Final News story

Minnesota Army National Guard raises its ASVAB requirement score to 50. Making the Minnesota Army National Guard have the highest requirement on the ASVAB, among the US armed forces for high school graduates.

The ASVAB stands for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. This test has been taken by every serviceman currently serving in the US armed forces. This test measures a possible serviceman’s math, english, science and mechanical skills. The test is used to gauge what jobs the possible serviceman can do if he or she does choose to join the military. Every job has required scores to secure them. The Army National Guard recruiters secure a job for the recruit days before they go up to take the test. Every branch has some form of job security for new recruits but Army National Guard is the only one that gives 100 percent job security.
The test is administered at over 14,000 high schools as well as every processing station for the armed services in the country.

Interviewing the #2 recruiter in the nation who is also an Iraq War veteran Staff Sergeant Blauert with the Minnesota Army National Guard when asked why is the Minnesota Army National Guard raising its ASVAB requirement the answered was “The Minnesota Army National Guard is 140 percent full which is great but we can only be 200 percent full during war time so the guard has become more and more picky when it comes time to choose who can serve in the guard. One of the ways they‘re doing this is by raising the ASVAB to 50 also by not allowing some physical waivers to go through.”

However this test does not stop people who want to join.

The military has made a pretest for the ASVAB that is usually accurate within five points enabling a recruiter to gauge whether or not a possible serviceman is ready to take the test. If the test taker is not ready the recruiter refers him or her to an ASVAB or dummies book or the countless ASVAB study guides that are online.
Robert who is a senior at high school never had the motivation to learn until he had to pass this test. He struggled through high school and now wants to serve.“I just want to join the military to serve my country and turn my life around!”

In order to pass the test Robert has started study sessions with eight other individuals who wish to join the military but need to pass the test. In meeting the teacher who teaches these individuals the questions was asked “What is holding back these people from joining the military?” his answer was a simple one. “The test has the math section of the exam heavily weighed because there are two math sections on the test. On the ASVAB basic math skills are tested without the use of the calculator. Skills that many high school seniors have forgotten or require them to brush up on before the test.”

A possible serviceman may take the test as many times as he or she would like but if the test score is not the minimum requirement he or she will have to wait 30 days. If there is another fail after that he or she will have to wait 6 months to retest.
The Army National Guard offers many incentives to join which include steady paycheck and free college. Many recruits that join the National Guard train for a job that will directly transfer to civilian jobs. Robert wants to be a diesel mechanic which he hopes to then find a civilian job by using the training received.