Accuracy of Records and Reported Quality of Military Male Enlistees

GAO made verification tests to determine how widespread and serious improper recruiting practices are and the effect of such practices on the quality of recruits obtained by the services. The tests were made of a randomly selected sample of 1,600 male enlistees from the four military services who entered the services during January through June 1974 and who were still in the service when the sample was selected. The tests included verifying the services' records concerning (1) police records at the time of enlistment, (2) educational attainment, and (3) age at the time of enlistment.