WASHINGTON – A remedial course designed to prepare potential Army recruits for basic training will become a permanent part of the service’s strategy in overcoming its sagging enlistment numbers, officials said.
The Army’s Future Soldier Preparatory Course was launched at Fort Jackson, S.C., in August 2022 as an experiment to help young Americans qualify physically and academically for military service.
With higher obesity rates in America and fewer young people qualified to meet the Army’s entry standards, the service hoped the course would give those who don’t qualify much-needed time and training to get in shape. Service leaders said the yearlong test has worked.
The Army said it has had a 95% graduation rate from the prep course since the program started, a figure that service leaders called “an overwhelming level of success.
” The results led the service to open the course at a second base — Fort Moore, Ga. — earlier this year. Officials said further expansion is possible.
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