Basic skills training in the United States Navy has become increasingly important as the quality of the recruit population has declined and the job demands faced by enlisted personnel have expanded. A study investigated reading comprehension and related variables pertaining to the Navy's recruits during a 12-month period. The primary focus of the study was on the classification of recruits based on their performance above or below the 6.0 reading grade level in comprehension, the criterion used in screening recruits for the remedial training program. Other variables of interest were month of entry into the Navy, years of education, high school graduation status, and aptitude test score. Results indicated that (1) four-fifths of the recruits were high school graduates, (2) higher percentages of the recruits who entered the Navy in the summer months were high school graduates than those who entered in other months of the year, (3) the aptitude data did not show any clearly discernible seasonal or cyclic pattern, (4) the reading comprehension performance of recruits showed a gradual improvement over the 12-month period, and (5) 1.5% more of the high school graduates than nongraduates scored below the 6.0 reading grade level. (HOD)