The Requirements of the Army Honor Guard

The United States Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment, nicknamed "The Old Guard," offers soldiers one of the service's most special assignments. The regiment, founded in 1784, serves as the Army Honor Guard, and is tasked with escorting the president, standing watch over the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, providing military funeral escorts and even protecting Washington, D.C. in times of emergency. Soldiers must meet a number of criteria in order to join the Army's Honor Guard.

Due to the fact that the 3rd Infantry Regiment has such a visible and high profile position as the Army's Honor Guard, it requires all soldiers to meet appearance and fitness standards. Males must be between 5 feet, 10 inches and 6 feet, 4 inches tall in order to be in the Honor Guard, while females must be between 5 feet, 8 inches and 6 feet, 2 inches tall. All soldiers must also be within the Army's height and weight regulations and must be score at least 230 out of 300 on the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). Finally, all soldiers must have free range of motion in all of their limbs and must not have a body profile that would restrict the execution of sharp, crisp movements.

All soldiers in the Army Honor Guard must meet the basic educational requirements to join the Army. Enlisted members must have a high school diploma or its equivalent, while officers are required to have a bachelor's degree. All soldiers must also score above a 31 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery's (ASVAB) Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) portion, which uses the test's arithmetic reasoning, math knowledge and verbal composite scores. Finally, all soldiers must also score at least a 110 on the general technical (GT) section of the ASVAB, although this requirement is waiverable for well-qualified soldiers.

The 3rd Infantry Regiment has the critical security task of escorting the president of the United States. As such, all soldiers that join the Army Honor Guard must have clean criminal records. Soldiers should have no civil convictions or convictions under the Uniform Military Code of Justice (UMCJ) and should have a record free of any drug- or alcohol-related incidents.

All members of the Army's Honor Guard and the 3rd Infantry Regiment must be on active duty and cannot be members of a reserve component such as the Army Reserve or Army National Guard. Soldiers must be U.S. citizens, hold one of 35 military occupational specialties (MOS) and have an exceptional service record in order to be selected as a member.