Air Force Raises Age Limit for Recruits. How Many Will Use It?

The Department of the Air Force expects to add about 50 more recruits per year after lifting its maximum age limit for initial accession from 39 years old to 42 on Oct. 24, the latest in a long series of efforts to expand the talent pool in the midst of an ongoing recruiting shortage. The change applies to both officers and enlisted in both the Air Force and Space Force

“This opens the aperture to allow more Americans the opportunity to serve,” Leslie Brown, chief of public affairs for the Air Force Recruiting Service, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “The accession age of 42 allows an Airman or Guardian to serve a full 20 years, since the retirement age is 62.”