General: Cuts will drive career competition - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

General: Cuts will drive career competition

Deeper than anticipated manpower cuts mean Marines will face the stiffest competition to stay in uniform in more than a decade, and more units will deactivate as the Corps whittles down to 182,100.

Competition for first-term Marines will be especially difficult. The Corps is working to retain mid-grade officers and enlisted Marines with more than one term under their belts, said Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills, head of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, during a speech Wednesday hosted by the Defense Strategies Institute in downtown Washington.

Mills detailed how the Marine Corps will make those cuts with a $23.9 billion dollar budget request for fiscal 2013 that is $2.7 billion less than expected.

The reason for the re-enlistment shift is twofold, Mills said. First, it will help the Marine Corps preserve knowledge and experience gained during 10 years at war. Second, in what he termed “reversibility,” it will allow the force to rapidly grow in the event of an unforeseen national emergency. While it is expensive to keep more majors, staff sergeants and gunnery sergeants, their experience would be necessary to train a large, unexpected influx of new Marines.

The Navy Department’s 2013 budget request highlights this trend towards retaining more experienced troops. In fiscal 2011, more than half of all re-enlistments — 56 percent — were made by first-term Marines, according to budget documents. The rate is slated to fall to 46 percent this fiscal year and 39 percent for fiscal ’13.

But the competition doesn’t necessarily mean Marines will be pushed out early. By drawing down gradually over four years, Mills said, the Corps shouldn’t have to resort to involuntary separations. Those who already signed up will be allowed to finish their term. Those wanting to stay in uniform will have to up their game as leaders begin to “pick from the best.”

Marines will have to have an impeccable record, proving themselves worthy not just professionally, but also personally, he said. They will also have to decide very early if they want to make the Marine Corps a career and pursue it aggressively.

Larger-than-anticipated manpower cuts also mean the Marine Corps will have to cut more infantry battalions and aviation squadrons than previously planned, Mills acknowledged. Entire units would be trimmed, rather than piecemeal cuts from within units, Mills said, to ensure that every unit is always trained, equipped and ready to deploy.

Mills did not identify where the additional unit cuts will come from, but said they will be spread across the Corps without affecting East or West Coast units disproportionately.