March 25, 2019Updated January 16, 2020
Defense Primer: Active Duty Enlisted Recruiting
Congressional Role
The Constitution provides Congress with broad powers
over the Armed Forces, including the power “To raise and
support Armies” and “To provide and maintain a Navy.” In
the exercise of this authority, Congress has historically
shown great interest in military recruiting, which is critical
to maintaining a fully manned and capable military
workforce. Congress exercises a powerful influence on
recruiting through its establishment of personnel endstrength levels for the Active Components and Reserve
Components. Higher end-strengths generally require a
greater number of new recruits, higher rates of retention
among current servicemembers, or some combination of the
two. Through its oversight powers, Congress monitors the
performance of the executive branch in managing the size
and quality of the military workforce.
Congress influences the achievement of recruiting goals by
the services in a number of ways:
authorizing military compensation packages that are
competitive with civilian employers (e.g., basic pay,
recruiting bonuses, educational and health care
benefits);
establishing criteria that affect eligibility for enlistment
such as age, cognitive, behavioral, and citizenship
standards; and
funding recruiting programs that provide for dedicated
recruiters, market research, advertising, and military
entrance processing stations.
The policy levers most commonly used to manage
recruiting include varying the number of recruiters, funding
for advertising, and funding for enlistment incentives.
When recruiting shortfalls occur, or are anticipated,
Congress may elect to apply additional resources to these
mechanisms. Likewise, when recruiting is expected to be
strong, Congress may elect to shift resources away from
these areas.
Recruiting
Without a robust ability to bring new personnel into the
military, the Services would lack sufficient manpower to
carry out mission essential tasks in the near term.
Moreover, without stable recruiting levels they would lack
a sufficient pool of entry-level personnel to develop into the
mid-level and upper-level leaders of the future. To maintain
a healthy military force structure, each Service sets goals
for new personnel accessions each fiscal year for both its
Active and Reserve Components. Officer and enlisted goals
are set separately. For enlisted personnel, there are both
quantity and quality goals.
establishing criteria that affect eligibility for enlistment
Quantity Goals
Quantity goals are based on each Service’s projected need
for new personnel over the course of the year to meet its
congressionally authorized end-strength. This quantity goal
is normally based primarily on the difference between the
congressionally authorized end-strength of a specific
Service and Component for a given fiscal year and the
projected number of currently serving personnel it will
retain through the end of the year. For example, if a given
Service has an authorized Active Component end-strength
of 200,000 enlisted personnel, and it projects that it will
retain 175,000 of its current enlisted members through the
year, it will set a goal of enlisting 25,000 new individuals
for that year. The goal will also include a certain number
more to account for those new enlistees who do not
complete their first year of service. The actual number of
new enlistees needed may also change during the year as
new projections are made about the retention of currently
serving enlisted personnel, or if the Service must increase
or decrease the total size of its force (for example, if a
Service Secretary were to exercise the authority of 10
U.S.C. 115(g)(1)(A) to increase congressionally authorized
active duty end-strength for that Service by up to 2%).
Table 1 lists recruit quantity goals and results for FY2016FY2018.
Quality Goals
Quality goals are only for new enlistees without any
previous military service, also known as non-prior service
(NPS) recruits.
such as age, cognitive, behavioral, and citizenship
standards; and
Table 1 lists recruit quantity goals and results for FY2017FY2019.
funding recruiting programs that provide for dedicated
Quality Goals
Quality goals are only for new enlistees without any
previous military service, also known as non-prior service
(NPS) recruits.
recruiters, market research, advertising, and military
entrance processing stations.
The policy levers most commonly used to manage
recruiting include varying the number of recruiters, funding
for advertising, and funding for enlistment incentives.
When recruiting shortfalls occur, or are anticipated,
Congress may elect to apply additional resources to these
mechanisms. Likewise, when recruiting is expected to be
strong, Congress may elect to shift resources away from
these areas.
Recruiting
Without a robust ability to bring new personnel into the
military, the Services would lack sufficient manpower to
carry out mission essential tasks in the near term.
Moreover, without stable recruiting levels they would lack
a sufficient pool of entry-level personnel to develop into the
mid-level and upper-level leaders of the future. To maintain
a healthy military force structure, each Service sets goals
for new personnel accessions each fiscal year for both its
Active and Reserve Components. Officer and enlisted goals
are set separately. For enlisted personnel, there are both
quantity and quality goals.
Two principal Department of Defense (DOD) quality
benchmarks apply to NPS recruits. The first quality
benchmark is the percentage of NPS enlistees who are high
school diploma graduates (HSDG). The second quality
benchmark is the percentage of scores above average on the
Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT Categories IIIIA). Since FY1993, the DOD’s quality benchmarks for
recruit quality have stipulated that at least 90% of NPS
enlistees must be high school diploma graduates, and at
least 60% must score above average on the AFQT .
Supplementary ways to assess the quality of enlistment
cohorts include the percentage of NPS enlistees who score
well-below average on the AFQT (Category IV) and the
number and types of enlistment waivers granted to enlistees
for medical reasons, misconduct, or drug use. DOD
regulations require that no more than 4% of an annual
enlistment cohort may be Category IV (10th-30th percentile
on the AFQT). In addition, no one in Category V (1st-9th
percentile on the AFQT) may be admitted into the U.S.
armed forces. In the case of waivers, there is no official
benchmark.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Defense Primer: Active Duty Enlisted Recruiting
Table 2 and Table 3 list recruit quality benchmarks and
results for FY2016-FY2018FY2017-FY2019.
Table 1. Non-Prior Service Accessions Data (Quantity)
Active Component Enlisted Personnel, FY2016-FY2018
FY2016FY2017-FY2019
FY2017
Service
Goal
FY2017FY2018
Achieved
Percent
of Goal
Goal
Achieved
FY2018FY2019
Percent
of Goal
Goal
Achieved
Percent
of Goal
Army
62,500
62,682
100.3%
68,500
68,862
100.5%
76,500
69,972
91.47%
Navy
30,606
30,606
100.0%5%
68,000
68,185
100.3%
Navy
35,200
35,225
100.1%
39,000
39,018
100.05%
Marine
Corps
30,500
30,508
100.0%
0%
39,000
39,027
100.1%
Marine
Corps
31,994
32,059
100.2%
31,556
31,566
100.00%
Air Force0%
31,461767
31,757777
100.9%
0%
Air Force
31,250
31,296
100.1%
29,450
30,343
103.030%
32,300
32,421
100.4%
Source: Department of Defense.
Table 2. Non-Prior Service Accessions Data (Quality – High School Diploma Graduates)
Active Component Enlisted Personnel, FY2016-FY2018FY2017-FY2019
Service
DOD Benchmark
Achieved FY2016FY2017
Achieved FY2017FY2018
Achieved FY2018FY2019
Army
90%
96.195.8%
95.8%
95.00%
93.7%
Navy
90%
99.2%
98.7%
97.898.7%
97.8%
97.7%
Marine Corps
90%
99.98%
99.8%
99.85%
Air Force
90%
99.7%
996%
98.6%
98.65%
Source: Department of Defense.
Table 3. Non-Prior Service Accessions Data (Quality – Above Average AFQT Score)
Active Component Enlisted Personnel, FY2016-FY2018FY2017-FY2019
Service
DOD Benchmark
Achieved FY2016FY2017
Achieved FY2017FY2018
Achieved FY2018FY2019
Army
60%
60.3%
60.5%
63.95%
63.9%
60.6%
Navy
60%
85.5%
83.4%
75.3%
71.6%
Marine Corps
60%
71.3%
71.66%
69.9%
69.94%
Air Force
60%
84.982.1%
82.1%
828%
81.8%
Source: Department of Defense.
Relevant Statutes
Title 10 U.S. Code, Chapter 31
10 U.S.C. §115
Other Resources
DOD Instruction 1304.26, Qualification Standards for
Enlistment, Appointment, and Induction
DOD Instruction 6130.03, Medical Standards for
Appointment, Enlistment or Induction in the Military Services
Defense Manpower Data Center, DOD Personnel,
Workforce Reports, and Publications.
Lawrence Kapp, Specialist in Military Manpower Policy
IF11147
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Defense Primer: Active Duty Enlisted Recruiting
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11147 · VERSION 1 · NEW3 · UPDATED