A Pentagon watchdog found that the Army and Navy failed to accurately calculate the number of recruits who scored low on military aptitude tests, a practice that risked circumventing legal limits and rules meant to govern enlistment quality.
The Army and Navy counted scores earned after enlistees attended their respective preparatory programs, the Future Soldier Preparatory Course and Future Sailor Preparatory Course, instead of the marks recruits received when they first signed up, a Dec. 11 report by the Department of Defense Inspector General said.
The report specifically discusses Category IV enlistments, which are recruits scoring in the 10th to 30th percentile on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, a battery of metrics used by the services to assess eligibility and recruit quality. Congress capped the number of enlistees who can join the service with scores in that range at 4% of the total incoming population.
Using original test scores, the Navy’s Category IV enlistments would have totaled 11.3% of fiscal year 2025 accessions as of March 31, compared to 7.2% under the recalculated rate. The report said the Army also exceeded 10%, although it did not specify the exact figure.
The branches can exceed that limit with approval from the secretary of defense, who must notify the House and Senate armed services committees within 30 days. Category IV enlistments exceeding 10% trigger additional statutory requirements, including formal notification to Congress and the use of mandatory preparatory programs.
Preparatory courses for both services were created in recent years to help recruits who are close to meeting enlistment standards become eligible for service. They can improve academic test scores and physical fitness.
Recently, the Army announced that it will scale back its eligibility criteria for the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, with enlistees now being able to participate in the course to better their test results or fitness but not both.
The report did not fault the programs themselves, but took issue with how graduates were counted for legal reporting.
The report recommended that the services should count scores at enlistment, not post-preparatory programs. The Pentagon pushed back, saying updated test scores are valid and lawful.
The inspector general said the Pentagon’s response did not resolve the issue and it would continue tracking the recommendation until it was addressed.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
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