The Air Force ties with the Coast Guard as the hardest service to join. The Air Force enlists about 27,800 new recruits per year (compared with the Army's 80,000 new recruits per year). In Fiscal Year 2009, the Air Force slightly increased their goal to 31,980 to make up for "down-sizing" too much in previous years. In FY 2010, the active duty recruiting goal has been set at 31,750.For the past several years, the Air Force has gotten more volunteers than they have slots for. In fact, they have met or exceeded their recruiting goals for the past 10 years in a roll. That allows the Air Force to be more "picky" when accepting applicants than the other services.
The Air Force requires a minimum ASVAB score of 36 to enlist, but your chances are much better for acceptance if you score a 50 or better. In Fiscal Year 2008, 79 percent of new Air Force recruits scored a 50 or better on the ASVAB, compared with the overal Department of Defense (DOD) average of 69 percent. In FY 2009, the number went down slightly to 73 percent. In both FY 2008 and 2009, only one percent of new recruits were allowed to enlist with a GED, compared to eight percent (FY 2008) and four percent (FY 2009) across DOD. Like the Coast Guard, the Air Force approves far fewer medical waivers and criminal history waivers than any other service branch. In 2008, only 8.9 percent of new Air Force recruits had a waiver. In 2009, that number decreased to 7.2 percent.
The Air Force accepts very few prior service applicants each year. Usually, in order to enlist, prior service applicants must already be qualified in an Air Force job that the Air Force considers critically undermanned, or they must qualify for, and agree to enlist in a special operations job, such as Pararescue or Combat Controller.
For the past several years, the Air Force has been decreasing in size. With advances in technology, it requires far fewer folks to operate and maintain their weapon systems. However, in the middle of 2008, the Secretary of Defense determined that the Air Force had gone too far in their down-sizing, and ordered them to stop. The Air Force recruiting goal for 2010 is 31,750 new recruits, compared to 31,980 in 2009.
Want to read more about the pros and cons of choosing the Air Force?
- Enlistment Incentives
- Job Opportunities
- Basic Training
- Assignment Opportunities
- Deployments
- Quality of Life
- Promotion Opportunities
- Educational Opportunities
- Enlisted Commissioning Programs
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