The Shoulder Sleeve Insignia worn by U.S. Army personnel serving in the Department of Defense’s Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM0 was approve for wear on 18 November 1983. Its pentagonal shape naturally evokes the image of the Department of Defense Headquarters, but its primary symbolism is to represent the five services that make up MEPCOM.
Three basic functions performed by MEPCOM—administrative processing, medical examination, and mental evaluation—are represented by the black-and-white checkered regions, the red region, and the blue region, respectively. An upright gold sword is a symbol of the high ideals necessarily found in the new service member.
A Joint Service Command overseen by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy (who reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, USMEPCOM comprises sixty-five Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) located across the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico.
One of its primary tasks is administering the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, to evaluate enlistees skills and what careers they are best suited to pursue. In 2018, the Command administered almost 400,000 of these tests at the MEPS and at roughly 180 Mobile Examining Team Sites.
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