Complete Guide to Joining the Military (2026): Recruiter to First Duty

The recruiter will move fast. The language gets technical. This page is the join map: what the statute actually requires, what the ASVAB decides, what MEPS is for, and what DFAS pays a new enlisted member before anyone talks about bonuses.

It is not a second copy of the military pathway. Branch detail lives on the live 101s: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force. The test lives on ASVAB requirements. Keep this URL. Do not 301 it onto those pages.

Last verified: 2026-08-23.

30-second answer. Regular enlistment is 17 to 42. Under 18 needs written parental consent. 10 U.S.C. 504(b) lets a U.S. national or a lawful permanent resident enlist; Army's named door is a citizen or a valid I-551 Green Card. A diploma is desirable, not mandatory; a non-graduate needs an AFQT at or above the 31st percentile. Category V (1-9) cannot enlist. Branch AFQT floors vary; officialasvab.com says contact a recruiter. E-1 basic pay with four months is $2,407.20 a month effective January 1, 2026. E-4 over four years is $3,658.50. Enlisted BAS is $476.95.

The six branches, without a headcount

Six services. Pick one 101, do not collect MOS trivia from this page.

• Army 101
• Navy 101
• Air Force 101
• Marines 101
• Coast Guard 101
• Space Force 101

Active duty is a full-time contract. Reserve and National Guard are separate doors with their own age rules. 32 CFR 66.6 points Reserve age to 10 U.S.C. 12102, and original National Guard enlistment to 17 and under 45 (32 U.S.C. 313). Confirm the component in front of you. This page does not reprint a service-by-service maximum-age marketing table. The Regular statutory band is 17 to 42.

Enlisted or officer

Enlisted: you qualify, you pick a job the service will give you, you train. Officer: a commission. Regular officer appointment generally requires U.S. citizenship (10 U.S.C. 532). Army's officer door on goarmy.com: citizen by the time you commission, and a college graduate by then. Do not treat enlisted Green Card eligibility as an officer door.

What the statute actually requires

Age. 10 U.S.C. 505: Regular enlistment is not less than seventeen and not more than forty-two. No person under eighteen may be originally enlisted without the written consent of a parent or guardian entitled to custody and control. 32 CFR 66.6(b)(1)(i) restates 17 to 42 and adds prior-service maximum as 42 plus years of prior service. Army enlisted, on goarmy.com/how-to-join/requirements: 17 to 42. A service can run a tighter door than 42. Confirm that recruiter. Do not print the 2026-04-20 draft's Marines-28 / Navy-41 / Coast-Guard-31 table as if it were the statute.

Citizenship. 10 U.S.C. 504(b)(1): a person may be enlisted only if that person is a national of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, or a person described in the named compact provisions. Army's page names the common door: U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a valid Green Card (I-551). Regular officer appointment is citizenship (10 U.S.C. 532), with a narrow Secretary waiver for lawful permanent residents in 32 CFR 66.6(b)(2)(ii). MAVNI is not on these pages this unit. Do not restore it.

Education. 32 CFR 66.6(b)(3)(i): a high school diploma is desirable, although not mandatory. 10 U.S.C. 520: a person who is not a high school graduate may not be accepted unless the AFQT is at or above the thirty-first percentile. Alternative credentials can be assigned lower priority. Army enlisted: high school diploma or equivalent.

Character. 10 U.S.C. 504 prohibits enlisting a person convicted of a felony; a waiver exists in meritorious cases. That is a federal enlistment bar, not a TCOLE floor. TCOLE stays off this page.

Medical. MEPS screens against DoD Instruction 6130.03. Waivers exist. This page does not print a folklore list of disqualifying diagnoses.

The ASVAB is the gate. The AFQT is four subtests.

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is the exam. Four subtests make the Armed Forces Qualification Test: Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Arithmetic Reasoning, and Mathematics Knowledge (officialasvab.com FAQs, retrieved 2026-08-22,). AFQT is a percentile against a 1997 sample of 18-to-23-year-olds, not the percent of questions you got right.

officialasvab.com Enlistment Eligibility, read 2026-08-23:

Category IIIA or higher may qualify for enlistment incentives, per that page. The minimum AFQT required to qualify "varies across the different branches of service. Contact a military recruiter." This page does not print a 31 / 35 / 36 / 40 branch table. Those numbers are not on officialasvab.com.

32 CFR 66.6(b)(4)(i): Category V (1-9) is ineligible. 10 U.S.C. 520(a) caps Category IV accessions; ghost2 already opened that statute. Non-graduates still need the 31st percentile under 520(b).

Retest, CAT vs paper, and the two-year score window live on ASVAB requirements and ASVAB military entrance test. Study before you walk in. The job list you see at MEPS is a function of the score you brought.

MEPS is the processing station, not a second test

Military Entrance Processing Station is where the medical exam, the ASVAB if you have not already taken it, job selection, and the enlistment contract come together. officialasvab.com describes the computer-adaptive CAT-ASVAB at MEPS. This page does not print a count of MEPS locations. MEPCOM HEAD 403 this unit.

Anything you hid from the recruiter that surfaces at MEPS can end the day. Pre-screen honestly.

How much do new enlisted members get paid?

A junior enlisted base-pay number is not a city Step A. DFAS prints monthly basic pay by grade and years of service. BAH is a zip-code and dependent-status allowance. BAS is a published monthly rate. TRICARE is a benefit; it is not a dollar on this table.

Annual figures below are twelve times the printed monthly rate. DFAS does not print an annual column.

The E-4 stack is one case: one grade, one year-of-service column, one zip, with dependents. It is not "military pay." BAH for a different zip is a different number. Compare enlist-first vs a Texas municipal hire on military vs civilian firefighter.

Do not restore the 2026-04-20 draft's E-1 two-cell table. Those cells are not on the January 1, 2026 DFAS table. Do not restore unsourced officer, E-7, or BAH bands.

After the contract

You wait for a training seat. The wait is a function of the job, the branch, and the class calendar. This page does not print a 12-to-18-month clock. Confirm the date on the contract you actually sign.

Boot camp length and location are branch-specific. Use the 101 for that branch. This page does not reprint a six-row week-count table.

Later, not now: DoW SkillBridge is for service members with 180 days or fewer remaining (HEAD 200 this unit). Post-9/11 GI Bill mechanics live on VA education benefits (HEAD 200 this unit). This page does not print a tuition cap, a housing-allowance band, or a bonus range.

If the long game is a Texas fire or police hire after the contract, start at the military pathway and veterans preference. Do not follow a still-404 Texas-transition slug from this page.

What to do this week

1. Read 10 U.S.C. 505 and 504(b) so you know the floor before a recruiter paraphrases it.
2. Study the four AFQT subtests. The live study-aid is ASVAB requirements.
3. Pick one branch 101 and one recruiter. Do not shop six offices for a week and sign the first job that is open that afternoon.
4. If you are 17, get the written parental consent 505 requires before MEPS, not after.

When you want a candidate file on this site, register.

What this page cut from the old draft

The 2026-04-20 reference markdown is not restored wholesale.

• Active / Reserve / Guard headcounts and branch sizes: cut.
• Service maximum-age marketing table (Marines 28, Navy 41, Air Force 39, Coast Guard 31): cut as a statute. 505 is 17 to 42.
• "82 percent enlisted" and "8 percent bachelor's": cut.
• Branch AFQT floors 31 / 35 / 36 / 40 and GED 50 / 65: cut. officialasvab.com says they vary.
• MOS job-code strings and MOS-school week counts: cut.
• 65 MEPS locations: cut. MEPCOM HEAD 403 this unit.
• Old E-1 two-cell table and unsourced officer / E-7 bands: cut.
• Bonus $5,000 to over $90,000 and Tuition Assistance $4,500: cut.
• VA disability $171 / $3,800: cut.
• 12-to-18-month first-duty clock and PiCAT-as-required: cut.
• In-body links to still-404 slugs (Texas firefighter-transition, date-prefix ASVAB, National Guard pathway): cut.
• Ready Card / baseball-card product pitch: cut.
• MAVNI: cut.