Air Force and Space Force raise entry age limit to 42

| October 28, 2023

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

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Odie

So now semi fat (beer belly), semi thinning (hair), most likely not in shape and old (relatively) are allowable standards for joining the military?

Dam, while I meet most of the criteria, I missed the age cut off.

Green Thumb

PVT Pops.

HT3

We know these will be support/technical/administrative rolls, but the fact they need to do this speaks volumes.
Recruiting really hit the skids three years ago…
I wonder why?

KoB

Recruiting really hit the skids three years ago…

I wonder why?”

Trump’s fault. If he hadn’t of “lost” the (s)election, the forever wars would have ended, troops would have come home to do the job of the military, (which is to defend America FIRST) (ht2 CW), re-enlistment and enlistment rates would have stayed steady with folks like us still sending young’uns to the recruiters. Too many have been taught over the last few years to hate America and would rather be a part of the Free Sh^t Army than an Army (Military Service Organization) that is designed to protect the freedoms they have to be assholes. The kids that have some motivation to do for themselves have too many other options for a successful life that doesn’t involve making the sacrifices required to be a Service Member.

Bring back the draft and it’s accompanying headaches. If they wait until the SHTF, the war will be over before the training up of new draftees will even get started good.

Historical note…during the WBTS the draft age, especially in the South, kept getting raised. The oldest documented casualty, KIA, at The Battle of Griswoldville was 72. The youngest was 14.

Odie

Fat, old and bald sounds like the perfect fit for the jobs you listed.

MustangCPT

Hey, I’m in shape! Round is a shape…🤣

Anonymous

comment image

MustangCPT

I think that age limit is for non-prior service. I think for prior service they add your service time to the max age limit. So, if you served 8 years, they might let you back in at up to age 50. 🤣

Hate_me

Generally true, but recruiters – especially Air Farce – are very reluctant when it comes to prior service from other branches.

I spoke to a few a few years ago when I was debating retirement vs a Diamond and a desk, and the consensus was that the only AF options were TACP, EOD, or Special Tactics.

MustangCPT

I’d have to imagine they’d take a SeaBee or Army Engineer and put them in a RED HORSE unit. Then again, that would make too much sense.

Hate_me

It wasn’t an option for me (but 12Z was my only engineering MOS). It might have changed in the last few years, but the recruiters made it pretty clear that the only enlistee jobs available for any prior service army were the ones I listed.

Anonymous

But we’re not short or anything…

sarge

Could always let people serve out till 30 years TIS…

Slow Joe

Good point

Slow Joe

But that would be more expensive than getting old joes.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Too bad they didn’t raise the entry age to 77, I could have beat the deadline before I hit 78 next month. Well, age is just a number.

Anonymous

With 28 years’ service, one can be good until 70 then.

Slow Joe

I disagree. The human body is designed for extremes. 10k years ago, no matter what your ethnic background, all our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, and did so for at least 150k before that. They lived their entire lives in the extreme. The human body can take whatever you train it to take.

Slow Joe

What down vote?
Oh, those little red numbers?
I always thought they were communist attempts at disrupting by brilliant line of thought.
I don’t pay attention to them communists.
Sore losers and jew haters, the lot of them.
They can’t stand that there is no Soviet Union anymore.

SFC D

I have a couple of deteriorated discs that say you’re wrong. The human body is a poorly engineered design (My apologies, Lord!) that is subject to mechanical wear and tear. Joints wear out. No amount of training can change that.

Prior Service

Currently at 34 years of service and I’ll just say—with 27 of them in line units or as an Observer-Controller—the human body isn’t designed for 30 years of service…. Of course, USAF, USN or USCG might be different.

AW1Ed

Going for the “Just Kicked Out of Mom’s Basement” demographic?

Brilliant.

Anonymous

How we got Bradley Manning, Beau Bergdahl and all those dudes who (regardless of combat exposure) made the suicide rates go up last time (2008).

A Proud Infidel®™

I wonder if the Services are back to the point of keeping Personnel in “Leadership Schools” even after failing PT along with Height/Weight?

Sparks

Bummer! I missed by only 29 years.

QMC

“I can fly. I’m a pilot.”

*burp*

Jay

I’m old, my joints hurt and I really don’t want to play the pronoun game with my coworkers. (I work at HOME now)

Glad I went ahead and did my time while I was young from 97-17.

Hack Stone

Terry Nichols was 33 years old when he entered the Army. How did that work out for everyone? Coming into the service when your peers are submitting their retirement packages after 20 plus years is a pretty good indication that you made a series of bad life decisions. Drill Instructors/Drill Sergeants have a hard enough time breaking recruits of 20 years of bad habits, now they have to deal with 40 year olds who don’t know their left from their right or how to make their rack.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Just went over 70 y.o., served 20, retired in 98.
Think they’ll let me back in anyway? 😆😅😆😅

MustangCPT

You’d probably scare some of these young ‘uns. 🤣

Anonymous

Hey, I’m “old” and that’s what they tell me.

ChipNASA

Yeah, I can’t imagine I’d finish the paperwork and survive more than a couple of days before they kick me out.

I’d have to get a waiver for
1. Go fuck yourself
2. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
3. I’m too old to put up with any of this bullshit.
4. Back in my day ….this is a bunch of absolute horseshit.
5. What’s with you fucking people anyway??

You get the idea

Anonymous

That’s what ‘Nam and couple old WW2 vets said over in A-stan about GO 1 and other assorted modern crap when they visited.

SFC D

No shit, there I was, watching NASCAR and having a beer. The very first “Army of One” ad runs. I count down 3… 2… 1… the phone rings. It’s dad. 27 years USAF, 3 wars, still Army Air Corps at heart. I pick up the phone:

Me: Hey dad. Figured you’d call.

Dad: What in the fuck did I just watch? What the fuck is this Army of One bullshit?

Me: I didn’t do it, Dad.

Anonymous

Yup. “No drinking, gambling, porno or getting laid, or smoking except in that stupid ‘smoking gazebo’ thing– how the f*ck can you people fight?!”

Eggs

I’d sign up!!

What, not the same thing?

Fuggetaboutit

ChipNASA

1 to 4 am?

I’m up.

A Proud Infidel®™

Mmyeah, I was talking last week with a young Warrior who had just ETS’es a few months ago who told me about how he was counseled that he was an extremist because he is a White Christian Male, he’s also *GASP!* hetero and cisgender! Jeezo-Pete, I wouldn’t last five minutes in shit like that before i told someone to GFY at the top of my lungs!