The study is the third of a series concerning the function of the U.S. Armed Forces Institute (USAFI) High School General Educational Development (GED) program. Information was sought to enable GED program managers to improve the effectiveness of their programs. Questionnaires were sent to a stratified random sample of 1,000 recent former Army personnel from each of the following groups: those who had passed the GED at both the Department of Defense level and the level required by their home States, those who passed at the DOD level only, those who participated but failed, and those who did not participate. The questionnaire returns indicated that: servicemen took the GED before, during, or after their first duty assignment; they did not perceive any encouragement to take the test; those who were self-motivated to participate in the program did better than those whose unit participated as a group; there are four common sources of GED information; and about 48 percent of the responding participants took a preparatory course. In spite of being notified of their successful participation, there was considerable confusion as to the serviceman's knowledge of his success. Most non-participants gave personal reasons as the basis for their non-participation. (AG)