Air Force and Space Force raise entry age limit to 42

Qualified individuals up to 42 years old can apply to join the Air Force or the Space Force. This applies to both enlisted and officers. The Navy had previously raised its age limit from 39 to 41, and the Coast Guard changed its maximum enlistment age to 42. Raising the age at which someone could join is intended to help address recruiting challenges.

From Military.com:

A screenshot of a notice to all air missions, which was first posted on the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page where airmen share inside information, read “the entry age limit has changed from 39 to 42.” Leslie Brown, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Recruiting Service, confirmed the memo’s information to Military.com and said the policy went into effect Tuesday.

“The Air Force made this change to align with [Department of Defense] policy,” Brown told Military.com on Thursday. “This opens the aperture to allow more Americans the opportunity to serve.”

The new change applies to active-duty airmen and Guardians, both officers and enlisted, Brown added, saying the intention was to give those recruits an opportunity to “to serve a full 20 years since the retirement age is 62. ”

The increase in the enlistment age comes nearly one month after the Air Force announced it missed its active-duty enlistment goals for the first time since 1999. Other services have also taken the same approach in recent months.

In November, the Navy raised its maximum enlistment age from 39 to 41, citing the need to “widen the pool of potential recruits, creating opportunities for personnel who wish to serve, but were previously unable due to age.”

Military.com has the rest of the story.

Category: Air Force, Space Force