WASHINGTON — Army Secretary Louis Caldera on Tuesday proposed making it easier for young people without high school diplomas to join the Army, a move that could help a large pool of young Latinos but also could stir charges that the service is lowering its standards.
With the military facing growing recruiting difficulties, Caldera said that the Army may be better off accepting more young people who do not have traditional diplomas but have good aptitude test scores, work records or other evidence of their potential.
Army rules require that 90% of recruits hold diplomas. The remaining 10% may be accepted with high school equivalency certificates.
Caldera said that more flexible standards could enable the Army to take advantage of the untapped potential of many young people, while helping ease its longer-term--though probably not its immediate--recruiting problem.
To be put into effect, such an idea would involve study and consultations with a wide range of Army and Defense Department officials, a process that probably would take many months, one official said.
The future of the proposal is difficult to predict. One military officer acknowledged that it already has created a brouhaha within the Army bureaucracy and is likely to encounter more resistance.
The Army fell 2,300 soldiers short of its recruiting goals for the quarter that ended on Dec. 31 and now fears that it may not reach its annual goal of 74,500 recruits.
"The Army is an institution that should not write off young people," Caldera said in an interview Tuesday. "The military traditionally has been one of those places where you can turn your life around."
While such a change obviously would apply to young people from all backgrounds, the military has been looking hard for ways to draw in more young Latinos. They are disproportionately underrepresented in the services, in part because of historically low high school graduation rates.
But any change in standards would draw protest from critics on Capitol Hill and among active-duty and retired military, who fear that any decline in recruiting standards would translate directly to reduced military readiness.
Navy Action Drew Criticism
Such critics sounded the alarm last month when, after a 12% quarterly recruiting shortfall in the fall, the Navy cut its high school graduation requirement from 95% to 90% of new sailors.
