thedrifter
07-16-07, 07:57 AM
Longer DEP window nets 1,100 recruits
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com
Posted : July 23, 2007
An extension in the amount of time an applicant can spend in the delayed entry program before shipping to boot camp yielded “approximately” 1,100 contracts during May and June, a spokesman for Marine Corps Recruiting Command said.
The maximum time a Marine applicant could spend in the DEP was historically 365 days until MCRC’s top official, Brig. Gen. Richard Tryon, issued a May 4 edict allowing recruiters to contract them into boot camp’s on-deck circle “for a maximum of 410 days during May and June annually.”
The change expands the population of eligible applicants from high school seniors only to “rising seniors” still in the final 30 days of their junior year, as long as they can produce a letter from their school verifying that they’re on track to graduate on schedule, Tryon’s policy memo states.
The initiative gives recruiters more flexibility and “alleviates the need to grant numerous DEP extensions due to unforeseen circumstances that would cause a temporary administrative delay,” MCRC spokesman Maj. Wes Hayes wrote in an e-mail response to questions. He refused requests for an interview with recruiting officials to explain what prompted the policy change.
Tryon’s policy memo still authorizes DEP extensions where necessary for a maximum of 120 days, but does not allow extensions past the 545-day Defense Department limit.
Tryon has approved about 450 extensions in each of the last two fiscal years, Hayes said.
He called the policy change “a very good success” because it produced “approximately” 600 enlistments in May and 500 in June. It is unclear how many of them would have joined their senior year under the traditional DEP limits, Hayes said. The recruiting windfall spurred by the policy change during May and June could possibly cover MCRC’s share of the Corps-wide end-strength increase of 5,000 Marines announced in December that has recruiters on the hook to deliver 1,000 more recruits than originally expected by October. But specifics about how much of an impact the policy change had on the annual recruiting mission are unclear.
Hayes would not release the exact totals he retrieved from the Marine Corps recruiting information system because, he said, the nationwide database might be wrong by “one or two around the country.”
Regional spokeswomen were not authorized by Recruiting Command to comment on their numbers individually.
According to the memo, the initiative renews itself every “May and June annually.” But Hayes said he doesn’t expect Tryon’s policy to stick around in its current form.
“I wouldn’t say May and June next year. The dates may be flexible,” he said.
Hayes said the annual window of eligibility for applicants to join the DEP 410 days before shipping to recruit training could be adjusted next year to “make it better in a way,” though “there is no talk of how to make it better that I’m aware of.”
As far as the number of would-be Marines actually shipping to boot camp, recruiters exceeded their June goal of sending 3,742 active-duty enlistees to the depots, according to a Defense Department release.
The Corps sent 4,113 active-duty Marine hopefuls to its recruit depots in San Diego and Parris Island, S.C., surpassing its goal by 10 percent, the release said.
The Reserve recruiting goal was also exceeded by 92 enlistees, 9 percent more than the 986 recruits the Corps was aiming for, the release said.
Ellie
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com
Posted : July 23, 2007
An extension in the amount of time an applicant can spend in the delayed entry program before shipping to boot camp yielded “approximately” 1,100 contracts during May and June, a spokesman for Marine Corps Recruiting Command said.
The maximum time a Marine applicant could spend in the DEP was historically 365 days until MCRC’s top official, Brig. Gen. Richard Tryon, issued a May 4 edict allowing recruiters to contract them into boot camp’s on-deck circle “for a maximum of 410 days during May and June annually.”
The change expands the population of eligible applicants from high school seniors only to “rising seniors” still in the final 30 days of their junior year, as long as they can produce a letter from their school verifying that they’re on track to graduate on schedule, Tryon’s policy memo states.
The initiative gives recruiters more flexibility and “alleviates the need to grant numerous DEP extensions due to unforeseen circumstances that would cause a temporary administrative delay,” MCRC spokesman Maj. Wes Hayes wrote in an e-mail response to questions. He refused requests for an interview with recruiting officials to explain what prompted the policy change.
Tryon’s policy memo still authorizes DEP extensions where necessary for a maximum of 120 days, but does not allow extensions past the 545-day Defense Department limit.
Tryon has approved about 450 extensions in each of the last two fiscal years, Hayes said.
He called the policy change “a very good success” because it produced “approximately” 600 enlistments in May and 500 in June. It is unclear how many of them would have joined their senior year under the traditional DEP limits, Hayes said. The recruiting windfall spurred by the policy change during May and June could possibly cover MCRC’s share of the Corps-wide end-strength increase of 5,000 Marines announced in December that has recruiters on the hook to deliver 1,000 more recruits than originally expected by October. But specifics about how much of an impact the policy change had on the annual recruiting mission are unclear.
Hayes would not release the exact totals he retrieved from the Marine Corps recruiting information system because, he said, the nationwide database might be wrong by “one or two around the country.”
Regional spokeswomen were not authorized by Recruiting Command to comment on their numbers individually.
According to the memo, the initiative renews itself every “May and June annually.” But Hayes said he doesn’t expect Tryon’s policy to stick around in its current form.
“I wouldn’t say May and June next year. The dates may be flexible,” he said.
Hayes said the annual window of eligibility for applicants to join the DEP 410 days before shipping to recruit training could be adjusted next year to “make it better in a way,” though “there is no talk of how to make it better that I’m aware of.”
As far as the number of would-be Marines actually shipping to boot camp, recruiters exceeded their June goal of sending 3,742 active-duty enlistees to the depots, according to a Defense Department release.
The Corps sent 4,113 active-duty Marine hopefuls to its recruit depots in San Diego and Parris Island, S.C., surpassing its goal by 10 percent, the release said.
The Reserve recruiting goal was also exceeded by 92 enlistees, 9 percent more than the 986 recruits the Corps was aiming for, the release said.
Ellie