Expert: MARK A. HOWELL - 11/16/2009

Question
I'm looking to either join the air force, coast guard, navy, or national guard but i have a misdemeanor drug charge from January of 07 it was my first and last offense now my question is will any of these services take me with that? and i'm not sure if it makes a difference but i have a g.e.d. instead of a high school diploma  

Answer
Austin,
Your misdemeanor is easily waived by most Services but your GED may cause some problems.

Each of the services strictly limit the number of high school dropouts (which includes GED holders) who can enlist each year. This is because years of military enlistment statistics have shown that this category of enlistees fail to complete their entire first term of military service at about twice the rate of those with a high school diploma or those with college credits.

The Air Force is the most strict on this matter.  The Air Force allows less than 1% of annual enlistments to be recruits without a high school diploma.  The Marines have the next highest standards.  No more than 5% of Marine recruits can be GED-holders.  The Coast Guard only accepts GED candidates if they have prior military service.  Army and the Navy both allow no more than 10% GED enlistments each year.  So your chances of joining with a GED is better with the Army or the Navy.

There are always many more GED-holders who want to enlist than there are available slots, so -- even to be considered -- a GED holder must score much higher on the ASVAB, than a high school diploma recruit.  However, if you have 15 or more college credits (which is 5 classes, because each class is usually worth 3 credits), you are in the exact same enlistment category as a high school diploma holder.

However, there are many factors enlisting with a GED as opposed to enlisting with a traditional High School diploma.  These are:
- You must obtain a 65 qualifying score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude
Battery (ASVAB).
- GED applicants must wait on slots to become available, and this can sometimes mean
waiting periods of up to one year.

So go talk to the Army or the Navy (or both) and see who still has room in their quota to accept you.  The National Guard should probably be your last choice because it's just a part-time job.

Good luck,
Colonel H