The Army just widened the door for would-be soldiers in two big ways. New rules raise the maximum enlistment age from 35 to 42 and scrap the requirement for a special waiver if a recruit has a single conviction for marijuana possession or related paraphernalia. The age bump aligns the Army with the Air Force and Space Force, reports Task & Purpose and comes as the service struggles to hit recruiting targets and sees the average recruit getting older. Research cited by military analyst Kate Kuzminski suggests older recruits tend to score higher on entrance tests and are more likely to reenlist and be promoted, though they wash out of basic training at higher rates. Stars and Stripes notes that it's not uncharted territory for the Army, which temporarily increased its enlistment age to 42 in 2006 amid the Afghanistan war.
The shift on marijuana reflects changing state laws and an effort to speed up a waiver process that was approving about 95% of cases anyway. A one-time conviction will no longer trigger a two-year wait and Pentagon-level review, but repeated offenses will still require waivers. At the same time, the Army is tightening rules for current troops, expanding its list of banned substances and flagging all positive drug tests to a defense security agency. Officials say the broader overhaul aims to attract more technically skilled, often older candidates while maintaining standards for serious crimes.
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