{"id":37152,"date":"2019-03-26T20:42:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T20:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/26\/this-is-why-big-navy-is-getting-bigger\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:40:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:40:01","slug":"this-is-why-big-navy-is-getting-bigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/03\/26\/this-is-why-big-navy-is-getting-bigger\/","title":{"rendered":"This is why Big Navy is getting bigger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thanks to President Donald Trump\u2019s latest budget request, Big Navy is poised to get even bigger, adding roughly 21,000 officers and sailors to the sea service by the end of fiscal year 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s 10,000 more sailors than previous projections, part of a Pentagon push to have 354,000 personnel in uniform five years from now, the most since mid-2006 when the Navy was drawing down its numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll grow to 340,500 [by the end of FY 2020]. That\u2019s a 5,100 increase that supports the new platforms, the new capability as well as taking care of fleet needs and reduces gaps [at sea],\u201d said Rear Adm. Randy B. Crites<\/a>, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget, at a March 12 Pentagon briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To meet those end strength figures, the Navy must continue to reach recruiting goals. It\u2019s done that for 137 consecutive months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also means higher goals for retaining top talent, which should spur bigger re-up bonuses and more advancements while the Navy competes with the private sector to keep its best talent in uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe truth of it is, with the numbers that we need for growth right now, we can\u2019t do it with accessions alone. We can\u2019t do it with retention alone. We\u2019ve got to have fairly record high numbers in both to get there,\u201d said Vice Adm. Bob Burke<\/a>, the Navy\u2019s chief of personnel, during an interview with Navy Times in his Virginia office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wrote a growth plan that was dependent on a balance of accessions and retention. And, you know, any time you try to grow, you would like to do it that way. Generally, it\u2019s not achievable, unless you\u2019ve laid a lot of groundwork ahead of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burke\u2019s plan aims to have at the end of this fiscal year 7,500 more sailors than he started with; then the Navy will increase by 5,000 personnel per year, possibly into the next decade \u201cif we stay on the path to 355 ships,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the Navy will continue its Sailor 2025 personnel system reforms, including efforts to overhaul performance evaluations, hike meritorious advancements and open more career fields to the uniformed workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aviation Boatswain\u2019s Mate (Handling) 2nd Class Brandon Latimer helps a potential recruit fill out an application on March 15 in Columbus, Ohio. The Navy is ordering more recruiters to hit the streets while extending the tours of hundreds already on recruiting duty. (Chief Mass Communication Specialist Brian Dietrick\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vying against other services and the private sector for the best volunteers, Burke added 200 recruiters last year and will deploy another 200 by October. He\u2019s also ordering recruiting duty extensions between six to 12 months for 400 other sailors. His goal is to have 3,550 recruiters on the beat in 2020, enough to woo 40,000 new sailors into the service in 2020, plus 400 prior service members. That\u2019s up from 171 in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To aid recruiters, the Navy is arming them with cash incentives. In 2018, the service spent nearly $76 million on enlistment bonuses. That pool of money is projected to top out around $118 million this year and rise to $134 million in 2020, budget documents reveal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That spending comes on top of a proposed 3.1 percent pay hike for all personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recruiting and retention are vital because the Navy sheds about 40,000 sailors to the private sector annually. Last year, Navy officials kept 78 percent of eligible sailors in the ranks, significantly higher than their initial goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Burke said that\u2019s not good enough and mandated loftier retention targets for Zone A, B and C sailors next year \u2014 including keeping up to 89 percent of all eligible sailors who have accrued between 10 and 14 years of service \u2014 while offering increasingly higher reenlistment bonuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2020, the Navy projects to spend $195 million annually on re-up bonuses, $11 million more than will go to sailors this year, with an emphasis on using cash to keep personnel in critical billets such as nuclear power, special warfare, advanced electronics, aviation maintenance, information technology and cryptology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Navy grows, that list is expected to expand to aviation and surface boatswain\u2019s mates and sailors with important skills like fire controlmen and operations specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aviation Machinist Mate 3rd Class Alyssa Anguiano, assigned to the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, reenlisted on board Norfolk’s decommissioned battleship on March 15. To meet retention goals, the Navy plans to offer $195 million in re-up bonuses in 2020. (Max Lonzanida\/Navy).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An ongoing pilot program launched in 2018 that rewards sailors with financial bonuses for achieving high performance evaluation marks is slated to continue into 2020, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Budget projections estimate that sailors in crucial billets also could earn between $75 to $450 more per month is they\u2019re selected for Special Duty Assignment pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, 27,965 sailors collected a total of $91 million in incentive pay. That rose to $98 million distributed to 29,819 sailors this year. In 2020, the Navy plans to share a $102 million pool with 30,951 sailors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-monetary perks to keep sailors in the Navy could include choice of duty station or a chance to attend an advanced school, things Burke believes many sailors value more than money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is true even in the ranks of senior enlisted leaders. Special boards are poised to reward sailors with temporary advancements into the next pay grade, as long as they take a tough assignment or fill billets other sailors avoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep their pay grades over the long haul, however, another selection board must greenlight their advancements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Kyle Jameson, a corpsman with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, a practices marksmanship on March 3. Unlike other Navy communities, the health fields are expected to lose personnel as medical units are absorbed by joint commands and facilities shed billets. (Lance Cpl. Mackenzie Binion\/Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one community likely to lose sailors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Budget documents reveal the Navy plans to shed about 3,100 medical personnel in FY 2020, then another 2,200 the following year. But the service hasn\u2019t released the full breakdown of who will go and when, according to Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following guidance from the National Defense Strategy, the Navy is shifting away from supporting expeditionary warfare on land to embrace the high-end fight at sea. That\u2019s why officials have proposed cutting both reserve and active-duty medical facility units and consolidating personnel under a new Defense Health System shared with the other services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spokesman Chambers said the Navy hasn\u2019t released which units will be trimmed and what the expected impact of the cuts will be, only indicating that the \u201ccurrent list of billet reductions by specialty and location\u201d is still a \u201cwork in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He insisted, however, that no Navy personnel \u201cwill be forced out\u201d by the cuts and instead officials will count on \u201cmedical personnel attrition\u201d to take care of the bulk of those leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials say these medical units annually combine to lose about 3,150 personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\t