The American military is doing something it hasn’t done in years. It’s getting bigger.
Congress recently authorized an increase of more than 26,000 active-duty service members through the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, with the Army picking up 11,700 new soldiers and the Navy adding 12,300 sailors. The Air Force and Space Force are growing too. After several rough years of missed recruitment targets, every single branch met or exceeded its goals in 2025, and the Department of Defense says 2026 is already off to a historic start.
For anyone thinking about enlisting, this is genuinely good timing. More open slots mean more available jobs, better signing bonuses, and a wider path into the branch of your choice. But here is the part most people overlook — none of that matters if you don’t score well on the ASVAB.
The Importance of Your ASVAB Score That You Might Not Understand
A standardized test called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is required of all enlisted recruits. It covers nine subjects, from math and science to mechanical comprehension and electronics. Four of those sections feed into your AFQT score, which is the number that determines whether you even qualify to enlist.
Each branch sets its own minimum. The Army and Marines require at least a 31, the Air Force wants a 36, and the Coast Guard asks for a 40. Sounds manageable, right? The catch is that the minimum only gets you through the door. Your composite scores from all nine sections are what determine which specific jobs you can pursue after basic training. A recruit with a 93 AFQT has access to nearly every role in the military — cybersecurity, aviation, intelligence, nuclear engineering. Someone who barely scraped by with a 31 is looking at a much shorter list.
That gap is the difference between choosing your career and having one chosen for you.
Preparation Is the Equalizer
The good news is that the ASVAB is not an IQ test. Preparation pays off. The format is predictable, the subjects are learnable, and there are no trick questions meant to stump you. Candidates who put in the effort to study, particularly with a good ASVAB practice test routinely achieve better scores and are able to pursue career options that they otherwise would not have been able to.
This appears to be acknowledged by the military itself. For recruits with scores as low as 21, the Army’s Future Soldier Preparatory Course now offers a 90-day academic option that includes structured classroom time and an opportunity to retake the test. It’s evidence that even the Department of Defense thinks greater results come from better preparation.
The Bottom Line
2026 is looking like a fantastic year to enroll, with troop levels increasing and recruitment momentum at its highest level in more than ten years. The recruits who simply turn up, however, are not the ones who will benefit the most from this opportunity.
They are the ones who show up ready.
Spend the time. Study the material. Walk into that testing center knowing you’ve already put in the work. Your ASVAB score is one of the few things in the enlistment process you can actually control — so make it count.
