Army Opens Doors Wide to Home School Graduate
Chris Klicka, HSLDA

Ever since HSLDA drafted and convinced Congress to pass a five year pilot
project in 1998 to place all homeschoolers in Tier I category of military
enlistment, homeschoolers have proven themselves with faithful service in
the Armed Services. The Army has especially taken note and wants home school graduates.

A recent Defense Department survey conducted in 1994 analyzed the home
school enlistees attrition rates and performance in the military. Homeschool
graduates serving in the Army showed good results.

For example, home schoolers enlisting in the Army have consistently scored, on the average, as high as traditional public school graduates on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). For the first 12 months, their attrition rate was as low as public school graduates. Legal Waivers for drug and alcohol offenses committed prior to enlistment were 0%. And only 1.8 of all homeschool Army Recruits who left the Army received Less than Honorable Discharges.

After working with the Army the last 6 years on homeschool recruitment
issues, Chris Klicka, HSLDA Senior Counsel was told that the Army has
started a new push to obtain home school graduates. In spite of the ending
of the 5 year pilot project in October 2004 that placed homeschoolers
officially back in Tier II, the Army has chosen to open the door wide for
home school graduates and not apply any Tier categories to qualifying home school graduates. That means they have all the same benefits and positions that are available to traditional high school graduates.

The Army is able to this with the blessing of the Defense Department. When
the Defense Department refused to renew the five year pilot project last
October effectively blocking home schoolers from most of the Armed Services, Chris Klicka called a counsel in the Bush Administration, who we have worked before, to help with this problem. He arranged for a meeting with an Assistant Secretary of Defense on the White House grounds. Klicka presented the problem and urged for a renewal of Tier I status for home school graduate.

After following up with a Deputy Assistant Secretary, Klicka finally
secured a January 21, 2005 directive-type memorandum that "afforded
priority enlistment with no practical limit" to home schoolers without
having to obtain a GED.

The Army now offers qualified home school graduates a variety of enlistment incentives when they enlist. In fact, enlistment of home school seniors into the Future Soldiers program is also authorized.

Under current Army policy, applicants who qualify as a home school graduate will now be eligible for the same enlistment incentives as a traditional high school graduate.

This is part of a special test program the Army is developing to predict
first-term attrition among Army enlistees. Currently, the best single
predictor of an individual's likelihood of adapting to the military is a
traditional high school diploma. However, many individuals with alternative
education experiences like home school are successful in the military. The
goal of this new program is to identify applicants who are likely to adapt
to the Army and successfully complete their first term of service.

Home school graduates seeking to enlist in the military need to meet the
following criteria:

1) a home school diploma and transcripts are required at the time of
enlistment. The course work must involve parental supervision and the
transcript must reflect the normal credit hours per subject used in
traditional high school

2) Must score 31 or above on the ASVAB.

3) Must take the Assessment of Individual Motivation (AIM) test, which is
20-minute pencil & paper test. The AIM test score will be used to obtain
data and will not effect his/her enlistment.

4) At a minimum the last academic year (9 months) must be completed in a
home school environment.

For more information on this new pilot program, home school parents and
students should contact the local Army recruiter. If any home school
graduates have problems with the recruitment process, they should
immediately call HSLDA and our legal staff will assist member families.

We are thankful for the Army's open door policy for all home school
graduates who want to serve their country in this capacity.