A high school student takes the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Nov. 3, 2021. (Yasuo Osakabe/U.S. Air Force)
Sites across the United States that administer the military’s entrance exam have reopened following a shutdown that resulted from broad restrictions on federal civilian worker travel.
The U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command, which oversees Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery testing for the Defense Department, has resumed sending civilian proctors to testing sites, command spokesman Marshall Smith said.
Most locations reopened Friday and the remainder restarted testing as of Monday, Smith said. Testing for high schoolers also resumed Friday.
The command announced March 7 that it had reduced hours at or closed some of its 161 testing sites and suspended testing at certain high schools, but it didn’t specify how many testing sites or high schools were affected.
The disruption in ASVAB testing followed a Pentagon policy restricting civilian travel that is not mission-essential.
Although the military stations recruiters across the country, department regulations prevent them from administering the ASVAB in the communities they serve.
The test must be given by Military Entrance Processing Command personnel, about 80% of whom are civilians, Smith said.
It remains unclear how the reversal came about; however, the Pentagon does have latitude in determining what it deems essential.
Last week, hours after the Department of Defense Education Activity informed parents that sports events were canceled because of the restrictions on civilian travel, the school system was granted the authority to find alternative means and resume the games and tournaments.
ASVAB scores are primarily used to match prospective troops with military jobs that align with their skills and abilities, but hundreds of thousands of high school students also take the test each year for purposes unrelated to military service, Smith said.
Some states use the test as a career readiness assessment, while others use it to fulfill federal graduation requirements established by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.
The temporary reduction in ASVAB testing availability isn’t expected to affect military recruitment, Smith said. Command officials will work with schools to reschedule any missed testing sessions, he said.
