US Army and Navy stretched the rules to misrepresent the academic qualifications of recruits, the inspector general says

• A Pentagon report says the Army and Navy misrepresented the academic qualifications of some recruits.
• The Army and Navy exceeded federal limits on low-scoring recruits using preparatory courses, the watchdog said.
• The Pentagon disputes the findings as services face ongoing challenges in military recruiting.

A new Pentagon Inspector General report says that the Army and Navy misrepresented the academic qualifications of some recruits, allowing both services to exceed federal limits on low-scoring enlistees.

The report, released earlier this month, is based on a yearlong review of the services' Future Soldier and Future Sailor preparatory courses, which are new "pre-boot camps" created in recent years.

The programs have helped the Army and Navy enlist more recruits amid a national recruiting crisis by taking applicants with low entrance exam scores or fitness shortfalls and aiming to prepare them for service — addressing the deficiencies — in a matter of weeks or months.

The Defense Department Inspector General found that the Army and Navy miscalculated the number of low-scoring recruits they enlisted by counting test scores earned after applicants completed the preparatory courses, rather than the scores they received before entering those programs.

That approach allowed both services to exceed federal limits on low-scoring recruits without notifying the Secretary of Defense, as required by the rule. The secretary has the authority to raise those limits, but must also inform Congress.

The Pentagon disputed the report's findings, arguing that the scores that should count are those earned at the end of the preparatory courses, not those taken beforehand.

"Improving a recruit's academic skills is a primary reason for creating the [Future Soldier and Future Sailor Preparatory Courses]," William Fitzhugh, the acting assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs, wrote in a memo to the inspector general. "Improved academic skills, and the resulting AFQT scores, enable such recruits to pursue a broader range of occupations, which benefits them and the Military Services."

Federal law caps the number of recruits who score low on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, known as Category IV applicants, at 4% of the total number of recruits who ship to boot camp each year. Category IV applicants score between the 10th and 30th percentiles on the exam, which assesses subjects such as reading comprehension, math, and mechanics.

Such recruits "tend to exhibit below average trainability and on-the-job performance," the report said.

The cap is intended to ensure the services attract enough high-scoring recruits to fill technically demanding roles, such as cyber operations, intelligence, and special operations, as well as many logistics and administrative jobs that also require strong academic performance.

Had the services used applicants' original test scores, the Navy would have classified more than 11% of its 2025 enlistments as Category IV recruits, compared with just over 7% when counting scores earned after the preparatory course. The Army also exceeded 10% of Category IV recruits, though the report did not say by how much.

The findings come as the Army and Navy begin to emerge from a yearslong recruiting crisis that left both services thousands of recruits short in recent years. Nearly three-quarters of American youth do not meet either the military's fitness or its academic requirements to qualify for service, and fewer than ever are likely to consider military careers, making innovative recruiting efforts critical.

A previous inspector general report raised concerns about "less restrictive testing standards" in the Army's preparatory course and found that some participants struggled with English as a second language. The Pentagon also disputed those findings.