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Chapter 2:

Age

By law, Active Component recruits must be between 17 and 35 years old; 17-year-olds must have parental permission to enlist. [footnote 17] Within the 17–35 age range, the Services have different age ceilings. The Army and Navy accept applicants up to age 35; the Air Force accepts recruits prior to their 28th birthday, and the Marine Corps age limit is 29.

The age distribution of FY 2000 active duty NPS accessions is shown in Table 2.4. The average age of enlisted accessions is 19.3 years, ranging from 18.5 for the Marine Corps to 19.7 for the Army. Approximately 87 percent of new recruits are 18- to 24-year-olds, compared to about 36 percent of the comparable civilian population. The Marine Corps enlists the greatest percentage of 17- and 18-year-old recruits (51 percent) and the smallest percentage of those over age 21 (19 percent). The Army has the greatest proportion of recruits older than age 21 (23 percent) and the smallest proportion of 17- and 18-year-old recruits (37 percent).

Table 2.4. Age of FY 2000 Active Component NPS Accessions, by Service, and
Civilians 17–35 Years Old (Percent)

Age

Army

Navy

Marine Corps

Air Force

DoD

17- to 35-Year-Old Civilians

Number of Accessions per 1,000 Civilians

17

6.8

6.0

7.7

5.4

6.5

5.6

2.9

18

30.3

35.1

43.6

35.9

34.9

5.5

15.5

19

20.5

22.3

23.9

23.6

22.1

5.7

9.6

20

11.9

12.1

10.0

12.9

11.8

5.3

5.5

21

7.7

7.3

5.5

7.9

7.3

5.0

3.6

22

5.6

4.8

3.4

5.3

5.0

5.1

2.4

23

4.3

3.5

2.0

3.2

3.5

5.0

1.7

24

3.2

2.3

1.4

2.2

2.5

4.9

1.2

>24

9.7

6.7

2.7

3.7

6.6

58.0

0.3

Total

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

2.5

Columns may not add to total due to rounding.
Also see Appendix Table B-1 (Age by Service and Gender).
Source: Civilian data from Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey File, October 1999 - September 2000.

The right column of Table 2.4 shows the numerical rate at which civilian youth in each age group enlisted in the Armed Services in FY 2000. For example, an average of 15.5 of every 1,000 18-year-olds and 1.2 of every 1,000 24-year-olds enlisted in FY 2000.

[footnote 17] 10 U.S.C. 505. [back to paragraph]

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