As the service struggles to meet its recruiting quotas at a rate not recently seen in the all-volunteer force era, the Army is poised to expand the pre-boot camp course it established to help young Americans improve their fitness and test scores in order to sign permanent contracts.

The Army launched the Future Soldier Preparatory Course at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in August. An Army Times reporter embedded there for two days to document the service’s efforts to help hopeful troops with excess body fat or low test scores make enough progress to enlist.

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Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in November that the course has seen 93% of students in the academic track improve their Armed Forces Qualification Test scores enough to move on to basic training, and between 83 and 85% of applicants there in the fitness course have successfully lost enough body fat to sign permanent contracts.

“I think we’re going to expand that program to other locations,” said Wormuth in an interview at the Center for a New American Security, Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “We have more young Americans who want to do it than we can accommodate right now at Fort Jackson.”

She also suggested a virtual option for the academic track, but it’s not clear if Army planners are preparing one.

An Army official speaking on background indicated that the academic track is likely to expand first to Fort Benning, Georgia, and officials at Fort Jackson will also increase capacity there.

Davis Winkie covers the Army for Military Times. He studied history at Vanderbilt and UNC-Chapel Hill, and served five years in the Army Guard. His investigations earned the Society of Professional Journalists' 2023 Sunshine Award and consecutive Military Reporters and Editors honors, among others. Davis was also a 2022 Livingston Awards finalist.

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