With Recruitment Struggling, U.S. Army Expands Pre-basic-training Weight Loss Program

According to the United States Army, they are expanding their pre-basic-training program to keep recruits aboard who don’t meet the requirements for aptitude or body fat testing. This is due to a recruitment crisis. Fox News.

In the summer 2022, a pilot program allowed applicants with over 6% body weight or an aptitude score of between 21 and 30 to apply for the program in Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

The army uses Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test is a placement exam which helps to determine the career paths that an applicant qualifies for within these services.

Participants have 90 days to lower their body fat percentage and increase their aptitude scores to allow them to be approved for basic training. Most applicants have successfully completed the program with 2,965 (92%) of the 3,206 (92%) advancing.

Four additional companies are being added to the army’s program. Fort Jackson, South Carolina will have two additional recruits and Fort Benning, Georgia will have two. There will also be six more recruits at Fort Jackson.

“The initial results of the Future Soldier Preparatory Course have been very encouraging and demonstrate the Army’s unparalleled ability to unlock a person’s true potential,” General Gary Brito Army.Mil.

“These programs are providing recruits an opportunity to serve and are preparing them not just for the rigors of basic training, but for a life through Army service,” the general added.

Recruitment was down 23% at the end of second quarter of 2022, marking the worst recruiting year in Army history since the force became completely voluntary in 1973.

The effort fell 15,000 soldiers short of its target number in 2022, according to Fox News: “We will not achieve 75% of our 2022 fiscal year recruiting goal in the Army’s most difficult year of recruiting since the creation of the all-volunteer army force.” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told the outlet.

The Army is also allowing those who score between 31 and 49 on the ASVAB test to join the academic portion of the future soldier course, stating that 87% increased at least one test category after a single test.

The U.S. military also offers a Future Soldier ProgramThis allows students who have less than one year left in highschool to quit their school and join the military in a training program. They can also finish high school. The culmination requires that all attendees attend basic training.