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Chapter 2:

 

Age

Age. By law, Active Component recruits must be between 17 and 35 years old; 17-year-olds must have parental permission to enlist.[footnote 19] 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 2002 active duty NPS accessions is shown in Table 2.4.

Table 2.4. Age of FY 2002 Active Component NPS Accessions, by Service, and Civilians 17-35 Years Old
Age
Percent
Number of Accessions per 1,000 Civilians
Army
Navy
Marine Corps
Air Force
DoD
17- to 35-Year-Old Civilians
17
5.6
5.0
6.8
4.4
5.4
5.7
2.5
18
26.9
33.5
42.1
32.3
32.2
5.4
15.5
19
18.9
21.2
23.5
23.0
21.1
5.8
9.5
20
12.0
11.9
10.2
13.6
12.0
5.5
5.7
21
8.7
8.2
5.9
9.0
8.1
5.4
3.9
22
6.5
5.5
3.7
6.2
5.7
5.3
2.8
23
5.2
3.9
2.5
4.0
4.2
5.1
2.1
24
3.9
2.8
1.8
2.7
3.0
5.1
1.5
>24
12.4
8.1
3.4
4.9
8.3
56.6
0.4
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
2.6

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 2001 - September 2002.

The average age of enlisted accessions is 19.6 years, ranging from 18.7 for the Marine Corps to 20.2 for the Army. Roughly 86 percent of new recruits are 18- to 24-year-olds, compared to about 38 percent of the comparable civilian population. The Marine Corps enlists the greatest percentage of 17- and 18-year-old recruits (49 percent) and the smallest percentage of those over age 21 (11 percent). The Army has the greatest proportion of recruits older than age 21 (28 percent) and the smallest proportion of 17- and 18-year-old recruits (33 percent). 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 2002. For example, an average of 15.5 of every 1,000 18-year-olds and 1.5 of every 1,000 24-year-olds enlisted in FY 2002.

[Footnote 19]  10 U.S.C. 505. [back to paragraph]

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