Uncle Sam wants you – even if you’re 42 years old

The Defense Department quietly asked Congress on Monday to raise the maximum age for military recruits to 42 for all branches of the service.

Obviously, this request was not prompted by the Air Force or the Marine Corps as they stop accepting people for enlistment well under the current statutory limit of 34 now (27 and 28 respectively).

Let me start by saying I'm unequivocally opposed to general enlistment of recruits past the age of 30. Why? Well, there are several reasons but the most important is it will adversely affect readiness. I typed a very long post hacking this idea to pieces but decided in the end that I was taking too many words to state the obvious.

Bottom line. Military service is a young mans game. If the Army is having difficulty attracting new employees they (Congress) needs to handle it like in the civilian sector and make the benefits package more enticing.