Almost three in 10 Marines screened last month this June by the Corps’ fiscal 2015 Staff Sergeant Retention Board were denied further service. But there’s good news as the board scrutinized fewer than half as many Marines compared to last year as last year’s.
In all, 81 out of 263 Marines were denied further service by the board, according to Manpower and Reserve Affairs officials. That is compared to 233 out of 798 last year when the service held its first ever E-6 retention board as part of the ongoing drawdown, which is set to conclude by the end of fiscal 2017 with 182,000 Marines on active duty.
That means while the chances for a Marine who went before the board as screened Marines was cut held steady, far fewer were in jeopardy of being pushed from uniform.
Manpower officials attributed the significant decrease in the number of Marines screened to the FY14 board’s success in culling many of those who were noncompetitive for promotion, but still in uniform.
Last year’s board considered all staff sergeants with between 15 and 18 years of service who were passed for promotion at least twice — whether two, three, four times or more, said Yvonne Carlock, a Manpower and Reserve Affairs spokeswoman at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. With staff sergeants already screened last year in the clear through retirement, this year’s board only looked at those who were since passed for promotion for a second time or were already passed twice, but have now this year hit 15 years of service.
In short, it was a much smaller population, Carlock said.
With many noncompetitive staff sergeants now in retirement, upward mobility and time to pin on rank after being tapped for promotion has improved. That’s e improvement is illustrated, in part, by the number of allocations for promotion from sergeant to staff sergeant at this year’s selection board, which is now underway. Allocations jumped from 3,057 slots in 2014 to at the fiscal 2014 board to 4,144 in 2015 at this year’s.
“The increase is due to multiple successful drawdown efforts which includes [Voluntary Separation Pay], [Temporary Early Retirement Authority] and the retention boards,” Carlock said.
All Marines set for separation by the board have now been notified and their end of active service dates changed to Jan. 31, 2016, according to Marine administrative message 320/15, signed July 1, which announced the board’s results.
Until the drawdown was underway, Marines who attained staff sergeant were traditionally allowed to reach 20 years of service and a full retirement, even if they were repeatedly passed for promotion as long as they continued to meet standards. Majors enjoyed a similar expectation, through a continuation board, until the summer of 2013.
As the drawdown went into full swing, however, manpower officials began selective continuation of Majors through the board. While the board had been in place for years, the common practice was to continue 100 percent of twice passed majors. In 2013, however, the board began scrutinizing those who were twice passed for promotion. Some, but not all, were tapped to continue serving. The same shift was made for staff sergeants in 2014.
Majors and staff sergeants who are denied further service are by limiting boards only to staff sergeants who have been passed for promotion at least twice and have served 15 or more years, every Marine denied further service is eligible for the Temporary Early Retirement Authority program. That means they still do get the full range of retirement benefits, including that includes commissary privileges and a monthly pension, albeit at a reduced rate calculated based on final rank and time in service.
The reduced pension is calculated by multiplying 2.5 percent of base pay by the number of years served, then subtracting 1 percent for each year under 20 served. So a staff sergeant with 15 years in would get $14,316 per year or about $1,193 per month.
That, Manpower officials have stressed, that is consistent with the service’s intent on keeping faith with Marines throughout the drawdown process Amos’ definition of keeping faith.
Whether or not additional boards will be held in the future 2016, 2017 and beyond remains to be seen, according to officials.
Because the boards are a calculated measure based on retention and promotions at those ranks, “it is too early to determine if we will hold another board in [fiscal 2016]FY16,” Carlock said. Officials have in years past said, however, they will be considered at least through the drawdown.
