MA Master-at-Arms (MA)

Role brief

About MA — Master-at-Arms (MA).

Navy Master-at-Arms (MA) is the Navy's military police and force-protection rating. The current MyNavyHR Security community page lists the MA ASVAB requirement as VE+AR+MK+MC = 196, while the January 2026 Navy rating-list PDF also publishes a temporary VE+AR+MK+MC = 192 score extension through September 30, 2026. MA applicants still need the Navy AFQT minimum of 31, U.S. citizenship, and eligibility for a secret security clearance.

• Plus food allowance (BAS)$460/moFlat enlisted rate, tax-free, paid on top of base pay.
• Plus housing allowance (BAH)Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is paid on top of base pay and is tax-free, but it varies by duty-station ZIP code, pay grade, and whether you have dependents — there is no single nationwide figure. Use the official DoD BAH calculator for your assignment location.DoD BAH rate lookup →

Source: DFAS 2026 active-duty basic pay tables (3.8% raise, effective Jan 1 2026) · last verified 2026-05-23 · date retrieved 2026-05-23.

• Master-at-Arms (MA) is the Navy's law-enforcement and force-protection rating: anti-terrorism, physical security, harbor and waterborne security, customs, military working dogs (K9), and police duties on Navy installations worldwide. It is the Navy equivalent of an Army Military Police (MP) Soldier or Air Force Security Forces (3P0X1) Airman.
• The current MyNavyHR Security community page lists the MA ASVAB requirement as VE + AR + MK + MC = 196. That is the standard score shown on this page because it is the durable published requirement for the rating.
• The January 2026 Navy rating-list PDF also shows a temporary MA ASVAB score extension of VE + AR + MK + MC = 192 in effect until September 30, 2026. Treat that lower number as a time-limited classifier/recruiter confirmation item, not a permanent page baseline.
• Older and secondary ASVAB tables still surface WK + AR values around 98–100 for MA. Those are stale for this page's current source set; the MyNavyHR Security community source and 2026 rating-list PDF both use the broader VE + AR + MK + MC composite.
• A third published figure exists and is the one worth knowing about, because MA's number has moved repeatedly: the Navy Recruiting Manual (COMNAVCRUITCOMINST 1130.8Q, 30 January 2025, Exhibit 5-9 School Guarantee Program Matrix, p. 5-69) prints VE + AR + MK + MC ≥ 188 for MA — and prints it with the qualifier 'until September 2025.' That temporary reduction has expired, and the January 2026 rating list supersedes it with the 192-until-September-2026 extension above. This page keeps 196 as the durable requirement rather than the manual's 188, because the manual's own text time-limits that number and the limit has passed (checked against the manual 2026-08-04). If a recruiter or an older list quotes you 188, that is where it comes from.
• MA is one of the Navy ratings with non-waivable entry standards: MyNavyHR lists U.S. citizenship and eligibility for a secret security clearance, and the rating-list qualification columns also flag vision, color-perception, hearing, security-clearance, and U.S.-citizenship gates. A Navy classifier confirms the full legal, conduct, medical, and clearance screen before contract signing.
• Medical standards include vision correctable to 20/20 with normal color perception, depth perception, and hearing; a disqualifying mental-health medication history can also bar entry, because MAs carry firearms and exercise police powers.
• After Recruit Training, MA Sailors attend the roughly 9-week Master-at-Arms "A" School at San Antonio, Texas, where they learn anti-terrorism, armed sentry/post standing, crime prevention, military and civil law, communications, first aid, firearms deployment, and physical-restraint skills before reporting to a security department afloat or ashore.
• Sailors already serving in other ratings may be able to apply for conversion into MA through the Navy's rating-conversion process, but they still have to meet MA security-clearance, citizenship, medical, conduct, and classifier standards current to that cycle.

Source: MyNavyHR Security community information + January 2026 Navy rating list · last verified 2026-07-05 · date retrieved 2026-07-05.

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