FY2025 NDAA: Medical Standards to Join the Military (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Sept. 26, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IN12428 |
| Report Type |
Insight |
| Authors |
Bryce H. P. Mendez |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Congress has established broad qualifications that individuals must meet in order to join the military (i.e.,
military accession). By statute, a secretary of a military department may enlist “qualified, effective, and
able-bodied persons” (10 U.S.C. §505(a)), or appoint individuals seeking a commission in the military
who are “physically qualified for active service” (10 U.S.C. §532(a)). Department of Defense (DOD)
Instruction 6130.03, Volume 1, implements these authorities through the establishment of “common
medical standards for appointment, enlistment, or induction of personnel” into the military. The policy
generally requires individuals considered for entry in the military to be “free of contagious diseases” and
free of certain “medical conditions or physical defects,” “medically capable” to perform military trainings
and duty without “aggravating existing physical defects or medical conditions,” and “medically adaptable
to the military environment without geographical area limitations.”
DOD policy also lists over 400 medical conditions that otherwise disqualify individuals from military
service. Some of these conditions may be waived under certain circumstances.
During ongoing deliberations on a National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025
NDAA), some Members of Congress have expressed interest in DOD’s medical standards and processes
used to evaluate an applicant’s fitness for military service.
Table 1 lists the proposed provisions related to accession medical standards included in the House-passed
(H.R. 8070) and Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC)-reported (S. 4638) versions of an FY2025
NDAA.
