thedrifter
09-26-06, 03:06 PM
October 02, 2006
Gunners look to maintain their caliber
Too few applicants could lead to lower quality, some say
By Christian Lowe
Staff writer
They’re some of the Corps’ most “gungy” grunts — often with enlistment dates that reach back to the 1970s. They’ve seen it all, know it all and make your typical “gun nut” look like an airsoft geek.
It’s one of the smallest communities in the Corps, and one of the most knowledgeable, but Marine infantry weapons officers are worried their tradition is dying out, pummeled by a lack of promotion opportunity, pay gaps with the senior enlisted ranks and a dwindling supply of leathernecks willing to join the elite cadre of Marines dubbed “gunners.”
“This isn’t a hiccup. This isn’t a storm. This is a hurricane,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Terry Walker, 2nd Marine Division gunner, said of the concern over the shortage of infantry weapons officers. “We’re looking at what we have to do to not only retain the gunners we have … but to attract the kind of people we’re looking for.”
But Corps officials responsible for managing the infantry weapons officer military occupational specialty (0306) said the situation isn’t as critical as some contend. Of 58 gunner billets in the Marine Corps, all but one is filled.
“To say there’s a shortage is not necessarily accurate. We don’t have a shortage right now,” said Maj. Brad Tippett, infantry occupation field sponsor with the plans, policy and operations office at Marine Corps headquarters.
But gunners are worried the numbers and quality could drop fast. Tippett said the Corps is considering initiatives to stave off future problems and to alleviate the concerns, but it’s too early to elaborate on what they’re considering.
The debate over manpower shortages is not new in today’s Corps, in which some MOSs struggle to fill their ranks as pressure from the war siphons away manpower. Re-enlistment bonuses and other incentives have helped fill critical jobs such as intelligence specialists and reconnaissancemen, but some are still waging an uphill battle.
Tippett downplayed the urgency of the weapons officer plea.
“It needs to be taken into consideration that we’re talking about a very, very, very small portion of the Marine Corps,” Tippett said.
The main concern, Walker said, is the continued health of the weapons officer MOS — which has some of the deepest knowledge of infantry weapons, ground tactics and training techniques in the Corps. So few Marines are applying for the warrant officer commission that the quality of the gunner pool is bound to decline, he said.
In the past, hundreds of Marines would apply to become an infantry weapons officer, which requires them to attend a months-long warrant officer basic course and infantry officer’s course at The Basic School in Quantico, Va., buy new uniforms and be guaranteed to deploy shortly after. But now, only a fraction of that number put their names in the hat, and fewer have the qualifications to make it in.
“The problem we’re having now is we have too few applicants to the number of selections, which drives quality,” Walker said, adding that today’s gunners are highly skilled.
Gunners often face only slightly better pay and a dramatic increase in deployment tempo based on the billets that are available to weapons officers, so fewer Marines with the right qualifications — former platoon sergeants with no less than 16 years of service ranked gunnery sergeant or above — are willing to make the move, especially after they’ve already been to Iraq at least twice, Walker said.
Based on the fiscal 2006 pay chart, a new gunner in the fleet would be a chief warrant officer 2 and make $3,888.30 per month, about $450 more than a gunnery sergeant with 16 years in the Corps. However, Walker said, a more apt comparison is to look at what an E-8 would make — $3,753.30 per month — because that would presumably be the gunny’s next paygrade. Yes, a CWO-2 makes slightly more than a master sergeant or first sergeant, Walker said, but there’s a host of other costs associated with becoming a gunner that quickly cancel out the extra $135 a month.
Tippett said the Corps is “continuing to explore a couple of different initiatives that will ensure that our needs will continue to be met in the future” for the gunner community, although he declined to be specific until more has been done to finalize them.
“Of the guys that we have, they’re quality guys,” Tippett insisted.
Gunners have their own ideas, however, suggesting the Corps reduce the current 16-year minimum service requirement; open up new, nondeployable billets to gunners such as inspector-instructor jobs with Reserve units; and boost their monthly pay.
“My appeal is that we need more people to apply because it is an extremely valuable occupational field that needs to be filled by the highest caliber of man available,” Walker said.
Ellie
Gunners look to maintain their caliber
Too few applicants could lead to lower quality, some say
By Christian Lowe
Staff writer
They’re some of the Corps’ most “gungy” grunts — often with enlistment dates that reach back to the 1970s. They’ve seen it all, know it all and make your typical “gun nut” look like an airsoft geek.
It’s one of the smallest communities in the Corps, and one of the most knowledgeable, but Marine infantry weapons officers are worried their tradition is dying out, pummeled by a lack of promotion opportunity, pay gaps with the senior enlisted ranks and a dwindling supply of leathernecks willing to join the elite cadre of Marines dubbed “gunners.”
“This isn’t a hiccup. This isn’t a storm. This is a hurricane,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Terry Walker, 2nd Marine Division gunner, said of the concern over the shortage of infantry weapons officers. “We’re looking at what we have to do to not only retain the gunners we have … but to attract the kind of people we’re looking for.”
But Corps officials responsible for managing the infantry weapons officer military occupational specialty (0306) said the situation isn’t as critical as some contend. Of 58 gunner billets in the Marine Corps, all but one is filled.
“To say there’s a shortage is not necessarily accurate. We don’t have a shortage right now,” said Maj. Brad Tippett, infantry occupation field sponsor with the plans, policy and operations office at Marine Corps headquarters.
But gunners are worried the numbers and quality could drop fast. Tippett said the Corps is considering initiatives to stave off future problems and to alleviate the concerns, but it’s too early to elaborate on what they’re considering.
The debate over manpower shortages is not new in today’s Corps, in which some MOSs struggle to fill their ranks as pressure from the war siphons away manpower. Re-enlistment bonuses and other incentives have helped fill critical jobs such as intelligence specialists and reconnaissancemen, but some are still waging an uphill battle.
Tippett downplayed the urgency of the weapons officer plea.
“It needs to be taken into consideration that we’re talking about a very, very, very small portion of the Marine Corps,” Tippett said.
The main concern, Walker said, is the continued health of the weapons officer MOS — which has some of the deepest knowledge of infantry weapons, ground tactics and training techniques in the Corps. So few Marines are applying for the warrant officer commission that the quality of the gunner pool is bound to decline, he said.
In the past, hundreds of Marines would apply to become an infantry weapons officer, which requires them to attend a months-long warrant officer basic course and infantry officer’s course at The Basic School in Quantico, Va., buy new uniforms and be guaranteed to deploy shortly after. But now, only a fraction of that number put their names in the hat, and fewer have the qualifications to make it in.
“The problem we’re having now is we have too few applicants to the number of selections, which drives quality,” Walker said, adding that today’s gunners are highly skilled.
Gunners often face only slightly better pay and a dramatic increase in deployment tempo based on the billets that are available to weapons officers, so fewer Marines with the right qualifications — former platoon sergeants with no less than 16 years of service ranked gunnery sergeant or above — are willing to make the move, especially after they’ve already been to Iraq at least twice, Walker said.
Based on the fiscal 2006 pay chart, a new gunner in the fleet would be a chief warrant officer 2 and make $3,888.30 per month, about $450 more than a gunnery sergeant with 16 years in the Corps. However, Walker said, a more apt comparison is to look at what an E-8 would make — $3,753.30 per month — because that would presumably be the gunny’s next paygrade. Yes, a CWO-2 makes slightly more than a master sergeant or first sergeant, Walker said, but there’s a host of other costs associated with becoming a gunner that quickly cancel out the extra $135 a month.
Tippett said the Corps is “continuing to explore a couple of different initiatives that will ensure that our needs will continue to be met in the future” for the gunner community, although he declined to be specific until more has been done to finalize them.
“Of the guys that we have, they’re quality guys,” Tippett insisted.
Gunners have their own ideas, however, suggesting the Corps reduce the current 16-year minimum service requirement; open up new, nondeployable billets to gunners such as inspector-instructor jobs with Reserve units; and boost their monthly pay.
“My appeal is that we need more people to apply because it is an extremely valuable occupational field that needs to be filled by the highest caliber of man available,” Walker said.
Ellie