{"id":11573,"date":"2016-11-01T20:28:58","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T20:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2016\/11\/01\/the-military-may-relax-recruiting-standards-for-fitness-and-pot-use\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:26:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:26:49","slug":"the-military-may-relax-recruiting-standards-for-fitness-and-pot-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/education-transition\/2016\/11\/01\/the-military-may-relax-recruiting-standards-for-fitness-and-pot-use\/","title":{"rendered":"The military may relax recruiting standards for fitness and pot use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Defense Secretary Ash Carter has launched a sweeping review of the military’s recruiting standards, saying current rules for screening new entrants may be “overly restrictive” and preventing America’s most talented young people from joining the ranks. Among the benchmarks that will get new scrutiny: fitness standards, marijuana use, tattoo regulations and the military’s longtime reluctance to allow single parents to start military careers. Carter’s announcement Tuesday marked the latest round of his “Force of the Future” personnel reforms, which are driven by his concerns that the military today is ill-equipped to recruit and retain the top talent needed for future missions. “We’re going to review and update these standards as appropriate,” Carter said in a speech to reserve officer training corps cadets at the City College of New York. “Now, some of these things we’ll never be able to compromise on. And we will always have to maintain high standards. But at the same time, these benchmarks must be kept relevant for both today’s force and tomorrow’s, meaning we have to ensure they’re not unnecessarily restrictive.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Carter also announced a $140 million advertising campaign to improve the military\u2019s brand among young people throughout all regions of the country, and an effort to improve the ROTC program that trains about 40 percent of incoming military officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This review was informed by several active-duty military recruiters, Carter said, noting that many are worried today\u2019s force is turning away people with critical skills because they fail to meet specific individual requirements. It also recognizes that today\u2019s military mission has changed, relying less on traditional infantry operations and more on technical skills needed for jobs like cyber warfare and intelligence analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT’S UNDER REVIEW<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviewing fitness requirements reflects a fear that today\u2019s youth are fatter than ever. An estimated 70 percent are ineligible for military service based on traditional standards related to health, education and past misconduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have a much bigger problem with obesity and overweight [people] in our society than we’ve had historically,” said one senior defense official familiar with the reform efforts. “So we have a different base to look at in terms of recruits.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Defense officials rejected any suggestion that changing standards for entering boot camp would lead to lowering expectations in the operational force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carter “is not saying \u2018it doesn\u2019t matter how overweight somebody is,\u2019 because it does matter. Fitness does matter in the service,” the senior defense official said. “But one of the responsibilities that we have when we bring people in is to make them fit, if they are not already. “We have to judge whether, if we have [an individual with] a fitness problem, is it a fitness problem in which they are not going to be able to achieve our standards? Or is it a fitness problem where we can help them through it and they can meet our standards?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The secretary “isn\u2019t committed to overturning these standards because each one of them has a reason,” the defense official added. “We are going to look at them systematically and evaluate them against our needs and make sure we\u2019re as flexible as we need to be so we can get the best possible force in.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carter also mentioned tattoo policies as a concern that might be keeping highly qualified individuals from joining the military. That\u2019s an issue the individual services have wrestled with in recent years, and several have adopted policies more accepting of young people with lots of tattoos.<\/p>\n\n\n

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James Interview tattoo rough cut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

(Video by Daniel Woolfolk\/Staff)<\/sup><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules regarding recruits marijuana usage also are getting a new look<\/a>. As thousands of prospective recruits are now living in states where medical and recreational marijuana is now legal, Carter is instructing top personnel officials to consider pilot programs to “assess the feasibility and impact of updated standards” on the issue of “past marijuana use,” according to a fact sheet provided by the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue of single parents could open up the military to many younger people, both men and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Traditionally we have not wanted to draw on single parents as recruits because we are a deploying force and there\u2019s a problem of: What you do with kids when you have a single parent?” the senior defense official said. “But as we\u2019ve changed over the years, we\u2019ve become an older force. We\u2019ve become a more mature force. We have many people in the ranks who are single parents, and we address that. So is there some learning that we\u2019ve come across about the way that we deal with single parents who are already in the force that could teach us how perhaps to deal with single parents coming into the force?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Single parenthood in the United Stats is rising, up more than three fold since 1960. Women make up the majority of single parents, yet the number of fathers who head single-parent households also has risen from less than one million in the 1980s to more than 2.7 million today, according to the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SECDEF’S LEGACY: A ‘FORCE OF THE FUTURE’<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carter, who will likely step down in January when President Obama leaves the White House, has made personnel reforms a centerpiece of his two years in the Pentagon\u2019s top office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, he rolled out a slate of reforms aimed at boosting retention. That included an expansion of family-friendly benefits like parental leave and child care services. Carter is also asking Congress to change the laws governing officer promotion in a way that would giving the Pentagon and the individual military services more flexibly to decide who to promote into the upper-rungs of leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The latest round of changes is focused on incoming recruits.\u00a0Carter has voiced concerns that today\u2019s all-volunteer force relies too heavily on a small pockets of America to meet recruiting goals and fill the ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Geographically,” he said in New York on Tuesday, “our military\u2019s recruiting pool is shrinking, with more and more of our people coming from fewer and fewer states. Today young Americans from rural areas are two times more likely to join the military than young Americans from urban areas.\u00a0We would be missing an opportunity if we kept fishing only in the same geographic ponds we always have. Instead, we need to seize that opportunity by fishing in more ponds, new ponds, and ponds we haven\u2019t been to in a long time. We have to draw talent from our country\u2019s entire pool of population for our all-volunteer force.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to reviewing recruiting standards, Carter said the Pentagon will launch a new, top-level marketing effort to improve the recruiting environment.\u00a0That will include a $140 million advertising campaign run by the Pentagon rather than the individual services’ recruiting commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Defense Department will also launch a “speakers\u2019 bureau” to better coordinate the appearances and messages of top officials, and retired generals and admirals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In doing so, we\u2019re going to reach out and talk to the American people wherever they are \u2014 which as you know isn\u2019t just on TV anymore, but increasingly in many different places online. And we won\u2019t just speak to potential recruits \u2014 we\u2019re going to speak to everyone, including parents, grandparents, coaches, teachers, guidance counselors, and more,” Carter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carter also outlined plans to revamp the ROTC program. He wants to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n