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U.S. military leadership is jubilant the service hit its recruiting goals this year after experiencing a significant slump in the number of new candidates signing up to join. But beneath the surface of this “win” is a troubling reality that could jeopardize the readiness of America’s supreme fighting force.

With the 2024 fiscal year coming to a close, heads of America’s military branches have been quick to tout their supposed success in hitting their respective recruiting targets. Throughout the past several weeks, the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Space Force revealed they all (barely) met their yearly goals for bringing in new talent to the service.

While the Navy signed up more recruits than it was targeting, it “will fall about 5,000 short” of its FY2024 goal because “it won’t be able to get them all through boot camp by next month,” according to Sept. 26 report by The Washington Post.

Despite the military’s perceived success in bringing in ample talent to fill its ranks, a closer look at what the branches did to achieve their respective goals reveals a startling decline in standards necessary to qualify for service and other alarming policy changes.

In 2022, for example, the Army axed a branch policy requiring interested recruits to possess a high school diploma or GED certificate to join the service. That change was announced the same week the Army “relaxed its tattoo rules, allowing potential recruits to enlist with tattoos on their hands and neck, which previously needed waivers,” according to Military.com.

The branch’s “success” in hitting its 2024 recruiting goal is even more of a mirage when considering that it lowered its target from years prior. As noted by The Denver Gazette, the Army “dropp[ed] its requirement by 10,000 people compared to last year,” when it aimed to bring in 65,000 new recruits.

So, while the branch technically met its FY2024 target, the number of individuals recruited (55,000) is virtually the same number it brought in last year (55,000). The only difference is that the Army lowered its year-over-year goal.

[READ: White Men Don’t Want To Join An Army That Tells Them They Aren’t Wanted]

The Army is hardly the only branch guilty of lowering its standards in order to meet recruiting threshold, however.

According to data purportedly reviewed by Military.com, “Of all the major policy updates” adopted by the Air Force within the past few years, “the 2023 change that allows applicants to have a greater percentage of body fat — up to 26% for men and 36% for women — contributed to the most new recruits.” Similar to the Army, the branch also altered its “existing hand and neck tattoo policy,” and separately lowered its permanent legal residency requirement from 10 years to two.

Meanwhile, the Navy announced in December 2022 it would be lowering its admittance standards to allow those “who have lower scores on part of the entrance exam used to gauge a recruit’s ability to serve” into service, according to the Navy Times. Following in the Army’s footsteps, it separately revealed in January 2024 plans to accept recruits lacking a high school diploma or GED.

While it’s commendable for any American to want to serve their country in such a capacity, the military isn’t designed to accept individuals who don’t meet the necessary requirements to join. It’s intended to be exclusionary to recruit the best talent available. By bringing in traditionally unqualified candidates into its ranks, the military is running the risk of hampering its overall efficiency and ability to carry out operations designed to protect U.S. interests.

Military leadership shouldn’t be faulted for wanting to grow the force’s ranks. What they can’t afford to do, however, is toss aside the very standards that made it the most feared fighting force in the world.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood