The U.S. Navy is expanding its recruiting efforts by allowing the service to enlist thousands of sailors with entrance test scores that fall into the lowest aptitude percentile allowed by military standards, according to a notice from Navy Recruiting Command reviewed by Military.com.
Under the program, the service can recruit and contract up to 7,500 prospective sailors this year who fall under what the military calls “Category IV” recruits, or high school diploma-holding applicants who score within the 10th and 30th percentile on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, or AFQT. Up to 20% of this year’s active-duty enlisted pool could fall into the lowest allowable aptitude percentile, Military.com reported.
Last year, the U.S. Navy met its active-duty enlistment goal by just 42 sailors. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army missed its recruiting goal by 15,000 soldiers.
Part of the problem is the mandate for a vaccine. The military are officially for it and blame conservatives for baselessly maligning it, it’s estimated that recruitment is down considerably because of the requirement. Now that Congress, spearheaded by Rep. Tom Massie, has managed to overturn the requirement, hopefully numbers might creep up. It’s also hoped that serving military who were separated for refusing to take the vaccine will be reinstated.
The military COVID vaccine mandate will end!
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 7, 2022
Page 407 & 408 of NDAA text just released.
Next steps: end all COVID vax mandates (healthcare workers and foreign visitors), and reinstate all members of military wrongfully terminated due to vax.https://t.co/hRVftUh6yl pic.twitter.com/o8noBxngGe
