Navy: No GED? No Problem!

| January 28, 2024

Big Navy missed all of its recruiting goals for FY 2023.

The target number was 37,700 new sailors yet Navy ended FY 2023 with only 30,236, ~7400 shy.

Regular Navy Officer and reserve personnel goals fared no better. It missed the officer goal by 452, reserve enlisted missed by 2,048 and reserve officer by 773.

Navy to allow those without high school diploma or GED to enlist

By Diana Stancy Correll

The Navy said Friday that it will allow those without a high school diploma to enlist as long as they score a 50 or higher on the Armed Forces Qualification Test that all prospects must take, the latest move to boost recruitment in the face of an historic recruiting crisis reverberating across the services.

Those without a General Educational Development, or GED, credential will also be able to enlist, as long as they hit that test score threshold, according to the Chief of Naval Personnel’s office.

Federal law allows the military to recruit such applicants, and the Navy last allowed those without a diploma to enlist in 2000, according to CNP officials.

To date, the Navy is the only military branch currently seeking to recruit those without a high school diploma or GED as it works to expand the number of eligible candidates to join the service amid an historically challenging recruiting environment.

The Navy said the policy change does not mean the service is lowering its standards…

Navy Times

Last year, Big Navy introduced new policies and programs to address the decreasing pool of potential candidates. These included increasing the age limit for enlistment and accepting sailors with lower scores on entrance exams. Despite failing to meet recruitment goals last fiscal year, Big Navy has set the bar higher. In FY 2024 the Navy optimistically intends to recruit 40,600 enlisted sailors. Now it’s clear how the Navy Recruiting Command intends to meet those goals.

Thanks to all who sent this one in.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Guest Link, Navy

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Hack Stone

McNamara’s Millions v2.0.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

LPH’S, McNamaras big boondoggle.

HT3

Welcome to Biden’s America where missing recruiting is what they do…

5JC

This guy, doesn’t seem like he knows anything. He has the craziest ideas about why military recruiting is failing.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/vim9YKTDfe9c9QGg/?mibextid=D5vuiz

KoB

Welp, they couldn’t fill the ranks with confused nutjobs, so they’ll try to fill the ranks with the uneducated? Didn’t another SecDef try this idea back yonder? How’d that work out?

Anonymous

Well, rum, sodomy and the lash didn’t bring ’em in the door…

SFC D

It just might, in certain recruiting districts.

Hack Stone

The Navy said the policy change does not mean the service is lowering its standard… Then everyone in the room bursted into laughter.

If the previous standard was that an applicant had to have a High School diploma or GED, and the new requirement is that they do not need a High School diploma or GED, wouldn’t that being a lowering of standards?

26Limabeans

Perhaps they just don’t put much value in a HS diploma or GED.
I certaintly don’t.

Hack Stone

At least not in Baltimore.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/baltimore-patterson-high-school-reading-levels-elementary

The Educational Genocide of African Americans continues. Which political party runs the city of Baltimore and their Board of Education?

timactual

Once upon a time I had the opportunity to be a “grader” for a couple of sections of a 200 level (sophomore) math. class at University of Maryland Baltimore County. Some of those kids were obviously given a HS diploma for administrative/social reasons, not academic achievement. I remember one student whose name (and most of his(?) work) was illegible. I had to determine who it was by process of elimination.

On the other hand my father, who taught at a Community College way back in the ’70s, had pretty much the same complaint. It may be useful to remember that 50% of the population has below average intelligence. And, much as I hate to admit it, not all of them are on the left side of the political spectrum.

RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

Mohammed on a Segway! Just 12 students in the entire school??
How the hell do they expect these kids to have a chance?

Hack Stone

They don’t expect them to have a chance, and is detrimental to the Democrat cash flow for the inner communities to succeed. The entire Democrat Party business plan is to have a captive audience of destitute individuals that can only survive by government assistance. They raise taxes to fund programs to provide for “economically disadvantaged” and funnel the government grants to friends and families, who in turn funnel money back to the corrupt politicians through campaign donations and kickbacks, and the indoctrinate those receiving government assistance that the Democrats are the only lifeline keeping them alive, so they have to vote Democrat to keep assistance flowing. If these inner city residents receive a quality education allowing to succeed with marketable skills, will negatively impact the Democrats two fold. The first being the less on government assistance would decrease the money flowing in, and more importantly those previously destitute individuals will realize that they were being held hostage in abject poverty by the Democrats to line their own pockets.

Anonymous

Hate-America,-Gimme-Free-Sh*t! Democrats! (Duh, one guess… )

Marine0331

OK Hack, I’m from Baltimore and take offense to that comment. Our edumacation system is more gooder than some others. We aint gots a reading comprehention problem or a math edumacation problem hear. We knows well and gooder that 2 plus 2 equals whatever you want it to equal. Hey, wheres my trophy for gradgeating?

Hack Stone

Have you ever read the reviews for the Healthy Holly books on Amazon? Some good shit in there.

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B005RSAU3W/ref=cm_cr_othr_mb_show_all_top?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews

Marine0331

You mean the books written by the crooked former Mayor of B-Mo?

Roh-Dog

Holy shit.

Sergeant Barnes/Gunnery Sergeant Hayes/Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett/Lieutenant General James Longstreet/Mister Jonathan Shale(below) has the answer!

Speak their language!

AW1 Rod

The new standard requires only that one has a pulse.

David

Or as Dad used say. “See lightning, hear thunder., warm to the touch.”

Anonymous

Don’t forget pronouns and freaky sex practices.

5JC

What you fail to realize is it under current conditions A high school diploma is worthless. Teachers haven’t really taught since the great bug harvest of 2020.

Old tanker

Oh the situation has been going on far far longer than that. The last time I was working (teaching) in a school was back in 1998. The prevalent practice then was “social promotion”. In plain English it, means promote with peers no matter the true level of learning achieved because holding a kid back a grade is considered demeaning and hurts their feelings. The last thing the schools want is to hurt the students feelings by actually requiring them to perform to a standard. I am not kidding nor am I exaggerating the situation. Giving a kid an F was verbotten even if the kid did nothing but show up and occupy a seat. I saw that in action personally.

Hack Stone

Time for the Tranny Digital Ambassador to release another Tik Tok video. That should bring in the applicants. And don’t forget to highlight the gender reassignment surgeries and military funded travel out of state and free time off for abortions.

SFC D

It’s the military way. If the standards can’t be met, the standards must be lowered.

timactual

Press gangs may be next. Be very wary of the friendly fellow who wants to buy you a beer.

Odie

Didn’t they want at one time to offer illegals citizenship if they joined the military?

So they offer citizenship to military aged men, teach them to use high tech weapons, military strategy and deploy them where? Against American citizens or states the government feels are getting uppity? They would have no qualms about shooting Americans.

Job well done, here are your citizenship papers.

5JC

I already am. These days you never know, it could be a girl.

Av8or33

When standards get lowered, high quality kids will look at the military as below them and a waste of time and they are not wrong. A lot of kids are looking for a challenge and a sense of accomplishment, belonging to what is perceived as a high quality organization that only wants the best members. It may never have been true but it wasn’t willing to take the bottom of the barrel. What’s next convincted felons? Probably already a waiver for that. I can hear big military, why not recruit straight from prison? We lower the incarceration rate and make recruiting goals. Win win everyone gets a medal.

Hack Stone

That seems to be the modus operandi with The Wagner Group, and they seem to be doing a heck of a job in Ukraine. Until they stray too far, and a rift develops between the leaders of Big Russian Army and the leader of The Dirty Division, but it’s nothing that a coincidental aircraft explosion can’t solve.

Av8or33

Funny thing about the Wagner group was that they built a warrior culture and through being put in the worse positions in the conflict became a more professional group than most of the Russian army. They also were not all or even mostly convicts. The Russian army has always had penal units that were not well trained or equipped basically cannon fodder, the media conflated the two. Wagner groups core was veterans of the Russian and other countries militaries not unlike our “contractors”. The Russian equivalent of big Army tried to eliminate Wagner by putting them in terrible positions and refusing to supply and occasionally shell them. Wagner’s success really pissed off the top brass.

Boiling Mad CPO

Project 100,000 MacNamera’s Morans Cat 4

This was a big mistake. I was a classifier and many of these
kids became deck seaman or at best a HN . Not a great place to be in the navy

SCPO USN Ret.

How many lasted their term of enlistment? Probably none as all of the ones on our ship would achieve 3 NJPs and then discharged..

Andy11M

It’s a shame the Army didn’t have a MOS we could dump our rocks into like that.

Anonymous

/sarc

Claw

Andy, at one time the Army did have an MOS just for walking rocks:

It was 57A – Duty Soldier

And the rock’s boss was 57G – Duty Foreman

Last edited 9 months ago by Claw
Hack Stone

Back in the mid 1990’s, Hack Stone was assigned to Electronics Maintenance Company (ELMACO), 1st Maintenance Battalion on Camp Pendleton. Despite what every snot nosed 2800 will tell you, the Electronics Maintenance field was over represented when it came to disciplinary cases and complete morons on the repair bench. One such individual we shall call Sergeant Fishface. So Hack Stone is looking for Sergeant Fishface for some reason, and he asks one of the Marines where Sergeant Fishface is.

Random Marine: He is at the Warehouse.

Sergeant Hack Stone: The Warehouse? The Warehouse the record store or the The Men’s Warehouse (I guarantee it)?

Random Marine: Our Warehouse.

Sergeant Hack Stone: We have a warehouse?

Random Marine: Yeah, we have our own warehouse.

At this point Hack Stone has been with ELMACO probably two years. Never heard of it. Hack Stone goes to the Company Gunny.

Sergeant Hack Stone: Gunny, I was looking for Sergeant Fishface, and someone told me that he is at the “warehouse”.

Company Gunny: Yeah, that’s right.

Why do we have our own warehouse, and where is it?

Company Gunny: It’s an old Quonset hut full of outdated crap that nobody wants and nobody needs. It’s across from the airfield on Vandegrift Boulevard.

Hack Stone: So why is Sergeant Fishface there?

Company Gunny: I put him in charge of the warehouse so we don’t have to deal with him. We send him to sit behind a desk for eight hours and not interact with anyone, and we are able to get gear fixed in this building without being distracted by his stupidity.

Claw

Hack, some may ask: How does Claw know about Duty Soldiers? That’s because I was slotted as a 57A/G for about a four- or five-month period back in 1972.

I reported for duty (along with about a dozen other aviation mechanics, some fresh out of AIT or Shake and Bake School) in March 1972 to Fort Bliss as a UH-1 Huey Helicopter Repairman and got assigned to a brand-new Vulcan Air Defense Artillery Battalion. It wasn’t until after I had three months of On-The-Job Training/Experience to be awarded a secondary MOS as an Automotive Repair Parts Specialist (Motor Pool Parts Clerk) that I got re-slotted and once again found a real home in the Army. The same thing happened to those other guys who had to be carried as Duty Soldiers until they got a secondary MOS in, like Clerk-Typist, Wheeled Vehicle or Radio Repairman, or a couple of them even turned themselves into Gun Bunnies.

But I still say that the Shammiest MOS’s that the Army ever came up with were (and where most of the Warrant Officers I ever knew came from):

41D – Watch Repairman

51E – Camouflage Specialist (You could never find them when you needed them) / s

Odie

51E. Sounds like they excelled in that field.

fm2176
Hack Stone

The Marine Corps had a seamstress type MOS in the Supply Field. Mostly tasked with repairing canvas tents.

Which can segue into a new thread; weird and not well known Military Occupational Specialties.

Correct Hack if he is wrong, and you probably will, but Hack believes that the Veterinary field is exclusive to the Army, and their primary mission is to inspect meat to be served to the military.

Never knew that the Navy had Religious Person as a Rating/MOS. Pretty sure Hack only encountered two of them during 22 years in, and one of them was a turd.

Hack Stone was getting his COVID Booster Shot (yeah, Hack drank the Kool Ade), and the MOS of the enlisted Air For e guy was the he made dentures. Now Hack wonders if George Washington’s dentures were made by a GI.

USMCMSgt (Ret)

3211 – Fabric Repair Specialist

3261 – Laundry Machine Operator

Eggs

I can see it now –

“Hey kids, unsure of what the future holds? Not sure if you want to move on to 10th Grade? If so, the Navy would like to talk to you!”

Hack Stone

We’ve gone through this discussion previously on TAH, and this is why this latest move by Big Navy will not resolve the recruiting problem.

Recruiters don’t just need to sign up bodies, they need to sign up mentally, morally and physically qualified applicants to fill specific jobs needed by their branch of service.

Some occupational fields need Recruits that meet the minimum scores that would indicate that they have the aptitude to learn the skills to required for the job. These would be jobs like aircraft mechanics, avionics, electronics, medical field, etc. This is why, despite common misconception, that Recruiters push everyone into infantry. If they have an applicant who aces the ASVAB in electronics, they will encourage the applicant to go into electronics or avionics, because the military needs someone for that job, and there is no guarantee that another qualified applicant would come along.

Of course, there are those who score on the low end of the ASVAB, and their career choices are limited to the less technical/non-technical jobs. The Navy does not need 50,000 Non-Strikers, they need qualified people to fill the technical jobs. There are only so many toilets to scrub and hulls to scrape paint off of, they don’t need 50,000 individuals to find “make work” for.

Another issue is that these individuals have a higher rate of discipline issues and have a propensity to married their 13 year old hometown girlfriend and pump out six kids in five years. They’ll be spending their time taking their Dependaotus to yet another medical appointment or going to Navy relief for yet another loan to pay off their Devon home Furniture loan.

If they do the math, they will see zero return on investment.

26Limabeans

“If they do the math”

Good one.

Hack Stone

So you saw what Hack did there.

RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

What? Trannys and other queers aren’t signing up in droves?

Anonymous

Apparently not…

Anonymous

Well, like I said above, rum, sodomy and the lash didn’t bring ’em in…

Odie

The only lyrics to my new earworm now is ‘in the navy’.

Thanks

Hack Stone

Much like the Woke Democrats who keep pushing for open borders, because they live in gated communities with security to keep the undesirables from their neighborhood, the Big Navy elite making these decisions will never have to work on a ship or flightline with this caliber of Sailors they are “bringing aboard”. Don’t worry, Senior Chief will clean up the mess. It’s not like he has anything else to do, like keeping the ship afloat.

Corn-pop

Dis be rhe realizations of a dreem. Eber sense de 1 time I was rested for dat bullshit felony. They say I jacked the ride but bitch left the keys in it. They be trapping. And pushing de bitch outta de way ain’t asalt. Ain’t nuthin wrong with her or her whiny ass bebe. Don’t get between a man and his dreem. I’m gonna be all I can be. And by the time the warrant pops I’ll be most through.

rgr769

Corny, aren’t you a little long in the tooth to be thinking about enlisting? You must be about 79 or 80 by now, since it was about sixty plus years ago you had that run-in with a pool lifeguard who now lives (part-time) at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Corn-pop

He a lying bitch. I was only 8 years old back then. He come up behind me and try to smell my ear. Then he grab my junk and say what you got in heah? I said bitch I will cut you. Then he change the storey all around. If he could be the presadent at 82 I can be in the Navy at 69.

5JC

Maybe they can send them straight to Jordan?

Anonymous

Keep going, kid– you can take the ASVAB as many times as you need!
comment image

Hack Stone

Actually, they do limit the number of times an applicant can take the “real ASVAB”, that one being a test in a controlled environment, usually proctored by some 80 year old lady who is more stringent and meaner than any Drill Instructor. Take the ASVAB and miss, come back in 30 days. If they strike out the second time at bat, we’ll make an appointment for you in six months. Six months later and you still have not calibrated the headspace on your Brain Housing Group, we will see you in two years. At least that was the policy when Hack was Recruiting back in the late 1980’s. Hack worked the Midwest, and quite a few Native Americans eager to get off of the reservation but did not quite have what it takes to meet the minimum requirement on the ASVAB and were on the two year hiatus thought that they had a work around by changing their name. It didn’t quite work out, since the still had the same Social Security Number and birth date.

Anonymous

Don’t worry, they’ll change it to be less restrictive again. Had a 14T in my battery in Germany who took the easiest version six (6) times to make Cat IV by sheer dumb luck on the margin of error… he got a mad bonus, too.

Last edited 9 months ago by Anonymous
Odie

So, the stupid predates the current crop of stupid 🤔

SFC D

To paraphrase Simon & Garfarkel, “Stupid like a cancer grows”.

Anonymous

And there’s Einstein on the subject:

th.jpeg-10
Prior Service

I wonder if I can “go Navy” after I retire from the Army? I already got one email from the army asking me if I wanted to do another tour with them even though I’m at mandatory retirement date. (Oops, i forgot to reply to that…) If they’ll keep me, maybe the navy will take me? Hmm.

NEC338x

“It missed the officer goal by 452, reserve enlisted missed by 2,048 and reserve officer by 773.”

These reserve billets have typically been filled by those leaving active duty. I went Ready Reserve while completing college after the “peace dividend” draw down.

This is the canary in the coal mine. It is not a booming economy drawing those at EAOS away from the reserves. More likely total disgust with the service climate and wanting to have nothing to do with it. Grab your 214 with both hands and take a Hollywood shower with lots of deodorant soap to clear the stench.

Hack Stone

You should have that placed on a bronze plaque and hold a ceremony to officially recognize your achievement in the command. Place said plaque behind a velvet rope illuminated by a Joe Biden approves low wattage LED bulb and one of these Non High School Grads can be assigned to stand at parade rest in front of the display.

Odie

Parade rest? You’re too kind. They should be standing at attention to show respect.

STSC(SW/SS)

If can meet recruiting goals with high standards, keep standards.

If you can’t meet recruiting goals with high standards, lower standards.

If you can’t meet recruiting goals with lower standards, panic.

Last edited 9 months ago by STSC(SW/SS)
Andy11M

I’m sure one or two of you knew someone in your respective branch that had a low ASVAB score, or maybe even a GED or that rare unicorn with no diploma that was actually a outstanding soldier, but the rest of us know that low ASVAB/GT scores are instantly relatable to that one soldier we will have to pour 90% of our time into. Shame the folks with the stars on their shoulders can’t understand this.

Hack Stone

Hack Stone met only one individual who dropped out of High School to support his mother and siblings because Dad went into the Deadbeat Dad Protection Program. All the other GEDs were too stupid and/or unmotivated to show up to school and do the bare minimum to obtain a diploma.

Hack Stone

The can always call back to active duty separated service members. The US Naval reserve had someone with such unique qualities desperately needed to project the US Navy’s might across the globe that they granted him not one, but two waivers for a Direct Commission. Time for Ensign Hunter Biden to pull the Dress Whites out of the old seabag and strut into the MPire Club on M Street and sweep some exotic stripper off of the stage and carry her into the Champagne Room as the other dancers cheer and the DJ plays the club mix of Up Where We Belong.

MustangCPT

BWAHAHAHAHAHA. 🤣🤣🤣

Anonymous

He’s tanned, rested and ready to party on liberty:
comment image

Last edited 9 months ago by Anonymous
Hack Stone

Hack Stone was speaking on the air with Chris Plante (WMAL/Washington DC) about the brief but distinguished military career of Ensign Hunter Biden and got a belly laugh from Chris when he said that Hunter Biden made Naval History by being the only Officer to have his Hail and his Farewell in the same week.

Army-Air Force Guy

It wasn’t his fault. He bummed a smoke from some dude who’d just been eating coke & came up hot on the pee test is all. Reminds me of the guy in my unit whose defense was a hitchhiker who stashed her stash under his pax seat. Got court marshalled anyway of course.

Hack Stone

Court-martialed, but we know what you meant.

And thanks to Al Gore’s Amazing Internet, Hack Stone offers up this bit of knowledge to help edjumicate the Adorable Deplorables:

Court-martial is hyphenated in US usage, whether used as a noun or a verb. However, in British usage, a hyphen is used to distinguish between the noun “court martial” and the verb “to court-martial”.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court-martial

Hack Stone

Now we know why Joe and Jill Biden are so proud of Hunter. This is truly inspiring.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask where are the Russian prostitutes.

Roh-Dog

The same Russians that “[kept] stealing [his] laptop”?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VumkGnQZzPI

What did Joe know, and when did he know it?

Last edited 9 months ago by Roh-Dog
Anonymous

Just like the escaped convicts who hid the Playboys under his bed as a kid…

Last edited 9 months ago by Anonymous
Anonymous

Hey, he missed Tailhook and had to catch up, you know…

Hack Stone

Hunter was busy consulting with Mayor Marion Barry at the time.

MustangCPT

The bitch set me up! – Marion Barry

Cocaine is a hell of a drug – Rick James

Hack Stone

Back around 2008 or so, City Council Member/Former Marion Barry was cited by US Park Police for being in a park after closing and having expired registration for his Jaguar. Council Member Barry disputed that the registration was expired, blaming it on a computer glitch. So Hack Stone went on the WTOP website (when they allowed comments) and posted that Marion Barry said “The glitch set me up.” A few hours later someone stole Hack Stone’s comment and posted under the Washington Post article about the event as his own. Hack Stone reached out to the producers of Judge Judy seeking some justice, still waiting on their response.

MustangCPT

She has a new show on Freevee called “Judy Justice”. Maybe you’ll have better luck there. By the way, what is it about sketchy motherfuckers in the National Capital Region driving Jaguars? Now I’m curious to find out if the mailbox at Marion Barry’s house was missing a door…

Hack Stone

What are the odds that Marion Barry stiffed the developer of his company website like the Vice President with the lucky sperm did to Fionta Incorporated for $8000? Hey, Fionta, if Psaul is going to stiff Bank of America, why would you think that he wouldn’t screw you over too?

Odie

I’ll ask. Just where are the Russian prostitutes. Nobody said anything about prostitutes.

TheCloser

NAVADMIN 303/23
 
RMKS/1. This NAVADMIN discusses the Military Service Obligation (MSO) and reiterates Selected Reserve (SELRES) requirements for first term officer and enlisted Sailors transitioning from Active Duty at the completion of their
Active Duty service obligation.
 
2. Background. As outlined in references (a) through (d), all Sailors incur an 8 year MSO, and any portion of which that is not completed on Active Duty or Active Duty for training must be completed in the Reserve Component. As directed in reference (e), all new enlistment and commissioning contracts executed on or after 1 October 2020 for Sailors under a 4 year Active Duty service obligation were written to include a minimum of 4 years Active Duty, followed by up to 2 years of SELRES service, and 2 years of Individual Ready
Reserve (IRR) service to reach the required 8 years total.
 
3. Policy. Any Sailor who entered into a Service contract on or after 1 October 2020, who is separating from Active Duty with less than 6 years’ Time in Service (TIS) is subject to required SELRES service as determined bythe needs of the Navy. The amount of time required in the SELRES is equal to
6 years minus the amount of Active Duty service (e.g., Sailors who separate with 4 years and 6 months of Active Duty service may be required to serve 1 year and 6 months in the SELRES). After completion of 6 years TIS, Sailors
may then be transitioned to the IRR to serve the remainder of their MSO.
Sailors transitioning from Active Duty to the SELRES are granted a 2 year deferment from involuntary mobilization.

TheCloser

It looks like the Reserve recruiting issue will be resolved starting 1 October 2024.

Roh-Dog

Ouch. A little sliding of the Haze Gray weenie at best, ex post facto contract manipulation at worst.

I wonder if this’ll hurt future recruiting?

TheCloser

My guess is it should hurt recruiting (and maybe already has), depending on how fine the print is.

Link to entire message:

https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Portals/55/Messages/NAVADMIN/NAV2023/NAV23303.txt?ver=p-DNPlgsb3SxsZsWwnYCfQ%3d%3d

Last edited 9 months ago by TheCloser
Green Thumb

Waiting for the ship to sink….

Sailorcurt

“The Navy said the policy change does not mean the service is lowering its standards”

Um…what?

“To meet recruiting goals we’re lowering the entry standards, but that doesn’t mean we’re lowering standards.”

Sure it doesn’t. Sort of like “We treat everyone equally so women only have to be able to do 20 pushups while men have to do 46 because women performing the exact same jobs as their male counterparts obviously do not need to be as strong…or something”.