Compass Points - More Marines
Recruiting the few, the proud
Compass Points - More Marines
Recruiting the few, the proud
June 3, 22023
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Among the many issues that may arise in the confirmation hearings and meetings for the new Commandant, perhaps no issue is more foundational than recruiting.
There is no Marine Corps without Marines. Marines are the body, brain, and soul of the Corps.
All the armed services, including the Marine Corps, are having troubles recruiting.
American Military News reports,
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One problem contributing to the recruiting troubles is that the vast majority of young Americans are not eligible to enlist. A 2020 Pentagon study found that 77 percent would require a waiver for enlistment, mostly due to being overweight, physically or mentally ill, or using drugs.
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The Marine Corps recruiting situation, however, is different from the other three, larger services -- primarily because the Marine Corps is not as large. The total number of Army soldiers -- active, reserve, and national guard -- is about 1 million. While the number of Marines, active and reserve, is less than one-fourth of the Army.
The Marine Corps does not need the volume of recruits the other services need. The Marine Corps only needs what might be called the top one-hundred. The Marine Corps needs roughly one-hundred new recruits each day.
The task of finding new recruits for the Marine Corps requires the work, participation, and cooperation of two groups of Marine recruiters. The first group includes the official Marine Corps recruiters from Marine Corps Recruiting Command at Quantico. These always sharp looking and always hard-working Marine recruiters are organized into six recruiting districts.
But the success of Marine recruiting also depends on another group of recruiters, unofficial recruiters, the much larger group of Marine Corps veterans. It is Marine Corps veterans across the fifty states that have traditionally done so much to promote Marine Corps service. Marine Corps veterans identify and encourage young people to consider service in the Marine Corps. When a young person first becomes interested in the challenge of becoming a Marine, it is very often because of a Marine veteran in their neighborhood.
One Marine Corps veteran, James Etter the founder and brains behind American Military University, has now turned to the task of helping with Marine Corps recruiting. James Etter has created an innovative program through his online Citizens High School. There is an enormous pool of young people in their 20’s who want to serve in the military, but they do not have the required high school diploma. Using a series of “Bridge” scholarships, Etter has created a way for these military prospects to get the high school credits they need, become eligible for the delayed entry program, finish their degree, and enlist. See the link below to a white board presentation.
James Etter is just one Marine veteran helping with Marine recruiting. Help from veterans is critical for recruiting success. If a significant portion of Marine veterans should ever stop promoting service in the Marine Corps, it makes recruiting new Marines much more difficult. Unfortunately, that is just what has happened over the last few years.
The VFW among others has reported that for many reasons military veterans are no longer recommending military service to their sons and daughters or nieces and nephews. This has become true for the Marine Corps as well. Anecdotal evidence suggests many Marine veterans are unhappy with the current trajectory of the Marine Corps.
If Congress should ask the incoming Commandant what he will do to improve Marine recruiting, Compass Points suggests the new Commandant assure Congress that he is setting a new course for the Marine Corps, that the new course will re-energize the entire community of Marine veterans so they will once again consistently and enthusiastically encourage prospective new recruits. A better path forward for the Marine Corps means a better path forward for Marine Corps recruiting.
The United States always needs the Marine Corps. And the Marine Corps always needs new Marines. It begins with Marine Corps veterans and friends of the Corps identifying and encouraging quality prospects. From there, the outstanding recruiters of Marine Corps Recruiting Command help the prospective Marines to understand the opportunity and the challenge.
Along the way, the whole effort is turbo-charged by innovative new approaches like those developed by James Etter, the CEO of Citizens High School. The result is the Marine Corps will be able to find and sign the daily top one-hundred new recruits. The Marine Corps will not only continue to make mission, but, more importantly, will continue to make Marines, and, most importantly of all, the Marine Corps will continue to make a difference.
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American Military News (americanmilitarynews.com) 03/08/2023
Air Force expects to miss every recruiting goal this year; double digit miss could set back force
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Citizens High School
Virtual High School for All
Get a High School Diploma Online or Supplement an Existing Education Plan
https://citizenshighschool.com/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16gtkE8QE7_EiGkCXc3NhA81o2KzOXsh5/view
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Veterans of Foreign Wars (vfw.org) 11/30/2022
Fewer Veterans are Recommending Military Service
By Dave Spiva
Too late. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps that integrates women with men in boot camp and tells me nothing has changed and that the physical standards remain intact. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps that dresses women in male uniforms and thinks it’s ok to do so. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps that assigns women to be 1stSgts and SgtMajs in infantry units or in male recruit training Bns and thinks it’s ok. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps that will not honestly address the issue of Women in Combat (WIC). I will not recruit for a Marine Corps that permits or quietly endorses the individual actions and self exploitive behavior we see on Instagram by active duty women and who do so in uniform. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps that permits a woman transitioning to a man, who has had her breasts removed, get recruited much less attend boot camp and be assigned to a male platoon. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps that endorses open homosexuality and transgenderism in their ranks and a Marine Corps that expects the heterosexual males and females to accept it as ok. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps whose general officers refuse to honestly address the issues above. I will not recruit for a Marine Corps who disrespectfully dismisses their retired general officers efforts to openly address matters of concern.
Fix that. Then maybe I’ll help the Marine Corps recruit. The Marine Corps has made its bed, now sleep in it. FD 2030 is only part of the problem. Furl the colors! I would rather be remembered for what we were vice what we’ve become.
Semper Fidelis
Rob Barrow
U.S. Marine
A huge 'Thank You' to Compass Points for talking 'Recruiting'. For those not familiar, recruiting for the USMC in the era of the All Volunteer Force is at an all time low point.
The majority of Districts are regularly missing missions. The majority! Apart from the challenges that arose over the past 3 years, the force has changed and the DoD implementation of the Genesis program means no more same month contact to contract...much less two months contact to contract. So a miss on contracting means two holes...one this month and one the next month since you still have to contract to fill the future ship mission plus meet the contracting mission for the following month. Now, consider in the same month as the contracting miss, if you have a shipping hole and have to pull a shipper forward to fill it. Now you have to fill that shipper's original ship date, which means another contract.
I have tried to convey to retired Marines how severe the crisis is....and most don't get it. They don't understand the dynamics of entrance processing have changed. They don't realize the USMC is poised to start the next FY with a historically low start pool percentage. It isn't just Genesis...MEPs aren't staying open late on mission day or on Saturdays so RS's and Districts can make mission. It's much more restrictive. The days where a good friend of mine swore in an applicant/mission maker at 23:58 on the last day of the contracting month at MEPs are gone (FYI - that applicant shipped, became a US Marine, and successfully completed his enlistment).
It isn't just hard for the recruiters; look at actual end strength for the USMC. I think if you haven't been paying attention, you'll be shocked at the disparity between target end strength and actual. This is having an impact on active units. The danger right now is that the recruiting force breaks since the natural tendency is always to increase the burden on the mission makers. If we break the top two Districts...the old saw of "other services have recruiting problems, the Marines have recruiting solutions" will sound like a bad joke.
My hope is that, in addition to strong local leadership and mission management, factors emerge that greatly increase the propensity and population of qualified applicants to look at the Marine Corps as the positive option it is. Of course, hope is not a COA. We need Marines to restore what's good in our national fabric; Great Marines make the best of bad policy...Great Marines make great policy even better at the cutting edge. God speed to every Marine Recruiter on the street.