ATLANTA — Social media ads make it appear the U.S. Armed Forces are recruiting senior citizens for jobs in the military.
Question
Are seniors eligible for active duty?
Sources
Answer
No, seniors can’t join the active military.
What we found
The Department of Defense said they aren’t running any ads on social media calling on seniors for military service.
Congress sets age limits to enlist in active duty, and U.S. laws states you can be no younger than 17 and no older than 42. So, high school seniors can join but the law does not allow a senior citizen to enlist in the active military.
At one time, the maximum age was 35, but the National Defense Authorization Act that passed in 2006 increased the age to 42 to help with military recruitment.
While there are rare examples of individuals outside of that age range serving, these are rare. According to its website, the Army can lift some age restrictions depending on need.
And the AARP website features several seniors who switched careers following the September 11 attacks, such as Col. Frederick Lough. He left the Army in 1987 only to join the U.S. Army Medical Corps Reserves at the age of 58. He was deployed as a surgeon to Afghanistan.
However, most positions for seniors in the military are, in fact, civilian jobs. The Department of Defense said there are no age restrictions when it comes to those positions.
So we can Verify that, in general, seniors can’t join the active military. Any opportunities for the country’s older population related to the military would be civilian jobs.