DEP Requirements and Activities

Swear in at MEPS, sign your enlistment contract, and you enter the Delayed Enlistment Program: a holding period of up to 365 days before you ship to Basic Military Training. It is not passive waiting. As of early 2025 the Air Force had over 13,800 recruits in DEP, a record high following policy changes to body composition standards and tattoo rules (1), and every one of them is expected to stay qualified, stay in contact, and stay out of trouble until their ship date.

One meeting a month, minimum

DEP Commander's Calls are structured monthly meetings run by your recruiter's office. DAFMAN 36-2032, the recruiting regulation updated in January 2025, requires face-to-face contact with a recruiter at least once every 30 days (2). Many offices meet twice monthly or add separate weekly PT sessions on top.

A typical meeting runs one to two hours: height and weight checks, paperwork confirming no arrests or status changes, Airman's Creed recitation, basic drill and ceremony practice, and BMT knowledge prep (chain of command, reporting statements, military time). The standard dress code is a blue Air Force shirt, athletic pants or shorts, and athletic shoes, and many offices mix in morale events (bowling, basketball, laser tag) to build camaraderie.

The most useful people in the room are often Recruiter Assistance Program (RAP) participants: recent BMT and tech school graduates back in their hometowns under DAFI 36-3003, answering real questions about what training is actually like. Write your questions down beforehand and ask them directly.

Expected, but not enforceable

Your recruiter expects you at every meeting, and treating attendance as optional is a bad strategy. But DAFMAN 36-2032 explicitly prohibits recruiters from forcing applicants to report or threatening legal action against those who refuse to enter active duty (2). During DEP you're in the Inactive Reserve, not on active duty: you receive no military pay, and DEP events aren't protected under USERRA, so your employer isn't required to excuse you from work.

If you can't attend, notify your recruiter beforehand and schedule a makeup meeting. Missing without notice damages the professional relationship and can end in DEP discharge. The stakes are practical, not criminal.

Check-ins tighten as your ship date closes

Between Commander's Calls, plan on weekly contact with your recruiter by phone or text. In your final 30 days, expect in-person meetings every week plus 30-day, 15-day, and final departure briefings, where your recruiter covers pre-departure paperwork, packing guidance, and what to expect when you ship to BMT.

Every check-in verifies you still meet standards: weight, height, eligibility changes, paperwork, and updates on job assignments or ship dates. When you exceed the standard weight-for-height limits, the body fat maximums are 26% for males and 36% for females (2). Exceed standards on your ship date and you're looking at a delayed departure or DEP discharge.

Report everything. Immediately.

Mandatory reporting covers every area that could affect your qualification:

• Legal: any arrest, citation, court appearance, or traffic ticket. Even a speeding ticket, even a disorderly conduct charge that gets dropped. The violation itself is rarely disqualifying; hiding it is.
• Medical: injuries, new diagnoses, hospitalizations, surgeries, new medications, mental health treatment. Anything that puts you in front of a doctor goes through your recruiter.
• Life changes: marriage, pregnancy, new dependents, custody changes. These don't necessarily disqualify you. Concealing them will.
• Employment and education: anything that affects your ability to attend meetings or make your ship date.

Fraudulent enlistment (concealing disqualifying information) can end your career years after training. One documented case: a recruit was arrested during DEP, told no one, made it through BMT and tech school, and was discharged the moment he arrived at his first duty station, when the arrest surfaced in his security clearance investigation. The arrest didn't end his career. The concealment did.

Clearance scrutiny doesn't wait for BMT, either. If your job requires one, the investigation may begin during DEP, weighing criminal history, drug use, financial problems, foreign contacts, and honesty on your forms. All DoD clearance holders are now subject to continuous vetting through the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), which automatically scans databases for criminal investigations, credit issues, and other events throughout your service (8).

If you lose contact with your recruiter entirely and your 365-day window expires, you receive a DEP discharge classified as an Entry Level Separation with no DD-214 issued. No criminal penalties, but re-enlisting in the same service afterward requires a waiver. Leaving DEP covers the exit paths in detail.

Train past the minimums

Entry standards get you in the door and nothing more. Arrive at BMT with only the minimum and you have zero margin for a bad day, a slow start to a run, or the stress-related performance dip that hits almost everyone in the first week. For recruits under 30, the gap looks like this:

Entry body composition adds a waist limit: under 39 inches for males, 35.5 inches for females.

The official USAF Delayed Entry Program app, free on iOS and Android, is built for exactly this stretch: a 14-week progressive fitness program covering stretching, running, push-ups, and sit-ups, plus a fitness calculator, PT score estimator, exercise form videos, and progress tracking (3). It also carries interactive packing lists, reporting statement practice, flashcards for memorization items, and chain of command reference. Many recruiting units require downloading it immediately after enlisting. Use it either way.

How BMT scores you once you arrive

Fitness is assessed at Weeks 1, 3, and 5, with the final PT evaluation at Week 6. Fail the final and you're recycled one week into another flight. A second failure sends you to the 737th Training Group for either Entry Level Separation or 14 to 30 additional days in the Get-Fit Program. A third failure means separation from the Air Force. Since April 2024 there are no alternate PT drill options: fail any component and you retake the entire test. Weekly Training Overview breaks down the full schedule.

The operational standards changed in July 2026

On July 1, 2026, the Air Force began official scored testing under updated fitness standards for the operational force, now called the Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment (PFRA) (4). What the overhaul delivered:

• Diagnostic testing ran March through June 2026, then official scored testing began July 1, 2026
• Airmen choose between a 2-mile run and the 20-meter High Aerobic Multi-shuttle Run (HAMR) for cardio each test cycle
• Waist-to-height ratio replaces the previous waist measurement for body composition scoring
• A 100-point scoring system spans cardiovascular, strength, core endurance, and body composition
• Biannual testing (twice per year) is the standard for all airmen

If you ship in 2026, confirm with your recruiter which standards apply to your arrival date, then train past whichever minimum is published anyway. Maximizing Your DEP Time covers training strategy in depth.

How recruits torpedo their own enlistment

The most common self-inflicted disqualifiers during DEP: drugs, tattoos, criminal activity, medical changes, and the weight standards covered above.

Drugs, including the "legal" ones

Signing AF Form 2030, the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Certificate, at MEPS means you acknowledged a zero-tolerance policy. Federal law supersedes state law for military purposes, so marijuana is prohibited regardless of your state's legalization status, and the prohibition extends to CBD products, Delta-8 THC, and all hemp-derived products (5). A pilot waiver program launched in September 2022 lets some applicants who test positive for only THC retest after 90 days and continue processing, but a second positive THC test is permanent disqualification, and no waivers exist for positive tests involving any other controlled substance. Disqualifications and Waivers covers the broader picture.

Tattoos: check before you ink

Tattoo policy was last updated February 2024 under DAFI 36-2903 (6):

• Prohibited locations: head, face, tongue, lips, eyes, scalp, and inside the mouth
• Neck: one tattoo, not exceeding one inch, placed behind a vertical line drawn from the ear opening
• Hands: one tattoo per hand (not exceeding one inch) plus one ring tattoo (maximum 3/8-inch width)
• Content: no obscene, gang-affiliated, racist, violent, anti-government, or discriminatory imagery anywhere on the body

A prohibited tattoo acquired during DEP can disqualify you. Confirm any planned ink with your recruiter first.

Criminal trouble

Being under judicial restraint (bond, probation, or parole) is disqualifying. Waiver requests for criminal history require detailed written explanations and letters of recommendation from community leaders, school officials, ministers, or law enforcement.

Medical changes and the loosening list

Conditions developed during DEP require immediate reporting and re-evaluation. Historically disqualifying: asthma requiring an inhaler within the past four years, severe mental health disorders, chronic diseases, significant injuries, and new medication dependencies. The list is loosening, though. An October 2024 Pentagon policy change expanded the conditions that no longer automatically disqualify applicants to 51, and over 6,000 people have enlisted through the pilot program, more than half with ADHD diagnoses (7).

Marriage, pregnancy, and dependents

Marriage during DEP doesn't disqualify you, but it must be reported. Pregnancy requires immediate disclosure and will delay or prevent shipping to BMT. The Air Force allows marriage with up to two children; three requires a waiver, and no waivers are granted for four or more dependent children. Getting Married as an Airman covers how marriage and service interact.

Guard recruits get paid to prepare

If you're enlisting in the Air National Guard, you skip recruiter-office DEP meetings entirely. ANG members enter "Student Flight" instead: drill weekends at your assigned wing, with drill pay for each attendance. Active Duty and Air Force Reserve DEP members receive no pay during their waiting period.

Student Flight averages about four months before shipping and runs a structured curriculum at your base: Air Force Core Values, drill movements, rank structure, chain of command, military customs, and reporting statements. PT is conducted and tested at every drill weekend, with tailored plans for anyone needing extra preparation. You also interact with your future unit from day one: squadron supervisors, plus BIT (Break in Training) personnel recently returned from BMT.

The 2026 drill pay rate for an E-1 with less than two years of service is approximately $227.76 per four-drill weekend (9). Pay is calculated as 1/30th of monthly base pay per drill period, with a standard weekend counting as four periods.

Many states layer education benefits onto Student Flight, some covering 100% of tuition for Guard members, and administrative details (security clearance processing timelines, Government Travel Card training) vary state to state. Preparation quality varies too: the 188th Wing ranks among the top three nationally for BMT honor graduates, a result attributed partly to its Student Flight curriculum (10). For the full trade-offs, see Guard and Reserve-Specific Benefits and the Component Comparison and Decision Framework.