Compass Points - Recruiting Rodeo

Rounding up Marines

Compass Points - Recruiting Rodeo

Rounding up Marines

May 16, 2024

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These are tough recruiting years for all the military services -- including the Marine Corps. USNI News reports on recent Senate hearings, where the Navy and Marine Corps testified on recruiting.

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The Navy’s ongoing struggle to meet recruitment missions and the Marine Corps’ growing concerns over the shrinking pool of possible enlistees topped a Senate panel’s hearing on personnel issues facing the sea services last week.

. . . For the Marine Corps, the biggest recruiting concern is that the starting pool is only two percent of the population, Lt. Gen. James Glynn said in his opening remarks. “This requires Marine recruiters to focus on finding individuals to ship in the near-term, impacting their time to physically and mentally prepare for the rigors of the transformation process to Marine,” he said. We are working to grow the start pool, but it is a slow and deliberate process.”

-- USNI News

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After more than 50 years of an all-volunteer military the Rand Corporation reviewed the decades and came to the conclusion that,

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. . . only time will tell, as all depends upon the support of the American people and Congress continuing to vote the funds and provide the programs necessary to recruit quality soldiers and retain them and their families.

-- Rand

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As important as funding and programs are, there is something even more foundational to the all-volunteer force, trust in the military. An all-volunteer force depends in particular on parents and veterans recommending military service. In recent years parents and veterans are less likely to recommend military service.

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Much has been made of the services’ struggles to meet recruiting goals in the last few years, which senior military leaders often blame on a shrinking number of young Americans who meet necessary physical standards, as well as a general drop in overall interest in serving. Some of those struggles may also stem from the messages prospective recruits get from peers and trusted adults, according to new data.

-- Military Times

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Military Times goes on to report a survey from 2018 reported 70% of respondents were highly confident in the military. Today that same survey shows the number has dropped to just 46%. Worse the survey shows that today “a full one-third of the American people would discourage their loved one from military service."

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Part of the recruiting problem is that the military itself in recent years seems at times to have lost its own focus on what it means to serve in the military. In the past the military made it clear to all those considering military service that, if they wanted to serve, their personal preferences and political beliefs must be less important than united service and sacrifice. This made the military an appealing option for those willing to value service over self. Those who want to place their own interests and views ahead of military needs, should remain civilians. Over the last few years, all the military services have too often seemed to value personal differences over unity and cohesion. Strong military units always have and always will require strong unity and cohesion.

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While the Marine Corps is often lauded as the one service doing well in recruiting, even the Marine Corps is struggling. The number of new recruits going into the delayed entry pool has dropped. That means instead of spending months before boot camp learning about the Corps and getting in shape, young recruits are being sent directly to recruit training without any preparation time in the delayed entry pool. When the delayed entry pool goes down, it is bad for recruits, bad for recruiters, and bad for the Corps.

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To continue to make mission, Marine Corps Recruiting Command (MCRC) has taken some good steps, including securing 200 more recruiters and putting more emphasis on Southern states and less on the Northeast, Still, there are ongoing issues. A long time Compass Points reader and frequent commentator with contacts at MCRC, reports MCRC is wearing-out a few high performing districts

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The Districts that have been making mission consistently have been missioned well beyond those that do not. MCRC is making mission on the backs of the higher performing Districts as a matter of policy. We are not talking slight differences; we are speaking to substantive percentages. This is a well-intentioned but near-sighted attempt to allow the stragglers to heal. Unfortunately, what it actually is doing is to place the undue burden on the lead horses and facilitate continued low achievement by the stragglers. The Districts are resourced and assigned relatively balanced populations. While relative propensity to enlist matters, it is not a static function, a geographic function, nor is it a function that exists beyond the influence of the Marine Corps District. 

However, prior success and relative propensity have been used to justify under-missioning some Districts and over missioning others with respect to the overall Regional and MCRC missions. Now, if Districts were equally missioned with the understanding that stragglers were working to rebuild themselves under the expectation that the successful Districts should expect to pick up the slack in the interim, that would be a different circumstance. Those successful teams, from the Staff down to the Marine Recruiter on the street could understand that and take pride in the recognition. What they see now is that being successful means you get stuck with more of the load as a matter of policy, not emergency. This is unhealthy for all aspects of missioning, from shipping, contracting, and start pool perspective. Some correctives are in place. The CMC is now personally involved in the selection of District COs. But there is still legitimate concern that the recruiting force may break under this strain as the lead horses wear down to the pace of the stragglers.

-- Cfrog

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These are tough recruiting years for all the military services -- including the Marine Corps. The Nation has long depended on the Marine Corps to be most ready when the Nation is least ready. With the worldwide roster of growing threats from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, the Nation may be least ready today. That means the Marine Corps must be most ready.

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The Marine Corps cannot continue to spend time and money to focus on becoming a sit and sense force. Instead, the Marine Corps must return its focus to being the Nation's updated and enhanced worldwide expeditionary force -- a force forward deployed and ready to arrive quickly at any crisis to deter, assist, and fight.  Compass Points salutes Lt General James Glynn and all the Marines and civilians at Manpower and Reserves Affairs -- including all the Corps' hardworking recruiters.

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Rand Corporation - 01/31/2023

50 Years Without the Draft: Behind the Bold Move That Ended Conscription, and What's Next for the All-Volunteer Force

By Bernard D. Rostker

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/01/50-years-without-the-draft-behind-the-bold-move-that.html

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USNI News - 05/13/2024

Navy, Marine Corps Focus on Smaller Eligible Population As Recruitment Problems Mount

By John Grady

https://news.usni.org/2024/05/13/navy-marine-corps-focus-on-smaller-eligible-population-as-recruitment-problems-mount?utm_campaign=dfn-ebb&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sailthru

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Military Times - 11/30/2023

Half of US would recommend military service to loved ones, report says

By Meghann Myers

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/11/30/half-of-us-would-recommend-military-service-to-loved-ones-report-says/

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Compass Points - Recruiting Woes

Marine 2nd Lt's new book

August 23, 2023

https://marinecorpscompasspoints.substack.com/p/compass-points-recruiting-woes