The military is facing its largest recruiting crisis since the switch to an all-volunteer force in 1973

The U.S. Army is expanding a pre-basic training course that allows candidates to enlist who do not meet the weight and aptitude requirements in an effort to fight a recruiting crisis plaguing every branch of the military.

An initial pilot for the program at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in August was open to recruits who had 6% more body fat than Army standards or had scored between 21 and 30 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test.

Now, the Army will launch four additional companies, two of which will be at Fort Jackson and another two at Fort Benning, Georgia, allowing room for 2,000 additional recruits per year at Fort Jackson and a total of 6,400 recruits per year at Fort Benning.