Can You Join the Military With a GED? Yes. Check Your Score by Branch

Can you join the military with a GED? Yes. If you’ve worried that a GED shuts you out, it doesn’t.

The catch? The bar is higher than with a diploma, and most branches’ recruiting sites don’t say how much higher. Every rule in this guide comes from an official military site or Defense Department document, checked October 2026.

Check your AFQT score against every branch

Type your AFQT score and choose GED or diploma. A marker slides to your spot on the AFQT scale, and each row shows the minimum we found on that branch’s recruiting site.

Where we couldn’t find a number, a recruiter is the person to ask. The questions below help you get a straight answer.

GED military requirements, branch by branch

Here’s the minimum AFQT score on each branch’s recruiting site, and what official sources say about GED holders in each one.

We left out the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard reserves. We found no official page on how they treat a GED.

Each branch has other rules too, such as age limits and fitness standards. A recruiter can tell you which ones apply to you.

Seen different numbers on other sites? Check where they came from. Every number in this table links to the official page it comes from.

What Tier 2 means, and why a GED faces a higher bar

The Defense Department sorts new recruits into three education tiers. Its rule on recruit quality, DoD Instruction 1145.01, defines them:

• Tier 1: “high school diploma graduates, college degree holders or some college credits”
• Tier 2: “alternative credential holders”
• Tier 3: people with no diploma or alternative credential who score 31 or higher on the AFQT, taken only as the law permits

DoD’s rule doesn’t name the GED. The Army’s enlistment rules (AR 601-210, effective December 8, 2023) do: they put a GED “obtained solely by testing” in Tier 2.

Here’s why the tier matters. DoD aims for at least 90% of each year’s new recruits to be Tier 1 diploma graduates. That leaves at most about 10%, mainly for Tier 2.

DoD bases that goal on “the relationship between education credentials and first-term attrition.” In plain English: how often recruits with each credential leave early for negative reasons.

The Air Force’s own numbers show it. In fiscal year 2025, 1.6% of its new active-duty recruits had a GED, and 97.5% had a diploma. That’s from its Recruiting Snapshot, current as of March 2026.

The Defense Department’s Today’s Military site sums it up: “A high school diploma is most desirable.”

Outside the military, a GED counts the same as a diploma for most things, like federal student aid and most jobs. Our GED vs high school diploma guide shows where.

Your AFQT score: what the number means

Why recruiters call it your “ASVAB score”

The ASVAB is the test. Your AFQT (Armed Forces Qualification Test) score comes from four parts of it, and the Army says it “determines your eligibility to join.”

Recruiting sites often call that number your “ASVAB score.” The Army’s ASVAB page uses both names: you need “an ASVAB score of at least 31,” and your AFQT needs “a score of at least 31.” It’s the same 31.

The four parts are Arithmetic Reasoning, Mathematics Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension and Word Knowledge. So two of the four are math.

What a percentile means

Your AFQT is a percentile from 1 to 99. It shows the share of a reference group that scored at or below your score. That group is 18- to 23-year-olds who took the ASVAB in a national study in 1997.

Think of a child’s growth chart at the doctor’s office. A child at the 50th percentile for height isn’t “50% tall.” They’re as tall as or taller than half the children on the chart.

Your AFQT works the same way. A 50 means you scored as well as or better than half of that 1997 group. And a 31 doesn’t mean you got 31% right.

Don’t mix it up with your GED scores, which run from 100 to 200, with 145 to pass each subject. GED scores explained covers those.

AFQT categories, and why 50 matters

DoD groups AFQT scores into categories:

Three ranges in that table matter most:

• 50 and up (Category IIIA or higher). You may qualify for enlistment incentives, and DoD wants 60% of each year’s recruits here. It’s also the GED minimum in the Air Force and Marine Corps.
• 10 to 30 (Category IV). DoD lets no more than 4% of new recruits come from this group.
• Below 10 (Category V). DoD rules say no one in this group may enlist.

So if you have a GED, aim for 50 or higher.

How to improve your chances with a GED

The good news? Some of what counts is up to you. Here are four things that help.

1. Raise your AFQT score

It’s the number you control. A 50 clears the GED minimum in the Air Force and Marine Corps. And Today’s Military says a small percentage of GED holders may join the Marines each year, “provided they score well on the ASVAB test.”

Plan your retests, though. The Army’s site says you wait one calendar month after your first test. A third test comes at least six calendar months after the second.

2. Earn some college credit

DoD’s Tier 1 includes people with “some college credits.” The Army spells out how many: its enlistment rules count 15 semester hours, or 22 quarter hours, of college credit as Tier 1.

Today’s Military also lists “GED with 15 college credits” as a credential of its own. But we found no 2026 page from another branch that confirms a credit rule, so ask a recruiter how many credits your branch wants and which kinds count before you enroll.

3. Ask about the Army or Navy prep course

Both branches describe courses that help recruits qualify. Here’s what their pages say (checked October 2026):

• Army Future Soldier Preparatory Course. Its academic track takes scores from 21 and runs 90 days, with training on every ASVAB subject and chances to retake the test. Scores from 31 to 49 may qualify for a second option: 30 days of classes with one chance to improve your score. A fitness track helps recruits reach the Army’s body fat standard.
• Navy Future Sailor Preparatory Course. Its academic track, FSPC-A, may take recruits who scored below 31, “based upon the needs of the Navy.” It’s a 3-week course, launched in January 2024 (per a December 2025 DoD Inspector General report), and you may be allowed to repeat it up to 2 times. A fitness track takes recruits up to 6% over the Navy’s body fat standards.

One thing neither course page says: whether GED holders can join. Ask your recruiter directly.

4. Ask a recruiter these questions

Where we couldn’t find a GED number, the branch’s recruiters are the people to ask. Take these questions with you:

1. What’s the minimum AFQT score for a GED holder in your branch right now?
2. How many college credits would put me in Tier 1, and which kinds count?
3. Can a GED holder join your prep course?
4. Which jobs can I get with a GED? (Today’s Military says enlisted jobs require a diploma, “although with certain exceptions a GED is acceptable.”)
5. If I retest, which score counts?

Rules change, and each branch sets its own. It’s fine to talk to recruiters from more than one.

The officer route: a bachelor’s degree first

A GED can get you in as an enlisted member. Officers are different: Today’s Military says “almost all officer positions require a four-year degree or equivalent.”

Here’s what each branch says:

• Army: you must “be a college graduate by the time you’re commissioned.”
• Navy: you need “a bachelor’s degree or completion of a four-year degree program” by the time you’re commissioned. College graduates can apply to Officer Candidate School (OCS).
• Air Force: Officer Training School (OTS) is “for those entering the Air Force with a college degree.”
• Space Force: officers come through the Air Force Academy, ROTC or OTS, and “education requirements vary based on your program of interest.”
• Marine Corps: officers need a degree from an accredited four-year university before they’re commissioned. Enlisted Marines can apply to earn a degree and then seek a commission.
• Coast Guard: Officer Candidate School asks for a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited school, according to its officer application guide (updated March 2024).

One thing no official page we found answers: whether a GED holder with a bachelor’s degree is treated differently. The Marine Corps’ requirements page mentions “both a high school diploma and a bachelor’s degree,” while its FAQ mentions only the degree.

If that’s your path, ask an officer recruiter early.

Bottom line: for a GED holder, the officer route starts with college. Here’s how colleges treat a GED.

Still working on your GED? Start with the math

Almost every route above runs through the credential itself. And math shows up on both tests: the GED has a math test, and two of the four AFQT subtests are math.

It’s also the subject most people have left. GED Testing Service looked at people who had passed three of the four subjects, and for 82% of them, the one left was math.

Take our free GED math practice test to see where you stand. It has 46 questions on a 115-minute clock, explains every answer and needs no sign-up.

New to all of this? Here’s how to get your GED, step by step.