Part of this recruiting issue belongs to Marines who no longer wear the uniform. We have tangible skills, and with a little effort those skills can lead to a certification to teach these young folks. I teach archery to several venues of high school aged youngsters. They know I am a Marine, and they see the process on which I teach, while different from school, it is effective. They see discipline, adherence and enforcement of rules and a subtle expertise in that discipline. FOCUS is a part of the program and parents say second year students do better in school due to that attention on focus. Also a short community college course on wilderness living shows how proficient one can be in field skills (yeah I do offer crickets and worms for lunch on field skills day). (Thank you Subic Bay and MCMWTC). Once a month it is a hunter education class. All these classes interface with those potential poolees and while only a few find the way to High School ROTC and enlistment the idea of military service is introduced positively. Project 100,000 or a draft may be upon us unless young people meet service folk with whom they can relate. That’s us.
Thank you Polarbear and cfrog, times have indeed changed, and the detail of the situation now, as you explained, was helpful in understanding a few of the issues being discussed. Equally I have not yet read Lieutenant Weiss’s book, but it’s on the list. Couple of thoughts prevail. This current period in time is eerily like the mid 1970’s, and THAT was a very difficult time to say the least. The 25th CMC Robert Cushman in order to fill the quotas of the new AVF, said to Congress give us the man, and we will make him a Marine. Yes, epic fail prevailed. Tragedy ensued, with as example the death of recruit Lynn McClure who had diminished mental acuity to start and failed at everything recruit training. and was battered to death with a pupil stick in 1975. General Wilson became the 26th CMC in the summer of 1975 and told Congress pretty early on that the Corps had new standards and he was disinterested in lower standards to fill quotas. He famously told a congressional hearing that if it came down to he and his driver being the only qualified Marines by the new standards, than we would have a T/O of 2. Fast forward to a conference room setting in the O Club at Camp LeJeune, summer of 1981, General Barrow the 27th CMC was holding a round table discussion, being in the room, my recall, is that at least the 2nd MarDiv CG and MCB CG along with a dozen plus 06 and 05 officers participating. The cliff notes version goes that General Barrow who had reformed recruiting and recruit training, wanted to know if anyone had noticed an improvement in the quality of the young Marines reporting for duty in the past 12-18 months. Yes they all nodded simultaneously and vigorously, “much better young Marines!!” In the final bit of the discussion General Barrow explained that one of the cornerstones of the improvement was every recruit had to have a high school diploma or GED. The importance he went on, was not the sheepskin itself, but a testament to the fact a young man or woman “knew how to finish.” Thus the DI’s could focus on training rather than getting a less than qualified recruit somehow through recruit training. The same held true for OCS. Standards up, better lieutenants.
But now, here we find ourselves back to deja vu all over again. One is of the mind that it is good for Lieutenant Weiss to pipe up, and write a book. Old meets new. Okay we get it. Oldest Marine and youngest Marine get the first pieces of birthday cake. There used to be a feature in the old Marine Corps Gazette “nobody asked me but” which was pretty good because mostly company grade officers wrote the articles, and it was usually a good way to bitch and moan without being sent to the brig. So good on Lieutenant Weiss. We hear you. However, if we want a strong Corps, we can not relax standards. While one can appreciate the fact that a few Sikhs have made it through recruit training, one could argue they are Sikh Marines not US Marines. How can you be the same, when you have your own cover, haircut and beard aka grooming standards. The ethos of the Corps and its training is shared misery. Everyone is in the same boat, everyone either makes it our way or out you go. Thus, if the Corps wants to attract new recruits or ask us veterans and retirees to help it achieve recruitment goals, it has to track through 248 years of ethos and core values. Perhaps the only thing so far that I agree with the Acting CMC on is, being a US Marine is bonus enough. That said, old meets new, than we better damn well make it meaningful enough for a young man or woman to feel that it is worth their while, and if that means some adjustment well let’s analyze that criteria, and catch up with the times, if needs be.
Lastly there seems a serious undercurrent, not sure if this is a correct assessment or not, (pull me up short if off track) but if young middle class, working poor and other disaffected income strata, (who traditionally make up the vast majority of the members of the military services) see that they are doing the dying, maiming, and suffering the slings and arrows of military service, deployments and combat etc., for an effete rich spoiled class of oligarchs and upper middle class children refusing to contribute, and their own grandparents and parents are being asked to pay off the college loans of the hyper class than Houston we have a problem. Pound sand, fight your own damn wars of opportunity, because we are out. We will see how happy Binkie Binkerton is to send Binky the 4th off of the next shit hole that the MIC decided was worth our time, treasury, sweat, toil and blood not too mention tears of bereaved families who have more than held up their end of the bargain.
What comes next seems to be very much up grabs. Personally, I would rather see a smaller Corps made up of those who really want to be there than a T/O which is BS anyway, in which substandard Marines infect the rest of the Marines who have to spend 85% of their time dealing with and or fixing the misfit 15%. The folly of FD2030 may actually prove an advantage, if new tracked armor, new artillery pieces, new air assets, revitalized engineers, etc., etc., coupled with updated amphibious lift ultimately articulate into a stronger abet smaller Corps, that is fast on its feet, task organized and a danger to antagonize to the point of deployment, it may all work out. We shall see. Anyone got a shovel? There is a horse barn over there, has to be a pony inside all that horse shit somewhere.
Things have changed with serious consequences. The DEP extends further out than it did 15 years ago. In the last two years, the DEP has been drained to make current FY mission attainment look good at the expense of the next FY. This coming FY is projected to have a historically low start pool, as Peter is robbed to pay Paul. Losing that start pool not only directly affects shipping, it affects the local recruiting value of the DEP. All that said, the DEP is just the canary in the coalmine for recruiting, though it is a single symptom with many causes. One is demographic focus of marketing, though I've been told by senior leaders it doesn't have as much of an impact as I suspected. The other is leadership in a contested and difficult environment. The 6 Districts are not equally missioned...and the lead District(s) are being whipped to overproduce. The recruiting force is at risk of breaking all the way through. District mission attainment and missioning over the last 12 months would have been unbelievable 16 years ago despite the drive to 202k just prior to the GFC...much less 7 years ago. Recruiting is never easy, but the current environment continues to be the most difficult. The internal and external challenges are the greatest in the history of the All Volunteer (Recruited) Force. At some point, MCRC is going to have to accept the loss, either through intention or affliction, and press the reset to rebuild in the next FY.
Let me state up front that I have not read the LT's book (but I will). I also will recognize that the available eligible recruiting population is shrinking. I do appreciate the Lt's concerns and yes, former and retired Marines need to help out Marine Recruiters. However, that help needs to be focused on what is critical. The main purpose of the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) is not to allow the "poolee" time to get into good physical condition. It is more of an afterthought, since you are waiting to go to boot camp, it is wise to get ready for the physical challenge.
One of the important purposes of the “poolee” DEP is to provide referrals to the recruiter. “Poolees” can make PFC (upon graduation from Recruit Training) by referring their friends and classmates to the recruiter. If those referrals turn into at least two contract enlistments, than upon graduation the enlistee receives their first US Marine Corps promotion. Marine Recruiters quickly learn that their success or failure depends on “poolee” referrals.
The other important issue to remember is that a Marine Recruiting Station's pool strength “ups and downs” are seasonal. Recruiter’s primary market is high school seniors (HSS). Why? Because the best single quality indicator for a successful first term enlistment is a high school diploma. Upon the graduation of the current high school senior class, the junior class now is eligible to enlist in the DEP and the graduated HSS are eligible to ship to boot camp. What this means is that the shipping quotas for each Recruiting Station is heaviest in the summer months immediately after graduation. At the end of the summer the pool strength is usually at its lowest.
Monthly shipping quotas will go down each month and bottom out in December. After the Thanksgiving turkey goes on the home table who wants to go to boot camp before Christmas? The shipping quota bumps up again in Jan and again declines until the month before graduation.
The other important part of the DEP is the guarantee program. Based on a prospects test scores he can be guarantee a specific MOS. This part of the DEP is very popular with new prospects. What many Marines don’t understand is the guarantee is tied to a school seat after boot camp. This places more emphasis on the enlistee’s ship date (especially for the high-tech MOS) and if a recruit is dropped from boot camp the school seat goes away and is lost.
Where the focus for helping Marine Recruiting for Marine Recruiters, former Marines and retirees is getting access to high schools. School Boards, counselors and teachers are usually reluctant to grant military recruiters access to their students. I am sure the “wokeness” we are experiencing in this nation is not helping in that area. The military services experienced something similar after the end of the unpopular Viet Nam War.
Recruiter: “Hey, you want to join the Marines?
Prospect: Why would I want to kill people or be a baby killer?
The most efficient way to help recruiting is provide a robust prospect pool by giving access to the high schools. My previous post makes this point. (See below)
There is a quick fix that would enhance all the services recruiting efforts, especially helping the Marine Corps find the "top hundred". Ask Congress to make the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) mandatory in all public and private high schools. The ASVAB was developed to be a counseling tool not only for recruiters but also high school guidance counselors. If taken all four years of high school the guidance counselors and teachers can track a student's progress in Arithmetic Reasoning (AR), Mathematics Knowledge (MK), Paragraph Comprehension (PC), and Word Knowledge (WK). Yes, the ASVAB results are available to the local recruiter. Since the beginning of the "all volunteer" force all services recruiting forces have work to become highly professional and competent. Like any other recruiters the Armed Forces Recruiting Service need a robust prospect pool that the ASVAB provides (but remember the recruiter cannot contact a student until they are a senior). Yes, there are school administrators and teachers who object as they objected to the draft during the Viet Nam War. Let's assume they can't have it both ways (draft or all volunteer). If you centralized the ASVAB results in a database, Congress would have a uniform metric/"report card" on every school in the country, besides the high school ASVAB is free to school boards, high schools, teachers and students.
Part of this recruiting issue belongs to Marines who no longer wear the uniform. We have tangible skills, and with a little effort those skills can lead to a certification to teach these young folks. I teach archery to several venues of high school aged youngsters. They know I am a Marine, and they see the process on which I teach, while different from school, it is effective. They see discipline, adherence and enforcement of rules and a subtle expertise in that discipline. FOCUS is a part of the program and parents say second year students do better in school due to that attention on focus. Also a short community college course on wilderness living shows how proficient one can be in field skills (yeah I do offer crickets and worms for lunch on field skills day). (Thank you Subic Bay and MCMWTC). Once a month it is a hunter education class. All these classes interface with those potential poolees and while only a few find the way to High School ROTC and enlistment the idea of military service is introduced positively. Project 100,000 or a draft may be upon us unless young people meet service folk with whom they can relate. That’s us.
Thank you Polarbear and cfrog, times have indeed changed, and the detail of the situation now, as you explained, was helpful in understanding a few of the issues being discussed. Equally I have not yet read Lieutenant Weiss’s book, but it’s on the list. Couple of thoughts prevail. This current period in time is eerily like the mid 1970’s, and THAT was a very difficult time to say the least. The 25th CMC Robert Cushman in order to fill the quotas of the new AVF, said to Congress give us the man, and we will make him a Marine. Yes, epic fail prevailed. Tragedy ensued, with as example the death of recruit Lynn McClure who had diminished mental acuity to start and failed at everything recruit training. and was battered to death with a pupil stick in 1975. General Wilson became the 26th CMC in the summer of 1975 and told Congress pretty early on that the Corps had new standards and he was disinterested in lower standards to fill quotas. He famously told a congressional hearing that if it came down to he and his driver being the only qualified Marines by the new standards, than we would have a T/O of 2. Fast forward to a conference room setting in the O Club at Camp LeJeune, summer of 1981, General Barrow the 27th CMC was holding a round table discussion, being in the room, my recall, is that at least the 2nd MarDiv CG and MCB CG along with a dozen plus 06 and 05 officers participating. The cliff notes version goes that General Barrow who had reformed recruiting and recruit training, wanted to know if anyone had noticed an improvement in the quality of the young Marines reporting for duty in the past 12-18 months. Yes they all nodded simultaneously and vigorously, “much better young Marines!!” In the final bit of the discussion General Barrow explained that one of the cornerstones of the improvement was every recruit had to have a high school diploma or GED. The importance he went on, was not the sheepskin itself, but a testament to the fact a young man or woman “knew how to finish.” Thus the DI’s could focus on training rather than getting a less than qualified recruit somehow through recruit training. The same held true for OCS. Standards up, better lieutenants.
But now, here we find ourselves back to deja vu all over again. One is of the mind that it is good for Lieutenant Weiss to pipe up, and write a book. Old meets new. Okay we get it. Oldest Marine and youngest Marine get the first pieces of birthday cake. There used to be a feature in the old Marine Corps Gazette “nobody asked me but” which was pretty good because mostly company grade officers wrote the articles, and it was usually a good way to bitch and moan without being sent to the brig. So good on Lieutenant Weiss. We hear you. However, if we want a strong Corps, we can not relax standards. While one can appreciate the fact that a few Sikhs have made it through recruit training, one could argue they are Sikh Marines not US Marines. How can you be the same, when you have your own cover, haircut and beard aka grooming standards. The ethos of the Corps and its training is shared misery. Everyone is in the same boat, everyone either makes it our way or out you go. Thus, if the Corps wants to attract new recruits or ask us veterans and retirees to help it achieve recruitment goals, it has to track through 248 years of ethos and core values. Perhaps the only thing so far that I agree with the Acting CMC on is, being a US Marine is bonus enough. That said, old meets new, than we better damn well make it meaningful enough for a young man or woman to feel that it is worth their while, and if that means some adjustment well let’s analyze that criteria, and catch up with the times, if needs be.
Lastly there seems a serious undercurrent, not sure if this is a correct assessment or not, (pull me up short if off track) but if young middle class, working poor and other disaffected income strata, (who traditionally make up the vast majority of the members of the military services) see that they are doing the dying, maiming, and suffering the slings and arrows of military service, deployments and combat etc., for an effete rich spoiled class of oligarchs and upper middle class children refusing to contribute, and their own grandparents and parents are being asked to pay off the college loans of the hyper class than Houston we have a problem. Pound sand, fight your own damn wars of opportunity, because we are out. We will see how happy Binkie Binkerton is to send Binky the 4th off of the next shit hole that the MIC decided was worth our time, treasury, sweat, toil and blood not too mention tears of bereaved families who have more than held up their end of the bargain.
What comes next seems to be very much up grabs. Personally, I would rather see a smaller Corps made up of those who really want to be there than a T/O which is BS anyway, in which substandard Marines infect the rest of the Marines who have to spend 85% of their time dealing with and or fixing the misfit 15%. The folly of FD2030 may actually prove an advantage, if new tracked armor, new artillery pieces, new air assets, revitalized engineers, etc., etc., coupled with updated amphibious lift ultimately articulate into a stronger abet smaller Corps, that is fast on its feet, task organized and a danger to antagonize to the point of deployment, it may all work out. We shall see. Anyone got a shovel? There is a horse barn over there, has to be a pony inside all that horse shit somewhere.
Things have changed with serious consequences. The DEP extends further out than it did 15 years ago. In the last two years, the DEP has been drained to make current FY mission attainment look good at the expense of the next FY. This coming FY is projected to have a historically low start pool, as Peter is robbed to pay Paul. Losing that start pool not only directly affects shipping, it affects the local recruiting value of the DEP. All that said, the DEP is just the canary in the coalmine for recruiting, though it is a single symptom with many causes. One is demographic focus of marketing, though I've been told by senior leaders it doesn't have as much of an impact as I suspected. The other is leadership in a contested and difficult environment. The 6 Districts are not equally missioned...and the lead District(s) are being whipped to overproduce. The recruiting force is at risk of breaking all the way through. District mission attainment and missioning over the last 12 months would have been unbelievable 16 years ago despite the drive to 202k just prior to the GFC...much less 7 years ago. Recruiting is never easy, but the current environment continues to be the most difficult. The internal and external challenges are the greatest in the history of the All Volunteer (Recruited) Force. At some point, MCRC is going to have to accept the loss, either through intention or affliction, and press the reset to rebuild in the next FY.
Let me state up front that I have not read the LT's book (but I will). I also will recognize that the available eligible recruiting population is shrinking. I do appreciate the Lt's concerns and yes, former and retired Marines need to help out Marine Recruiters. However, that help needs to be focused on what is critical. The main purpose of the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) is not to allow the "poolee" time to get into good physical condition. It is more of an afterthought, since you are waiting to go to boot camp, it is wise to get ready for the physical challenge.
One of the important purposes of the “poolee” DEP is to provide referrals to the recruiter. “Poolees” can make PFC (upon graduation from Recruit Training) by referring their friends and classmates to the recruiter. If those referrals turn into at least two contract enlistments, than upon graduation the enlistee receives their first US Marine Corps promotion. Marine Recruiters quickly learn that their success or failure depends on “poolee” referrals.
The other important issue to remember is that a Marine Recruiting Station's pool strength “ups and downs” are seasonal. Recruiter’s primary market is high school seniors (HSS). Why? Because the best single quality indicator for a successful first term enlistment is a high school diploma. Upon the graduation of the current high school senior class, the junior class now is eligible to enlist in the DEP and the graduated HSS are eligible to ship to boot camp. What this means is that the shipping quotas for each Recruiting Station is heaviest in the summer months immediately after graduation. At the end of the summer the pool strength is usually at its lowest.
Monthly shipping quotas will go down each month and bottom out in December. After the Thanksgiving turkey goes on the home table who wants to go to boot camp before Christmas? The shipping quota bumps up again in Jan and again declines until the month before graduation.
The other important part of the DEP is the guarantee program. Based on a prospects test scores he can be guarantee a specific MOS. This part of the DEP is very popular with new prospects. What many Marines don’t understand is the guarantee is tied to a school seat after boot camp. This places more emphasis on the enlistee’s ship date (especially for the high-tech MOS) and if a recruit is dropped from boot camp the school seat goes away and is lost.
Where the focus for helping Marine Recruiting for Marine Recruiters, former Marines and retirees is getting access to high schools. School Boards, counselors and teachers are usually reluctant to grant military recruiters access to their students. I am sure the “wokeness” we are experiencing in this nation is not helping in that area. The military services experienced something similar after the end of the unpopular Viet Nam War.
Recruiter: “Hey, you want to join the Marines?
Prospect: Why would I want to kill people or be a baby killer?
The most efficient way to help recruiting is provide a robust prospect pool by giving access to the high schools. My previous post makes this point. (See below)
There is a quick fix that would enhance all the services recruiting efforts, especially helping the Marine Corps find the "top hundred". Ask Congress to make the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) mandatory in all public and private high schools. The ASVAB was developed to be a counseling tool not only for recruiters but also high school guidance counselors. If taken all four years of high school the guidance counselors and teachers can track a student's progress in Arithmetic Reasoning (AR), Mathematics Knowledge (MK), Paragraph Comprehension (PC), and Word Knowledge (WK). Yes, the ASVAB results are available to the local recruiter. Since the beginning of the "all volunteer" force all services recruiting forces have work to become highly professional and competent. Like any other recruiters the Armed Forces Recruiting Service need a robust prospect pool that the ASVAB provides (but remember the recruiter cannot contact a student until they are a senior). Yes, there are school administrators and teachers who object as they objected to the draft during the Viet Nam War. Let's assume they can't have it both ways (draft or all volunteer). If you centralized the ASVAB results in a database, Congress would have a uniform metric/"report card" on every school in the country, besides the high school ASVAB is free to school boards, high schools, teachers and students.
Semper Fi