Second Honorable Mention, Marine Corps Essay Contest
Information technology can increase efficiency and add value, but it requires a skilled workforce to keep it working properly. The Marine Corps must find ways to recruit and retain its pool of small computer systems specialists.
Information technology (IT) is a dominant factor in both private-sector and governmental efforts to increase efficiency and profits in an environment of diminishing resources. This process, known as "doing more with less," has spawned an era characterized not by its industrial output but by its dependence on the intellectual means to streamline processes, decrease overhead, and increase shareholder value. Effective leveraging of IT is critical.
The unfortunate Achilles' heel of IT is that, despite its promise to downsize an organization's workforce, it requires technically skilled people capable of using it. Without a team of trained, competent, and motivated individuals to manage the corporate investment in such technologies, all the desktop computers, software systems, network hardware, and telecommunications infrastructure available are worthless.
If IT's personnel requirements are an Achilles' heel, the recruiting, training, and retaining of talented personnel is a festering blister. Training entry-level workers to the point where they are productive is an expensive and exhaustive process, and with rapidly emerging technologies, the shelf life of an IT professional's skills is short. The cost of keeping a finely honed edge on even the most dedicated people can be exorbitant. Add to this market forces that place a premium on even modestly qualified personnel and recruiting and retaining the best workers becomes an enormous challenge. The Marine Corps will have to take special measures to maintain an adequate pool of professionals in the rapidly changing IT field.
The Marine Corps' Problem
Recruiting. Seduced by information technology's promise of being able to do more with less, the Marine Corps was slow to recognize the increased personnel requirements the IT revolution demands. Over the past ten years, the Corps has migrated from a regional mainframe-based information processing structure to a much more dynamic and decentralized client-server information infrastructure. As a result, our requirement for IT expertise has grown from a small cadre of specialized mainframe operators to a vast number of generalized small computer systems specialists, which we know as Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 4066. The Corps expects the 4066 Marine to keep this decentralized infrastructure operational in both a deployed and a garrison environment.
To illustrate the increase in the requirement for 4066s—and how well the Marine Corps is doing in meeting that requirement—we first must define a few terms.
Authorized end strength is the total number of Marines the Commandant is authorized by Congress to have on active duty. Today, that number is capped at approximately 172,200. There also are certain constraints on how many of the total force may hold a given rank. Pay grades E-9 and E-8, for example, may account for no more than 1% and 3% of that number, respectively.
Table of Organization (T/O) is the wartime requirement to fully staff each unit. Today, the T/O of the Corps is about 154,000 Marines.
Given that authorized end strength is greater than the T/O, it appears that there are enough Marines to keep the entire Corps at T/O strength, but this is not the case. Trainees, transients, patients, and prisoners (T2P2) account for 30,000 Marines. When this number is subtracted from authorized end strength, it becomes clear that the Marine Corps is staffed at only about 91% of its T/O strength.
Grade-Adjusted Recapitulation (GAR) delineates by MOS and grade the number of Marines needed to meet Fleet Marine Force requirements and fair share requirements for B-Billets (drill field duty, recruiting duty, embassy duty, etc.), while accounting for T2P2. In other words, if an MOS is staffed at 100% of GAR, it has enough Marines to meet B-Billet requirements and T2P2 projections and still fill 91% of T/O billets for that grade and MOS.
Figure 1 (top) depicts the increased staffing requirements for the 4066 MOS for grades E-1 through E-8, as determined by the Force Structure Planning Group (FSPG). On-hand strength has been lower than GAR since early 1997, and the FSPG has said that even more 4066s will be needed to meet operational needs in the coming decade. We face a difficult challenge if we intend to recruit, train, and retain an IT force that will support the direction in which we intend to take the Corps.
In recent years, our recruiting efforts have been remarkably successful. Unlike our sister services, we have attracted sufficient personnel, without lowering our high standards. In fact, we have raised the standards, making our boot camps more difficult than ever. Still, if we are to increase the number of 4066s in our Corps, we may need more recruits with General Technical (GT) scores above 110, the minimum acceptable score for training in the 4066 MOS. In fiscal year 1999, we exceeded our requirement for accessions with GT scores above 110, but there is no guarantee that enough of the pool will aspire to become 4066s. Past results do not guarantee future successes, and the requirements for qualified Marines will only get higher.
Training. With today's rapidly changing technology, the skill sets and proficiency levels to which Marines should be trained are moving targets. For example, as Marines at Marine Corps Communications Electronics School (MCCES) are learning to administer Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft is releasing the next-generation Windows 2000. This change will require a major overhaul in the syllabus, and the Marines charged with teaching that software will have to retool as well. It is highly unlikely that the Marine Corps will ever have a training infrastructure capable of keeping pace with the industry. The question is, How hard should we try?
The current syllabus for the Entry Level Small Computer Systems Specialist Course is a respectable representation of the skills a 4066 might be expected to know today, but change is constant. In the past two years, the Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN) has undergone at least three major software changes. First, we changed our electronic mail agent. Next, we migrated our network operating system. Then we switched our office automation software. With each evolution we changed the skills we expect our 4066s to possess, and this does not even include the training required for managing Year 2000 compliance issues or facilitating local/regional network infrastructure upgrades, which are continuous and not standardized throughout MCEN. Microsoft's release of Windows 2000 adds even more challenges.
The Marine Corps expects to convene 24 4066 classes per fiscal year, each 40-day class training 16-30 Marines. Because the focus is on fielding a steady stream of trained 4066s to the fleet, class size varies, and this affects the consistency and quality of instruction. Time-on-station limitations also affect instruction, because experienced teachers leave the classroom for new assignments and incoming instructors face a steep learning curve.
Retention. With the opportunities that abound for young Marines in the civilian sector, retaining our best "Information Warriors" may be our greatest challenge.
Higher private-sector salaries are not the only factor foiling our retention efforts. The Marine Corps also lacks a viable and challenging career path for its IT specialists. When Marines attain IT proficiency that would make them marketable in the civilian sector—say toward the end of their first four-year enlistments—they expect some progression, perhaps a shift into management. Unfortunately, such development often is undermined by the constant need to "put out fires," to keep the network running so the customers who use it can do their jobs. When something breaks, we rarely use that opportunity to develop the skills of junior Marines. Instead, driven by the need to get the problem fixed quickly, we put our best people to the task, depriving them of the chance to hone their leadership skills and junior Marines of the chance to put theoretical understanding into practical application. Undermanning only exacerbates the problem.
We may persuade some Marines to stay past their first enlistment with selective reenlistment bonuses, but as Figure 2 (bottom) demonstrates, the 4066 MOS suffers from higher attrition among Marines with 8-13 years of service than other MOSs. Until a 4066 Marine reaches his or her 17th year of service, even the vaunted 20-year retirement does not seem to have an effect on the decision to stay.
Younger Marines see their role models' frustration and conclude that their own future is no brighter. The hours are long because the bulk of network maintenance must be done when customers are not logged on—during evenings and weekends. Quality of life suffers, and a general feeling of underappreciation is reinforced with every trouble call.
Proposed Solutions
There are no easy solutions, but failure is not an option. The Marine Corps depends on information technology to accomplish its mission. We must find ways to maintain a pool of IT professionals.
Recruiting. Recruiting is where we are strongest. The armed forces have long been known as "a great place to start," and the market forces that make retention so difficult actually play to our advantage here. At the accession level, most people considering the military see it as a means to an end. The Marine Corps has much to offer a young person who has ambition but who lacks college education and work experience.
One tactic the civilian market uses to attract talent is signing bonuses. Recruits whose enlistment contract guarantees them the 4066 career track might be willing to sign for a longer initial term if they were offered a similar incentive. The Corps could administer a test similar to those used to earn industry-recognized certifications—such as the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer—and offer those who do well or those who already possess the certification a bonus that corresponds to the length of their enlistment contract.
Another incentive we should consider is offering recruits a computer. When the Marines report for entry-level training, allow them to build their own computers with the best components available. Encourage them to upgrade their machines as technology becomes available, over the course of their enlistments.
Training. Although progress has been made, especially at the entry level, we must train smarter. A balance must be struck between:
- Providing the most current skills and keeping costs under control
- Keeping our best operators in the fleet and sending them to teach
- Achieving the desired proficiency level and creating a target-rich environment for civilian recruiters
Because entry-level training still is a time of transition for newly forged Marines—from their civilian roots to the Corps—outsourcing IT training at this level would not be wise. For experienced Marines who just need to retool, however, the Marine Corps should outsource, perhaps partnering with an established civilian training firm. A facility could be established at MCCES with full-time civilian instructors, who could keep current with emerging technologies more easily than can Marines busy operating today's technology. The benefit to the Corps is threefold: we could provide more and higher quality training without committing our best operators; we could keep experienced Marines up on the newest technologies; and we could give our junior Marines an added incentive to stay.
Most of our military information systems are built on commercial systems, so rather than trying to maintain our own syllabi, we should adopt the prevailing industry certifications as the basis for our training. This would give us a structure that automatically adapts to changing technologies. For example, MCCES still is teaching Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, but Learning Tree International was teaching Windows 2000 before it was available to the public. It may be a while before we use Windows 2000 on a large scale, but we should be training and experimenting with it now. Adopting such certifications as the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer could provide tangible means of qualification, much like our marksmanship program, as well as a benchmark for career advancement.
We also should find ways to harness the expertise we inevitably will lose to the private sector. If we can make the Marine Corps Reserve attractive to our Information Warriors, we will have access to a pool of professionals whose technical proficiency will be maintained and paid for by the civilian sector. Rather than drilling with a reserve unit, these reservists could serve in Mobile Training Teams for two weeks each year, train Marines at one of our schools, or even deploy for an exercise.
Finally, we need to take advantage of the training available in our neighboring civilian communities. Several community colleges and extension campuses offer continuing education programs that culminate in industry-recognized certifications. Because most of the instructors are current IT professionals seeking to enhance their own knowledge and marketability, the quality of these courses often is very good-and the fees are reasonable. A Marine can attend courses at night, without missing work or incurring travel expenses. To make this training more accessible, we should remove the restrictions placed on tuition assistance (TA). Currently, TA can be used only to get an accredited degree, and only for a degree that is more advanced than the one the Marine already holds. Let's change this regulation so that a Marine can use TA for any course that will enhance his MOS proficiency. Post-entry-level training, especially any that culminates in industry-recognized certification, should be tied to an extension of a Marine's end-of-active-service date.
Retaining. We cannot change the market forces that lure some of our best Marines out of the Corps. We cannot control the operational tempo that causes deployment-weary Marines to seek more stable circumstances for their families. We cannot pay our Marines enough for the sacrifices they make. But any approach to retaining our best Marines must acknowledge their quality of life, their job satisfaction, and their place on the Marine Corps team.
Enhancement such as higher pay, better housing, and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation activities are being addressed with some success, but none of these initiatives will make a dent in a Marine's quality of life until we pay more than just lip service to our manpower issues. We need to recognize at the highest levels that our operational tempo cannot be supported indefinitely unless we increase force structure.
Most 4066s spend the better part of their days putting out fires. They may be pulled into the colonel's office to fix e-mail or have to hustle from office to office responding to calls and trouble tickets. Most of them begin their workday well before their users arrive, so they can work a few hours uninterrupted. Maintenance and upgrades typically are done after hours, because the network cannot be down during the regular workday. Few network shops have enough qualified technicians to man a full watch rotation, train the younger Marines, and still keep everything up and running. This fosters dependence on a few overworked "superstars" who inevitably wind up exhausted.
Burnout is frequent among 4066s. Many civilian IT managers say the remedy is to allow employees to refuse additional workloads or uninteresting projects, but this flies in the face of our military culture. Nevertheless, we need to know our people's limitations. Encouraging a Marine to take a day off or giving comp time can go a long way. Sometimes we may even need to take a Marine off a project to let him focus on something different. It is important to give IT Marines opportunities to learn new skills and seek new challenges.
Finally, we must ensure that our IT Marines feel like a valued part of the Marine Team. They see their counterparts in civilian industry being compensated at much higher levels, and this makes it easy for them to feel underappreciated. We must use reenlistment bonuses to the maximum extent possible, and we should implement incentive pay, as we have for Marine aviators. Finally, proficiency pay would be a valuable incentive to Marines who, in their off-duty time, complete industry-recognized certifications. We must support our Marines' efforts at self-improvement and acknowledge their enhanced value to the Corps.
We cannot buy loyalty, of course, but financial incentives can go a long way toward acknowledging and thus retaining good IT Marines. Civilian industry recognizes this as the cost of doing business, and if we want to remain competitive, we must do likewise. If such a plan seems too expensive, consider the cost—in dollars and time—of losing experienced Marines and having to train new recruits, who are no less likely to be lured away by civilian head-hunters. We can pay now or pay later.
Another way to acknowledge the skills of our 4066 Marines is to allow them as much say as possible in their career paths. We need, for example, to look at how we detail them to B-billets. Some Marines view a tour away from their MOS as a welcome break, but others see any job that takes them out of their field of expertise as detrimental to their proficiency—and they have a point. IT technology evolves rapidly. An Information Warrior's skills are at least as perishable as those of an aviator, but aviators are not forced to decide between recruiting duty and getting out of the Corps. If a Marine is faced with such a decision and chooses to leave the Corps, what have we gained?
The last thing we should remember is that these Marines perform a thankless job. We take for granted that our information systems will work, yet we rarely acknowledge the effort that goes into creating this seamless illusion of tranquility. We only notice when things break. Fostering a sense of being valued in these Marines is not merely a money issue. It is a leadership issue. Are we up to the challenge?
Captain Moloko has a master’s in telecommunications systems management and is a 2000 graduate of the Marine Corps Command and Control Systems Course at Quantico. He now is serving as the Inspector-Instructor of Detachment Communications Company, 4th Marine Division, and Detachment 2 Electronics Maintenance Company, 4th Force Service Support Group, Indianapolis, Indiana.