Pub. L. 82-476, pt. II, ch. 2, sec. 217

Sec. 217. (a) Subject to the limitation that no person, other than a person who has had prior service in the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Security Training Corps, shall be appointed or enlisted as a Reserve in the Armed Forces of the United States who is not a citizen of the United States, its Territories or possessions, or who has not made a declaration of intent to become a citizen thereof, the appropriate Secretary shall, except as otherwise provided by law, prescribe physical, mental, moral, professional, and age qualifications for appointment or enlistment of Reserve members of the Armed Forces of the United States. No person shall be appointed as a Reserve officer in any of the Armed Forces of the United States who is under the age of eighteen years. (b) Women may be appointed or enlisted as Reserves in the Armed Forces of the United States for service in the Army Reserve, the Naval Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, and the Air Force Reserve, as appropriate, in the same grades, ranks, and ratings, as are author- 66 Stat. 487rized for women in the Regular component of the appropriate Armed Force of the United States. Women may be appointed or enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve as provided in section 762, title 14, United States Code. Any female former officer or enlisted woman of an Armed Force of the United States may, if otherwise qualified, be appointed or enlisted as a Reserve in that Armed Force of the United States in the highest rank, grade, or rating satisfactorily held by her on active duty. (c) Except in the case of Adjutants General and Assistant Adjutants General of the several States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, a person who has not held an appointment as a commissioned officer in any of the Armed Forces of (he United States, or any component thereof, may not be appointed as a commissioned officer in a grade higher than major or lieutenant commander in any of the Armed Forces of the United States except upon the recommendation of a board of officers convened by the appropriate Secretary.