All-Volunteer Military Meets Recruiting Goals

The all-volunteer armed services met or exceeded their recruiting goals for the eighth consecutive year in fiscal 1987 without lowering their standards for high school graduates, it was announced Tuesday.

The Defense Department, in its manpower report for the year ended Sept. 30, said 93% of new recruits had a high school diploma, up one percentage point from the fiscal 1986 figure. Those results are significantly above the high school graduation rates for the American youth population as a whole--roughly 75%--showing the military continues to enjoy unusual success in attracting the top strata of 18-year-old men and women, said Dr. David J. Armor, principal deputy assistant defense secretary for manpower.