Marines Exceed Reenlist Goals

Although finding enough recruits continues to be difficult, the Marine Corps has exceeded its goals for persuading Marines to reenlist, officials said Friday.

Lt. Col. Mark Menotti said that reenlistment bonuses, appeals to patriotism and the Marines’ sense of camaraderie helped the Corps exceed its goals for reenlisting first-term Marines as well as those serving a second or third tour.

“Marines realize they are part of something special and significant,” said Menotti, head of manpower and reserve affairs.

In certain job categories, particularly those needed for combat in Iraq, bonuses exceeded $30,000. The largest of the bonuses are for infantry skills personnel, so-called grunts. Others are for linguists and intelligence analysts.

The Marine Corps earmarked $52 million for bonuses, up $1 million from the previous year. Two-thirds of the money is for Marines reenlisting for a second tour, one-third for those reenlisting for a third or fourth tour. If troops reenlist while in Iraq, the bonuses are tax-exempt.

As of Friday, the beginning of a new fiscal year, the Corps had reenlisted 5,949 Marines for a second hitch, beating its goal by 0.2 percentage points. It retained 5,079 for a third or subsequent tour, exceeding that goal by 9.4 percentage points.

With many Marines serving multiple tours in Iraq, and more than 500 Marine fatalities there, some officials had worried that the Corps would not be able to meet its reenlistment goals.

Since establishing its annual reenlistment goals -- in 1993 for first-term Marines, and 2002 for second- and third-termers -- the Corps has never failed to meet them, Menotti said.

Yet for the first four months of this year, the Corps missed its goals for recruits. It was the first time in about a decade that the Corps’ recruiting pitch, which dared young people to prove they were tough enough to be Marines, had fallen short.

In May, the most recent month for which the Pentagon has released figures, the Corps exceeded its recruiting goal by 3%, although it fell short of its objective for the reserves by 12%.

Marine Commandant Gen. Michael W. Hagee told a congressional hearing Thursday that the Corps would meet its goal for recruits. “The quality of individuals we are shipping to recruit depots remains high,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that the Army had met its most recent monthly recruiting mark after four months of shortfalls.