Divorce--Marine Style

The Marines are looking for a few good . . . bachelors ?

So it seemed from the directive signed by Gen. Carl E. Mundy Jr., the Marine Corps commandant, announcing that enlistments in the corps would soon be limited to the unmarried. The directive, rescinded after Defense Secretary Les Aspin and the White House made clear that it was out of line, would have phased in the singles-only recruitment policy by 1996. Both male and female recruits would of course have been affected.

Mundy publicly admitted his error in not informing his civilian superiors of what he planned to do. That in fairness should put an end to an unfortunate flap. It won’t, however, put an end to the vexing personnel problem the moribund policy sought in its clumsy way to address.

The Marine directive was not prompted by an interest in asserting Draconian new disciplinary procedures but by these disturbing facts: The divorce rate among first-term enlistees--most of them in the 17-to-20 age group--is high and has been rising. As Times reporter Melissa Healy noted the other day, in good part that reflects the much higher rate of marriage among young Marines--two to three times as high as in the comparable civilian age group. Meanwhile, the re-enlistment rate among young married Marines has been falling. Much of the blame is put on long family separations that occur when Marines are at sea or posted overseas. All this affects the corps in two clearly adverse ways.

First, in reduced morale and effectiveness, since the tensions and unhappiness of a failing marriage can take their toll in the workplace, in such areas as discipline and combat effectiveness. Second, in costs. Falling re-enlistment rates mean that a lot of expensive training in effect ends up going to waste.

The family disruption problem isn’t new, though reduced force levels may make it more intense, especially for Marines who face more frequent and prolonged separations than most other members of the armed forces. In response, Aspin says new family counseling policies will be developed for all the services to try to cut down on disruptive stresses; the Air Force is sometimes cited as having especially good family support policies. The Marines still want to recruit good men and women. Now they have to figure out how to get and hold on to them without requiring monastic self-sacrifice.