Report: Older recruits washing out at twice normal rate

Older recruits are washing out of the Army at nearly twice the rate of all new soldiers, according to the Pentagon, chipping away at the service's ability to fill its ranks.

Last year, the Army raised the maximum age of recruits twice, from 35 to 40 in January and to 42 in June. Since then, it has added 653 recruits 35 and older.

However, 11.4% of those older recruits washed out of the Army before serving one year, compared with 6.5% of all recruits, Army records show.

That's because the older recruits failed to meet medical or physical standards, says Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman.

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