age to join military in us
To join the enlisted ranks, in general you must: Be a U.S. citizen or Green Card holder Non-citizens must speak, read, and write English fluently. Non-citizens must currently live in the U.S. Be in good health. Be 17 to 40 years old (different branches have different age requirements). Last month, U.S. Rep. Paul Broun Jr. (R-GA), tried to push through legislation that would allow people of any age to join the military as long as they could meet the minimum health and fitness requirements. The House voted 256-164 against the military age restrictions measure. Prior enlisted service members can subtract their previous years of service from their age in order to extend eligibility. For example, the current age cutoff in the Air Force is 27. This means that a 31-year-old veteran with four years of prior service experience would still be eligible to reenlist. The maximum age for enlistment for someone who has never served in the military before varies by branch; for the Army it's 35, for the Navy it's 34, for the Air Force it's 39 and for the Marines it's 28. At age 66, Broun still serves as a doctor in the Navy Reserve. In an interview with Army Times, he called the enlistment age cap “an arbitrary policy.”. “There are people who want to serve and are physically fit,” he said. “There are some 20-year-olds who cannot run a mile.”. Here is a look at some of the basic qualifications to enlist in the military. Across the armed forces, the minimum age allowed for enlistment is 17 (with parental consent) and 18 (without parental consent). To join the enlisted ranks, in general you must: 1  Be a U.S. citizen or Green Card holder Non-citizens must speak, read, and write English fluently. Non-citizens must currently live in the U.S. 2  Be in good health. 3  Be 17 to 40 years old (different branches have different age requirements). View a chart of age requirements by service. For most of the military, male applicants need to be between 60 inches and 80 inches tall. For female applicants, the range is between 58 inches and 80 inches. The Marines have separate standards: Male applicants should be between 58 and 78 inches tall, and female applicants between 58 and 72 inches tall. To join the enlisted ranks, in general you must: 1  Be a U.S. citizen or Green Card holder Non-citizens must speak, read, and write English fluently. 2  Be in good health. 3  Be 17 to 40 years old (different branches have different age requirements). 4  Have a high school diploma (some branches will accept a GED) However, the average age is higher given that some people enlist later. The maximum age for most branches is 35. On its recruiting website, the U.S. Army reported an average enlistment age of just under 21 in 2012. This was slightly lower than the average age from 2010 and 2011. On its website, the U.S. Navy doesn't provide information about the average enlistment age. It notes that you can join from ages 17 through 34.
17 to 40 years old