---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 20301"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "20301"
heading: "Original enlistments: qualifications; grade"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/20301"
units:
  - "Subtitle F — Alternative Military Personnel Systems"
  - "Part I — Space Force"
  - "Chapter 2007 — Enlisted Members"
---

# §20301. Original enlistments: qualifications; grade

- (a) **Original Enlistments.—**
  - (1) **Authority to accept.—** The Secretary of the Air Force may accept [original](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-10) enlistments in the Space Force of qualified, effective, and able-bodied persons.
  - (2) **Age.—** A person accepted for [original](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-10) enlistment shall be not less than seventeen years of age. However, no person under eighteen years of age may be originally enlisted without the written consent of the person’s parent or guardian, if the person has a parent or guardian entitled to the person’s custody and control.
- (b) **Grade.—** A person is enlisted in the Space Force in the [grade](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-7) prescribed by the Secretary of the Air Force.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XVII, § 1717(a), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 654.)