thedrifter
10-03-06, 12:26 PM
October 09, 2006
Drop in selections may be felt throughout ranks
Marines advised to improve their composite scores
By John Hoellwarth
Staff writer
A drop in selections for staff sergeant will trickle down to lance corporals in the form of higher cutting scores during the next year, manpower officials said.
The staff sergeant selection board tapped 3,084 sergeants to pin on rockers in the coming year, down from 3,644 last year — a 15 percent drop. This means the Corps will need 560 fewer corporals to add a third stripe over the next year, so fewer lance corporals will sew on the red one in turn.
Maj. Dan White, a promotion planner with Manpower and Reserve Affairs in Quantico, Va., said the drop in staff sergeant selections is related to the 25 percent drop in gunnery sergeants selected in April.
But the decrease in new gunnys doesn’t require a parallel 25 percent decrease in new staff sergeants because promotion allocations at each level are also impacted “by human behavior,” he said.
Each time a Marine unexpectedly decides against re-enlistment, pops positive on a urinalysis test or suffers an injury that results in medical retirement, to name a few possibilities, Marines of lesser grade see a rise in allocations and a drop in cutting scores, White said.
Barring the unforeseeable, “retirements and re-enlistments are the most significant factors in determining the allocations for each [military occupational specialty] each year,” White said.
But Maj. Trevor Hall, enlisted retention specialist, said re-enlistment trends have historically remained constant.
Though allocations for selection to staff sergeant have fluctuated since 2002, the Corps has met retention goals for first-term Marines for the last 14 years, as well as goals for re-enlisting career Marines since beginning its Subsequent Term Alignment Plan five years ago, Hall said.
“I could see if we failed to meet our mission that would drive up the need for promotions,” Hall said. “Retention has been consistent, so if there is a reduction in allocations, I don’t think it’s because of retention alone. Retention, to an extent, will be tied in, but it’s not the only factor.”
White said drops in allocations are never straight across the board, but rather the bottom line of increases and decreases in the need to promote Marines in each MOS.
For example, many senior enlisted infantry Marines have re-enlisted and forgone retirement over the last year, causing a bottleneck in promotions for infantry Marines that resulted in fewer gunny and staff sergeant allocations this year. Conversely, senior enlisted Marines in the motor transportation field have left the Corps in droves over the past year, leading to increased promotion opportunity for junior Marines as well as bigger in fiscal 2007 re-enlistment bonuses than the field has seen in years, Hall said.
Future unclear
White said it is impossible to tell how the reduction in staff sergeant selections will play out on the lance corporal level because “there are a couple layers between [staff sergeants] and the lance corporals. We’re kind of looking at a murky crystal ball right now.”
Though there is no telling where the bar will be set for lance corporals over the next year, White encourages junior Marines to bolster their composite scores by visiting the rifle range, improving their physical-fitness tests and completing their Marine Corps Institute courses because it is clear that the bar is not getting lower.
White said the Corps is recalibrating cutting scores for noncommissioned officer promotions every month, “so just keep plugging away.”
Ellie
Drop in selections may be felt throughout ranks
Marines advised to improve their composite scores
By John Hoellwarth
Staff writer
A drop in selections for staff sergeant will trickle down to lance corporals in the form of higher cutting scores during the next year, manpower officials said.
The staff sergeant selection board tapped 3,084 sergeants to pin on rockers in the coming year, down from 3,644 last year — a 15 percent drop. This means the Corps will need 560 fewer corporals to add a third stripe over the next year, so fewer lance corporals will sew on the red one in turn.
Maj. Dan White, a promotion planner with Manpower and Reserve Affairs in Quantico, Va., said the drop in staff sergeant selections is related to the 25 percent drop in gunnery sergeants selected in April.
But the decrease in new gunnys doesn’t require a parallel 25 percent decrease in new staff sergeants because promotion allocations at each level are also impacted “by human behavior,” he said.
Each time a Marine unexpectedly decides against re-enlistment, pops positive on a urinalysis test or suffers an injury that results in medical retirement, to name a few possibilities, Marines of lesser grade see a rise in allocations and a drop in cutting scores, White said.
Barring the unforeseeable, “retirements and re-enlistments are the most significant factors in determining the allocations for each [military occupational specialty] each year,” White said.
But Maj. Trevor Hall, enlisted retention specialist, said re-enlistment trends have historically remained constant.
Though allocations for selection to staff sergeant have fluctuated since 2002, the Corps has met retention goals for first-term Marines for the last 14 years, as well as goals for re-enlisting career Marines since beginning its Subsequent Term Alignment Plan five years ago, Hall said.
“I could see if we failed to meet our mission that would drive up the need for promotions,” Hall said. “Retention has been consistent, so if there is a reduction in allocations, I don’t think it’s because of retention alone. Retention, to an extent, will be tied in, but it’s not the only factor.”
White said drops in allocations are never straight across the board, but rather the bottom line of increases and decreases in the need to promote Marines in each MOS.
For example, many senior enlisted infantry Marines have re-enlisted and forgone retirement over the last year, causing a bottleneck in promotions for infantry Marines that resulted in fewer gunny and staff sergeant allocations this year. Conversely, senior enlisted Marines in the motor transportation field have left the Corps in droves over the past year, leading to increased promotion opportunity for junior Marines as well as bigger in fiscal 2007 re-enlistment bonuses than the field has seen in years, Hall said.
Future unclear
White said it is impossible to tell how the reduction in staff sergeant selections will play out on the lance corporal level because “there are a couple layers between [staff sergeants] and the lance corporals. We’re kind of looking at a murky crystal ball right now.”
Though there is no telling where the bar will be set for lance corporals over the next year, White encourages junior Marines to bolster their composite scores by visiting the rifle range, improving their physical-fitness tests and completing their Marine Corps Institute courses because it is clear that the bar is not getting lower.
White said the Corps is recalibrating cutting scores for noncommissioned officer promotions every month, “so just keep plugging away.”
Ellie