Marine Corps Over Strength
The Marine Corps has been performing exceptionally well in the recruiting and retention fields during the years we’ve been at war. Our Career Planners are doing a great job, as are the recruiters despite a few bumps. However, the Corps may be doing too well.
According to Gen James Conway, Commandant of the Marine Corps, there just isn’t enough money in the Marine Corps’ budget to exceed the final end strength authority of 202,000 by much. The Marine Corps is currently sitting at active duty end strength of 203,768. Recruiters are going to be beating the streets less and less and retention goals are going to be dropped to account for the 1,768 overage.
The article also notes that fiscal year 2010 reenlistment bonuses are slashed as well. I can give a bit more insight, as I’m a Career Planner myself.
Compare the bonus amounts for FY2009 and FY2010. You’ll see a lot of amounts are less, if not gone completely. I attribute this to several things. First, the Marine Corps had a goal to grow our force from about 182,000 active duty Marines to 202,000 over a period of about fours years. We accomplished the goal in about two and a half years. Recruiting and retention was very solid during those years leading to the early goal.
Additionally, politics in Washington has changed. The military budget is going to shrink and there won’t be enough money for as many jobs to get a bonus, and those that do get a bonus will see a drastic drop. With the shift in politics, the current operations in Iraq are going to be drawn down over the next few years leaving Afghanistan the only major front in the war on terror.
Overall, the Marine Corps should be proud of itself for being able to exceed recruiting and retention goals month after month. Now the Corps just has to concentrate on not exceeding them by too much.
