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Military Planning to Fingerprint Recruits NewsMax.com WiresMORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The Pentagon is developing a fingerprinting system to prevent recruits from sending ``ringers'' to take the military aptitude test and the physical exam for them. ``The person who talks to the recruiter has to be the same person who takes the test, has to be the same person who takes the medical exam, has to be the same person who reports to basic training,'' said John D. Woodward Jr., director of the Defense Department's Biometrics Management Office in Washington. Story Continues Below Woodward said the U.S. military cannot say how many people try to cheat on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, ``but there certainly is anecdotal evidence of individuals sending in a ringer.'' The Pentagon has enlisted the Biometrics Fusion Center in Clarksburg to help develop the fingerprinting procedure. The details have yet to be worked out, but an electronic fingerprint reader would be used to identify those who show up for testing. A pilot program will begin later this year at military processing stations in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Honolulu and San Juan, Puerto Rico, along with 21 mobile testing sites. Eventually, it could go nationwide. The ASVAB, a multiple choice-style test, measures mathematical and general science knowledge, mechanical comprehension, and information about automobiles, tools, electricity and electronics. It helps gauge how a recruit might fare and which jobs might suit him or her. Soldiers are fingerprinted now, along with civil servants and private contractors with security clearances. The pilot project would simply apply that requirement earlier in the process, to recruits, Woodward said. With the $2 million pilot project, the military also aims to eliminate time-consuming paperwork and create a universal e-signature system. About 240,000 men and women enter the U.S. military each year. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Greg Palmer, a recruiter in Wheeling for three years, said he is confident the fingerprinting will not slow things down at all. ``There's a gazillion safety checks all along the way anyway,'' he said, ``so what's one more?'' © 2005 The Associated Press
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