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Seasoned Vet
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Issue Date: November 03, 2003
Retention amid possible Iraq rotations a concern
Corps studying potential effects, Estrada says
By Gordon Lubold
Times staff writer
Credit the flagging economy, the global war on terrorism or better career counseling — regardless, Marines like it green, and they’re re-enlisting like crazy.
But officials worry that the possibility of yearlong Marine deployments to Iraq might end that trend.
For now, Marines are stepping up early to avoid the rush. Just two weeks into the fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, the Corps is nearly 50 percent of the way toward meeting its re-enlistment goal of 5,962 Marines. And counting Marines who have been approved for re-enlistment but have yet to sign the dotted line, the Corps has met about 70 percent of its goal.
Although that kind of re-enlistment hustle is not unheard of, it’s a far cry from 2000 and 2001, when the economy was humming and the Corps scrambled to meet re-enlistment goals on time.
But as the Army finds itself stretched thin by the requirements of postwar Iraq, it’s looking increasingly likely Marines may relieve soldiers there.
Talking to Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Oct. 20, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Marines could be brought into long-term rotations as early as February.
With that in mind, senior Marine officials are beginning to wonder aloud what deployments to Iraq may do to re-enlistment rates.
“We are right now looking to see what effect that might have on retention,” said Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, sergeant major of the Marine Corps, in an Oct. 23 interview at his Pentagon office.
The Corps doesn’t track re-enlistment data that would show how many first-term Marines deployed for the war in Iraq, said Capt. Sander Snowden, First Term Alignment Plan officer at Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Quantico, Va.
Re-enlistment rates among first-termers overall during April and May — the two months after the end of major combat operations in Iraq — were about steady, Snowden said, with about 200 Marines signing up for a second tour. But it’s unclear how many of those were combat veterans.
For now, what the war did for retention likely will remain a mystery, Estrada said.
“Is this going to affect retention down the road? We will not be able to answer that until we go back to Iraq,” he said.
Gauging impact
Corps officials are working to get a better handle on how wartime deployments may affect retention. Also under consideration are initiatives to address Marines’ potential concerns about doing another deployment, Estrada said. That could mean new programs to help Marines with financial, family and other issues.
Retention success can’t be attributed to any one thing, but Marine officials said they’re aware the uncertain economy may be having an effect. Another factor might be the addition of the career counselor military occupational specialty. Once a secondary duty, the job in 2001 became a full-time gig with its own career path, a move that may have increased the quality of the counseling Marines receive.
“We’re having a good era of retention, but there are a lot of actors that play into it and a lot of hard work that goes into it by the leadership,” said retired Sgt. Maj. Lewis “Gary” Lee, a former sergeant major of the Marine Corps now working a consultant at the Center for Naval Analyses in Arlington, Va.
The Marines aren’t the only ones enjoying high retention rates. Retention is so high in the Navy and Air Force, for example, that those services face cutting thousands of sailors and airmen in the coming year.
Likewise, the Corps isn’t the only service sweating its retention future.
The Army is meeting its overall re-enlistment goals, but senior officials are concerned about how the operations tempo of recent years may affect the career decisions soldiers make.
Lt. Gen. John M. Le Moyne, the Army’s personnel chief, said the service is analyzing data to determine how multiple deployments are affecting soldiers.
“What happens when you get to three deployments in four years?” Le Moyne said recently. “Will the midcareer NCOs, junior officers and captains start walking
------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. ------------------------------------------ 
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