Testing centers where military recruits take their initial screening tests re-opened this week following a round of budget cuts recommended by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The sites administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, ASVAB, which all hopeful future service members must take before enlisting in the military and which plays a major role in determining the jobs they might qualify for. The test assesses science, math, and language skills. Each service has a minimum score recruits must meet to join, and many jobs within the service — such as computer-heavy work or mechanical skills — require higher scores. Applicants can go to one of the 65 Military Entrance Processing Stations, or MEPS, but for would-be recruits with no accessible MEPS near their homes, the military runs temporary Military Entrance Testing sites.
MET sites are located across the U.S. and hosted at high schools, federal government offices, National Guard armories, or Reserve centers.
Staffers at DOGE recommended that the Pentagon cancel funding used by military officials to travel to the sites, forcing their closure for testing. DOGE staffers deemed the travel as “non-essential.”
Most of the sites resumed operations on Friday and on Monday all are expected to re-open with their normal business hours, United States Military Entrance Processing Command (USMEPCOM), confirmed in a statement.
“Civilian travel in support of USMEPCOM operations, to include testing administrators traveling to administer tests at high schools and Military Entrance Testing Sites, has resumed,” Marshall Smith, a spokesperson for USMEPCOM, said in a statement.
Last week, Task & Purpose reported that the closure of the sites would impact the military’s recruitment efforts, an issue that the services have been trying to address after years of missed goals. Officials with USMEPCOM announced in a Facebook post that some sites were forced to close and reduce hours because of Pentagon-directed cuts to “non-essential” travel for Department of Defense civilians who run the centers. The Pentagon order referred to an executive order by President Donald Trump to implement DOGE-recommended cuts across the government, which included more oversight on federally funded travel.
Officials said last week that they were looking into “alternative means” for funding the sites but Smith told Task & Purpose that the funding for civilian travel will continue as it did previously.
“There’s no special funding or process,” he said.
The DoD’s Student Testing Program had also been impacted by the budget cuts, but resumed operations, officials said. The program, which recruiters use to get a sense of potential high schoolers interested in pursuing a military career, is offered to 10th, 11th and 12 grades, at DoD-run schools and job corps centers.
MEPS personnel will coordinate with partner schools to reschedule testing sessions, Smith said.
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