth is 45.

What will US public do if US in Iran ends up like Russia in Ukraine, recruiting 30K soldiers every month to die in middle east?

Maybe at this time they are having trouble recruiting but just like Russia US has large prison population that may like the offer thar Russian prisoners got: 6 months on the frontlines, if you survive you are free and well paid.

Just today Iran backed militants released a video of drones takings out US helicopters and radars, very similar to what we are used to seeing in Ukraine.

Is US public really ready to support such a thing and endure hardship like the Russians for ideological causes?

It’s fascinating, maybe Trump is right- maybe his supporters are literally tired of winning and want attrition?

The military has spent decades working on a general aptitude test, called the ASVAB [1]. It's a score up to 99, which is usually what people focus on, but there are also line scores for things like electrical and mechanical. When you join, there'll be a score range you'll need to be in and possibly certain subtest scores.

Generally speaking, you've needed a minimum ASVAB of 31 to join the military. Recruiting stations will have quotas of only accepting so many below 50 so if you're below 50 you may have a more restrictive choice of job, even though you qualify, because you're an undesirable candidate. You take up a valuable sub-50 slot. Oh and below 50 and the Air Force won't even sneeze on you. They don't have to take you. They have more than enough applicants.

This can go the other way too. You can score too high for certain jobs such that they won't want to sign you up because you'll get bored. This is way less common obviously.

Every area of the country is covered by a recruiting station ("RS") for each branch and is staffed by recruiters who usually aren't volunteers (eg most marines on a re-enlistment after an initial 4 years will have to do a Special Duty Assignment--SDA--and will end up as a recruiter or a drill instructor). Each recruiter will generally have a quota to fill of 2 contracts per month.

In some areas (eg Texas) this is no problem at all. Recruiters can be picky. In others, it's way more of a challenge. Anyway, a few years ago the enlistment numbers for the Navy must've gotten so bad that for awhile they were accepting an ASVAB of 10 [1]. 10 is bordering on illiterate.

I say this because raising the maximum enlistment age to 42 is almost as desperate as lowering the ASVAB minimum to 10. I cannot imagine a 42 year old E-! in basic getting yelled at by a 23 year old DI. You won't be doing 20 for the pension. I guess you'll get the GI Bill after 3-4 years. That's something I guess? Most other 42 year olds you'll meet will be near or beyond their 20 years.

[1]: https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-recruiting-afqt-asvab-s...

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Services_Vocational_Apti...

I went into the armed forces recruiting office a year or two ago for Air Force Cyber and the adjacent Army and Navy recruiters were complaining that no one wanted to join while everyone was asking for Air Force when the Air Force recruiter was out for most of the year because he had met his quotas. Somehow I ended up in the Navy office and suffice to say I left the office with a big no to the Navy man no matter how much he tried to persuade me with promises of seeing the world. I have the internet for that thank you.

All my vet friends said to reconsider and I wisely followed their advice.

Maybe one of the lessons the American government learned from the war in Ukraine is that middle aged men can fight wars too.

Up from 35 years. Average age is currently 22, though. Air Force and Space force went to 42 years back in 2023. The Navy went to 42 years in early 2026.

Maximum age for the Marines remains 28 years.

With high youth unemployment [1], it ought to be easier to recruit.

The land war is getting closer. The Army's 82nd Airborne has been sent towards Iran. Possibly to take Kharg Island, one of the very few objectives for which an airdrop might possibly make sense.[1] Possibly. 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force is already on the way.

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SLUEM1524ZSUSA

[2] https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-trump-03-24-2026

As a 37 year old who has been growing more patriotic and willing to serve with age, I'm excited about having the option.