Army Touts Success of Fat Camp And Academic Prep Course After One Year, But Recruiting Still Lags Behind Goals

by Micaela Burrow

One year after implementation, the Army’s fitness and academic prep course has produced nearly 9,000 graduates, a 95% success rate that chips away at the Army’s recruiting struggles, the Army said Tuesday.

The Army brought an initial 1,900 potential recruits who couldn’t meet academic or physical fitness standards through a pilot program that began in August 2022 to boost test scores, and expanded the program to a second training base in January. Service leaders have also increased recruitment bonuses for soldiers to hopefully provide more incentive for prospective servicemembers to enter high-skilled military occupations, and over the past 12 months the Army gave out more than $15.5 million in bonuses to prep course graduates, according to an Army news article.

“The results from the Future Soldier Preparatory Course have been very encouraging, providing more than 8,800 young men and women a path to serve in our all-volunteer force,” Gen. Gary M. Brito, the commanding general for U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), said.

The Army will keep exploring ways to increase the recruiting pool and provide a path to service for willing recruits who may not meet entrance standards, “which we have not and will not lower,” Brito emphasized.

The more than 8,800 recruits who graduated either the physical fitness or academic tracks have progressed to basic training, a TRADOC spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Average scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a uniform test taken by every applicant that often determines the scope of possible career paths open to the applicant, went up 18.5 points on average, according to the Army.

Participants in the fitness track lost an average of 17% body fat per week, according to the Army. The Army changed the standard method of measuring body fat in June, as a previous method was found to underestimate body fat percentages.

“I started with an ASVAB score of 38 and my MOS was 91B, which is a wheeled vehicle mechanic,” Pvt. Nia Bautista, a recent graduate, told the Army. “Through the program, I was able to increase my ASVAB score to 90 and qualified to change my job to MOS 68W, which is a combat medic. I qualified for a bonus of $7,500 and for Airborne School.”

Today marks the @USArmy Future Soldier Prep Course 1-Year Anniversary providing a path to #BeAllYouCanBe

– 8,800+ graduates
– 95% graduation rate
– ASVAB scores increased average of 18.5 points
– Lost average of 1.7% body fat per week
– $15.5M in bonuseshttps://t.co/Xm8lILZrYX pic.twitter.com/hq3xT9OZcC

— U.S. Army CIMT (@USACIMT) August 8, 2023

Army planners estimate that only around 23% of young people in America meet the physical and academic requirements to serve, while even fewer — about 10% — express a desire to join.

The Army will fall thousands of troops short of its recruiting goal for 2023, despite new efforts to improve outreach after already failing to hit its goal in 2022, service secretary Christine Wormuth said in May. At the time, officials said about 3,300 out of 4,000 prep course participants had graduated the program.

The Army sought to add 65,000 new active-duty soldiers to the ranks by the end of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2023, a target officials defined as a “stretch goal” after falling 15,000 troops short of its even smaller goal of 60,000 for the year before. After initial optimism, it’s likely the Army will miss that 2023 goal as fewer young Americans are both willing and eligible to serve, Wormuth told Congress.

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Micaela Burrow is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.

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