They're less concerned with getting top talent among the enlisted men -- that's what officers are for -- and instead want to avoid really dumb soldiers. That's

They're less concerned with getting top talent among the enlisted men -- that's what officers are for -- and instead want to avoid really dumb soldiers. That's what the minimum cut-off scores are for. There was an experiment during the Vietnam war where they waived these restrictions [1], and the results were a disaster for both the army and the low-scoring people who were let in. [1] https://www.gwern.net/reviews/McNamara https://www.gwern.net/reviews/McNamara