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Manpower
A 1989 Chase Essay Contest Entry
I have seen a number of well-written articles dealing with staff noncommissioned officers (SNCOs) in the Marine Corps. They all say that we need to strengthen the position of the SNCOs by increasing their responsibility and authority. I believe my proposal will accomplish this by making our SNCOs a stronger part of the Marine Corps. It will bond them more closely while restricting them less, and it will distinguish them further from junior ranks. If SNCOs are truly the "backbone of the Corps," let's treat them as such by making a greater commitment to them while demanding a greater commitment from them.
I propose doing away with the requirement to reenlist SNCOs. Let's instead modify the current enlistment contract to provide for an indefinite expiration of active service (EAS) for staff sergeants and above. This would provide many benefits to the SNCO ranks while easing some of the administrative burden within the Marine Corps. Consider that there are over 30,000 SNCOs on active duty. If all of them always reenlisted for six years, there would still be over 5,000 SNCO reenlistments per year. If the average career planner spends 10 man-hours per reenlistment, the savings to the Marine Corps is over 50,000 manhours per year. Now that I have your attention, remember that all SNCOs do not reenlist for six years each time, and there are more Marines involved in a reenlistment than just the local career planner. My pending reenlistment involves the battalion career planner, the regimental career planner, the division career planner, their clerks, the company first sergeant, the company commanding officer (CO), the battalion CO, the battalion aid station, the battalion surgeon, and the Headquarters Marine Corps Career Planning and Performance Evaluation Branches-just to name a few. It is impossible for me to determine the dollar savings or the overall impact on the Marine Corps.
How Would It Work?
First, we obtain the authority to eliminate the requirement to assign an EAS to SNCOs. Then when we promote a Marine to staff sergeant, he or she would start a new contract with an indefinite EAS. If the Marine is unwilling to do this, we return the warrant and allow him to finish out...