Marines who want to stay at their current duty stations should be able to do so instead of being forced to make a permanent change of station, or PCS move every few years, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said on Thursday.
“We have to let Marines pick their own duty station,” Smith said during the annual Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington, D.C. “If you let a Marine write his own tasking statement, he’ll get it right 100% of the time.”
Smith was not announcing any new policy change, rather, he was speaking about the Marine Corps’ ongoing efforts to refine its talent management process, a Marine Corps official told Task & Purpose.
The commandant’s comments came in response to a question about what the Marine Corps is doing to recruit and retain Marines.
“You can’t recruit your way out of a manpower crisis, you can only retain your way out,” Smith said.
Smith spoke about how some Marines should be able to stay where they are currently assigned if it helps their careers and family life.
“If a Marine is at Camp Lejeune, [North Carolina] and they want to stay at Camp Lejeune for nine years or 12 years, that’s fine by me,” Smith said. “Why do I have to move him to Camp Pendleton, [California]? Well, because that’s what we do as Marines: We move every three years. Well why? Because that’s what we do. Well why? Because that’s what we do. Well why? I mean, it doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“If you want to stay at Camp Pendleton, your spouse has good employment, you’re happy in your home there, and you know the terrain and you know the training, why can’t you stay there for nine, or 10 or 12 years?” he continued. “I’m not saying you should stay there for your entire 30-year career, but we don’t have to move you every three years.”
The Marines have done better than most of the other military branches on recruiting in recent years. In February, Marine Corps Recruiting Command spokesman Jim Edwards told Task & Purpose that the Marines are on track to meet their recruiting goal for this fiscal year, as they have for decades.
One reason why the Marine Corps has been able to meet its recruiting goals for so many years is that it holds recruiters who don’t make their mission accountable, and that includes relieving them, Smith said on Thursday.
“My own son is an officer recruiter, and he knows that if he doesn’t make mission, he doesn’t get to come home for Christmas,” Smith said. “I’m only a little bit joking about that.”