thedrifter
09-15-08, 04:22 PM
Roundtable: Recruiting Marines
Posted By Grim
We spoke with Major General (select) Milstead on the issues of Marine Corps recruitment. He says that the USMC is increasingly interested in officer recruitment, and cites some positive trends, such as the potential to return to campuses on some "elite" colleges.
I asked him about regional recruiting. I have long wondered at how strong the differences are in how our regions produce servicemembers. I asked him about this data:
http://www.blackfive.net/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/15/volunteer_map.gif
It shows that every region of the country is underrepresented, except the South and the Mountain West. The Midwest more or less breaks even; but the northeast and Pacific West are strongly underrepresented. My co-blogger Eric Blair suggests that the state results are even more interesting. This tool also breaks down officer/enlisted/academy rates by state, rather than just giving you the average of all three. So (for example) you can see that the Pacific region's underrepresentation is almost wholly a product of California.
My question to the general was, why is this so, and what are you doing to try and draw more recruits from these underrepresented areas?
GRIM: I want to ask you a question about recruiting demographics. The Defense Manpower Data Center at DOD puts out these numbers for the military as a whole; I don't know how they differ with the Marines, but maybe you can talk about this somewhat. It looks like the -- they break out the country into four regions: the Northeast, Midwest, South and West. And then there are subregions within those. The South is always, every year, strongly overrepresented in recruiting. The Mountain West is overrepresented and the rest of the country is underrepresented, especially the Northeast, California and places like that. Would you like to talk about what you are doing to try and reach out to some of those under-represented places and get people to consider becoming Marines?
GEN. MILSTEAD: Wow. That's a great question and it's a tough question. You know, for us, we separate, first of all -- and you all know this. You know, I mean, you all are an intelligent crowd. You do your homework, you know. So, I mean, you know this. I break the country left and right, you know, or east and west. I've got the western region; I've got the eastern region. Generally I break it right down the Mississippi river. And then each one of those regions is further broken up into threes. So I have six districts.
And you're spot on. Which district struggles or has to work -- they're all working hard, but which is the one that has the greatest challenge right now? That's the 1st Marine Corps District. And that's what? That's Buffalo, Albany, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, New Jersey, Baltimore, Springfield. It's the Northeast. That's the one. Now, I get places like Recruiting Station Atlanta, which is down in the 6th District. They close on their mission the end of the first week, traditionally. One week, and they've made their quota. So they're continuing to build. But then again, Denver -- Denver's another RS that if I was a young major and had to go somewhere I'd want to go. They're knocking it into the -- into the stands. So you're right.
And we look at this, and one of the first things I asked was kind of like that: Okay, how is it that we have these recruiting stations spread around the country? It was obviously based on some sort of demographics, you know, analysis. When was the last time this was done? You know, I would offer that the country has changed; the demographics has changed some. Do we need to look at doing this? You know, some of it is driven by BRAC. For instance, we used to have a district headquarters for the 8th District, which is Texas and New Mexico and all that -- used to be -- no, I'm sorry, for the 6th. It used to be down in New Orleans. No, it was the 8th. It was in New Orleans, and then they re-did the line and they moved it up to Dallas. Some of that was Katrina, but it was also - - it was already planned. So we're looking at it, but we'll send the recruiters to where the seniors are. So we have an analysis that shows where these kids are. So instead of moving the stations, I'll maybe say, okay, well, this station that's in an area that does very, very well, we'll give them, say, for discussion purposes, 10 recruiters. And I'll send 15 or 20 to the -- to an area that needs more recruiters.
You know, we target, you know, of course, our seniors. The seniors in high school is the bread and butter because they're the ones that we talk to as they begin their senior year. We want to get them into the pool and have a year to work with them before we ship them in the summer. So it's an ongoing process. I wish I could give you, you know, that I have this project, that project and that project. But we don't but we are looking. It's a constant. Again it's more art than it is science.
GRIM: Well, if I may ask a follow-up question?
GEN. MILSTEAD: Sure.
GRIM: On the subject of art, have you considered the question of whether it is the recruiting message that is causing this? I mean, the Marines of course have the best recruiting commercials, if I may venture an opinion on the subject with the, you know, rock climbing and the swords. And does that play better in the South and in the Mountain West? Do you need a different way of talking to people in the Northeast and California and places like that?
GEN. MILSTEAD: Well, not really. But I will tell you, you know, I mean, I'll be open kimono with you here. For the ones that we show for instance in certain areas, the guy climbing the rock may be an African American. And that may play in the Northeast or it may play, you know, in the Atlanta are or something like this. The one that plays in Nebraska, you know, it's a cornfed, you know, redheaded white boy. And the one that plays out in Phoenix, Albuquerque and Southern Mexico is a Hispanic.
So we kind of look at it that way, and that's not a bad thing. But we do look at those sorts of things. But you brought up a good point that I want to just, and again I'm not throwing rocks at anybody else. But other -- we're diametrically opposite, I think, to some of the other services in how we recruit, what our message is. Other services recruit, offer themselves as a means to something else, to something better. You know, we'll get you a college education. We'll get you financial stability. You'll improve your lot in life.
The Marine Corps offers itself as the destination. You know, the, like we say, the transformation, and it's for a lifetime. We offer you one thing only, and that's that you'll be a United States Marine. We don't talk college. We don't talk money. We don't talk, you know, anything else. We make one promise and that you'll be, you know, the -- a United States Marine. And I think that resonates. That sort of message resonates nationally. It's just a function of propensity to serve or whatever.
And we're looking at that too especially and we can talk about, you know, minority issues and everything. We're -- I've got, I've put together a, what we'll call a diversity advisory group, with some leading community leaders that are African America, to tell me how I can better refine the message or what I can do to increase the number of African American men and women that, when they graduate from college, they join the Marine Corps instead of going somewhere else. And you know what. Somebody talked about that thing last night. There was a whole lot of talk about national service from both McCain and Obama. And I just kind of chuckled because I said, you know, words are cheap. Believe me, I'm living that. I want to see that and I want to see people come into the service. But it's easier said than done.
The problem with saying, "it's just a function of propensity to serve" is that this is just what I was asking about: why is there a different propensity to serve? I think you need to know the answer to that question if you expect to reach out more successfully to these low-producing regions.
I'll offer one hint: it's not poverty driving people into the service. The one quintile that is underrepresented is the poorest quintile. All others are overrepresented, and none moreso than the second-highest, that is, the upper-middle class. It's not, then, that people are choosing to serve for lack of other options. It's really about who wants to serve, and why.
Ellie
Posted By Grim
We spoke with Major General (select) Milstead on the issues of Marine Corps recruitment. He says that the USMC is increasingly interested in officer recruitment, and cites some positive trends, such as the potential to return to campuses on some "elite" colleges.
I asked him about regional recruiting. I have long wondered at how strong the differences are in how our regions produce servicemembers. I asked him about this data:
http://www.blackfive.net/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/15/volunteer_map.gif
It shows that every region of the country is underrepresented, except the South and the Mountain West. The Midwest more or less breaks even; but the northeast and Pacific West are strongly underrepresented. My co-blogger Eric Blair suggests that the state results are even more interesting. This tool also breaks down officer/enlisted/academy rates by state, rather than just giving you the average of all three. So (for example) you can see that the Pacific region's underrepresentation is almost wholly a product of California.
My question to the general was, why is this so, and what are you doing to try and draw more recruits from these underrepresented areas?
GRIM: I want to ask you a question about recruiting demographics. The Defense Manpower Data Center at DOD puts out these numbers for the military as a whole; I don't know how they differ with the Marines, but maybe you can talk about this somewhat. It looks like the -- they break out the country into four regions: the Northeast, Midwest, South and West. And then there are subregions within those. The South is always, every year, strongly overrepresented in recruiting. The Mountain West is overrepresented and the rest of the country is underrepresented, especially the Northeast, California and places like that. Would you like to talk about what you are doing to try and reach out to some of those under-represented places and get people to consider becoming Marines?
GEN. MILSTEAD: Wow. That's a great question and it's a tough question. You know, for us, we separate, first of all -- and you all know this. You know, I mean, you all are an intelligent crowd. You do your homework, you know. So, I mean, you know this. I break the country left and right, you know, or east and west. I've got the western region; I've got the eastern region. Generally I break it right down the Mississippi river. And then each one of those regions is further broken up into threes. So I have six districts.
And you're spot on. Which district struggles or has to work -- they're all working hard, but which is the one that has the greatest challenge right now? That's the 1st Marine Corps District. And that's what? That's Buffalo, Albany, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, New Jersey, Baltimore, Springfield. It's the Northeast. That's the one. Now, I get places like Recruiting Station Atlanta, which is down in the 6th District. They close on their mission the end of the first week, traditionally. One week, and they've made their quota. So they're continuing to build. But then again, Denver -- Denver's another RS that if I was a young major and had to go somewhere I'd want to go. They're knocking it into the -- into the stands. So you're right.
And we look at this, and one of the first things I asked was kind of like that: Okay, how is it that we have these recruiting stations spread around the country? It was obviously based on some sort of demographics, you know, analysis. When was the last time this was done? You know, I would offer that the country has changed; the demographics has changed some. Do we need to look at doing this? You know, some of it is driven by BRAC. For instance, we used to have a district headquarters for the 8th District, which is Texas and New Mexico and all that -- used to be -- no, I'm sorry, for the 6th. It used to be down in New Orleans. No, it was the 8th. It was in New Orleans, and then they re-did the line and they moved it up to Dallas. Some of that was Katrina, but it was also - - it was already planned. So we're looking at it, but we'll send the recruiters to where the seniors are. So we have an analysis that shows where these kids are. So instead of moving the stations, I'll maybe say, okay, well, this station that's in an area that does very, very well, we'll give them, say, for discussion purposes, 10 recruiters. And I'll send 15 or 20 to the -- to an area that needs more recruiters.
You know, we target, you know, of course, our seniors. The seniors in high school is the bread and butter because they're the ones that we talk to as they begin their senior year. We want to get them into the pool and have a year to work with them before we ship them in the summer. So it's an ongoing process. I wish I could give you, you know, that I have this project, that project and that project. But we don't but we are looking. It's a constant. Again it's more art than it is science.
GRIM: Well, if I may ask a follow-up question?
GEN. MILSTEAD: Sure.
GRIM: On the subject of art, have you considered the question of whether it is the recruiting message that is causing this? I mean, the Marines of course have the best recruiting commercials, if I may venture an opinion on the subject with the, you know, rock climbing and the swords. And does that play better in the South and in the Mountain West? Do you need a different way of talking to people in the Northeast and California and places like that?
GEN. MILSTEAD: Well, not really. But I will tell you, you know, I mean, I'll be open kimono with you here. For the ones that we show for instance in certain areas, the guy climbing the rock may be an African American. And that may play in the Northeast or it may play, you know, in the Atlanta are or something like this. The one that plays in Nebraska, you know, it's a cornfed, you know, redheaded white boy. And the one that plays out in Phoenix, Albuquerque and Southern Mexico is a Hispanic.
So we kind of look at it that way, and that's not a bad thing. But we do look at those sorts of things. But you brought up a good point that I want to just, and again I'm not throwing rocks at anybody else. But other -- we're diametrically opposite, I think, to some of the other services in how we recruit, what our message is. Other services recruit, offer themselves as a means to something else, to something better. You know, we'll get you a college education. We'll get you financial stability. You'll improve your lot in life.
The Marine Corps offers itself as the destination. You know, the, like we say, the transformation, and it's for a lifetime. We offer you one thing only, and that's that you'll be a United States Marine. We don't talk college. We don't talk money. We don't talk, you know, anything else. We make one promise and that you'll be, you know, the -- a United States Marine. And I think that resonates. That sort of message resonates nationally. It's just a function of propensity to serve or whatever.
And we're looking at that too especially and we can talk about, you know, minority issues and everything. We're -- I've got, I've put together a, what we'll call a diversity advisory group, with some leading community leaders that are African America, to tell me how I can better refine the message or what I can do to increase the number of African American men and women that, when they graduate from college, they join the Marine Corps instead of going somewhere else. And you know what. Somebody talked about that thing last night. There was a whole lot of talk about national service from both McCain and Obama. And I just kind of chuckled because I said, you know, words are cheap. Believe me, I'm living that. I want to see that and I want to see people come into the service. But it's easier said than done.
The problem with saying, "it's just a function of propensity to serve" is that this is just what I was asking about: why is there a different propensity to serve? I think you need to know the answer to that question if you expect to reach out more successfully to these low-producing regions.
I'll offer one hint: it's not poverty driving people into the service. The one quintile that is underrepresented is the poorest quintile. All others are overrepresented, and none moreso than the second-highest, that is, the upper-middle class. It's not, then, that people are choosing to serve for lack of other options. It's really about who wants to serve, and why.
Ellie