The Future Marine Corps; Expeditionary Force In Readiness Or Day Care Center? AUTHOR Major Thomas M. Ochala, USMC CSC 1990 SUBJECT AREA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TITLE: THE FUTURE MARINE CORPS; EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN READINESS OR DAY CARE CENTER? I. Thesis: The potential for the Marine Corps to realize a significant cut in end strength within the near future makes it essential to insure the force structure remaining is thoroughly professional and efficient. To effectively train and deploy, some of the disruptive personnel issues that currently have a negative impact on readiness, such as the single parent family, and abuse within the home, etc., must be addressed. II. Background: Since the mid-1980's the Marine Corps has had more dependents of Marines, then actual Marines. The costs of manpower has been spiralling upwards while problems associated with this phenomenon have the potential to negatively effect the Marine Corps' ability to train and deploy in a dynamic expeditionary environment. The single parent family, and child, wife, and associated alcohol abuse are but a few of these ever evolving leadership challenges. The Armed Forces has established high level bureaus and reorganized family programs and services but it has not addressed the actual problem; that of the junior enlisted Marine getting married at a very early age. This paper will address these issues and their current and future impact on the Marine Corps. III. Recommendation: Although simple, these recommendations are rather controversial. First I recommend that those with dependents should be restricted from enlistment into the Marine Corps. Secondly, first term Marines should be restricted from getting married until reenlistment and with the approval of the Marines commander. Thirdly, those single parents currently on active duty would have to be able to demonstrate the ability to take care of their parental responsibilities while displaying the flexibility required of their unit, be it deployable or nondeployable. If the Marine Corps expects to continue to be one of the premier military organizations in the world, it will have to address these serious personnel issues and solve them in the near, and much more austere future. TITLE: THE FUTURE MARINE CORPS; EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN READINESS OR DAY CARE CENTER? OUTLINE THESIS STATEMENT. The potential for the Marine Corps to realize a significant cut in end strength within the near future makes it essential to insure the force structure remaining is thoroughly professional and efficient. To effectively train and deploy, some of the disruptive personnel issues that currently have a negative impact on readiness, such as the single parent family, and abuse within the home, etc., must be addressed. I. The shift in demographics within the military A. A significant rise in the numbers of dependents B. The junior enlisted, married Marine C. The single parent in the military D. Other special personnel considerations II. The impact of these trends A. The evolution of Family Services B. Spouse and child abuse; its effect on the Marine, his family and his unit C. The single parent: effective, deployable? III. Recommendations A. Restrict the first term Marine from getting married B. Getting a handle on our social welfare approach to leadership THE FUTURE MARINE CORPS; EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN READINESS OR DAY CARE CENTER? Our Armed Forces are a microcosm of our society, reflecting both its strengths and weaknesses. Although numerous parallels can be drawn, there is one trend within our military structure which is a complete departure from that of our society. Recent studies indicate that Americans' on an average, are geting married at a more mature age while statistics reveal marriages within the Armed Forces are occuring at an increasingly younger age. The impact of this has rippled throughout our Armed Forces. The result has been spriralling manpower costs and the necessity for complex assignment policies. This phenomenon has serious implications which have caused unique leadership problems and indicate a potentially serious degradation of our warfighting capabilities. The potential for the Marine Corps to incur a significant cut in end strength makes it essential that the remaining force structure be thoroughly professional and efficient. This substantial increase in dependents and the number of single parent families have been coupled with increased instances of spouse and child abuse. Special dependent problems and the joint household issue must be addressed and solved if the Marine Corps is to effectively train and deploy. The fact that the active duty Marines are outnumbered by dependents has resulted in increased manpower costs. There has also been a significant increase of sensitive leadership challenges, with the potential to seriously impact on readiness. During the course of this examination these issues will be addressed, with an eye on the future. Possible solutions to these problems will also be discussed. What initiated the significant change in the nature of the population within the Armed Forces, and specifically in the Marine Corps? Although many theories have been developed for this change, one seems to be the most obvious. This change is the recently installed quality of life programs with emphasis on family programs, considerable variable housing allowances', basic allowance for quarters with dependents, and/or readily available base housing, which has made the decision to marry, a lot easier for our junior service members. On the surface it seems that the most difficult financial hardships which may put a strain upon the marriage of young people, have been addressed. In fact it has made it easier and perhaps encouraged the younger service member to make the decision to marry. This decision is often made without complete consideration given to all facets of financial responsibilities, separations through field commitments, extended deployments, immaturity and a variety of other related stresses placed on a young married couple in the military. In his remarks before the 1986 Russell Leadership Conference, Major General J. Edward Cassity addressed this issue: For the first time in our history, we have more dependents of Marines than we have Marines. There are many reasons why and how we find the Marine Community in this state; a little more money, better facilities, the promise of good medical treatment and many more. I happen to think the nomadic lifestyle and the barracks-type environment existent in the military causes us to quickly decide that we want to have someone to permanently cling to. Whatever the reasons, we have more people in our Marine Corps family than ever before and we are operating at a torrid pace with all that this provides in terms of separation and change. Now we are getting to the crux of the matter. All the ingredients are present for stress on a large scale; lots of activity, lots of separation; lots of change and lots of stress. 1 This stress is tough enough on the relatively better educated and more mature officer and his family. However, for the nineteen year old Lance Corporal existing in a "double-wide" in Stafford County or outside the gate of Camp Pendleton, this stress can be insurmountable. In what ways are these stresses manifested? Family and alcohol abuse, financial problems, the single parent family and an increasing requirement for expensive social programs are a few of the effects. All of these problems have the potential to make an impact on our readiness and deployability. Although alcohol, family and child abuse, and financial problems occur throughout the rank spectrum, the majority of problems are found at the junior enlisted level. The financial burdens, immaturity and stresses caused by lengthy separations all play a role in creating disruptive and expensive readiness problems. Compounding the day to day problems of the married junior enlisted Marines are the duty stations to which the majority can be assigned. Except for the North and South Carolina area the vast majority of duty assignments in the Marine Corps are in high cost (and in some cases extremely high cost) areas. In her address to the 1986 Russell Leadership Conference, The Honorable Alice M. Stratton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Personnel and Families addressed this issue: Here are the concerns about change that I have seen and heard. First, PCS moves to high cost areas - greater numbers of younger Sailors and Marines are coming into the Corps married. We permit E1 through E3 and their families to be shipped to high cost areas like Hawaii, and they are moving in increasing numbers. A) The Sailor or Marine and his family cannot afford to live in Hawaii once there and, B) The young Sailor or Marine and his family often do not yet have the resources to make a self contained island of quality family life. They are far removed from the supports of extended family and describe being in Hawaii as a cultural shock. 2 Thus the stage is set for the myriad of issues that can pose problems to the stability of the young family. Ultimately these problems, if not solved, could result in the next point of discussion, that of, the single parent in the Armed Forces and the Marine Corps. As of late 1986 there was an estimated 50,000 single parents with custody of their children serving in the Armed Services, the exact total is unclear because of each service using different methods to calculate their respective tallies. 3 The problems associated with this phenomenon are substantial. Daycare, for example, is expensive, and has had growing impact on training, readiness, deployability and morale of the force, overall. In his article "Single Parents and the Marine Corps," in the January 1989 edition of the Marine Corps Gazette, LtCol Steven M. Hinds states, Singular responsibility for ones children leaves little flexibility to respond to the rapidly developing situations that require significant adjustments of custodial care. Even relatively minor changes to daily routines, such as duties, shift change and field exercises can cause serious stress to in-place and working support systems unless backup, on-call options and planned for and available. Even under stable conditions maintaining adequate support can be difficult. When the unyielding demands of operational requirements are imposed, the difficulty of single parents to accommodate these demands, as well as the significance of the decisions each has to make, becomes more clear. 4 The single parent families resolve, dedication and attention to duty, in the majority of cases, have not been questioned. However, their inherent lack of flexibility, needs for special considerations and the support systems they require are becoming an increasing strain for the Marine Corps and the Armed Forces as a whole to endure. The general consensus that while many single parent Marines perform superbly and refuse special consideration for assignments, the single parent is more committed to a fixed work schedule in which short or no notice commitments create difficulties for the parent. While special treatment can be argued, commanders cannot and will not ignore the realities of child care. 5 The question has to be asked; is this fair? Fair to the other Marines, who often quietly bear the brunt of these special arrangements; fair to the Marine Corps, already realizing a difficult, demanding, operational tempo, or fair to the service member, or their children? An example of a soldiers experiences as a single parent was related in the article "Single Parents Struggle in Military" in The Washington Post, September 3, 1986 by Molly Moore, in which she states: Sgt. Haskins' experience is representative of the problems facing, many single military parents, according to military officials. Soon after he won custody of his daughter following a divorce, Haskins was transferred to Fort Belvoir from the unit in Germany where he had served 10 years. "It was a deployable unit," Haskins said. "We weren't welcome there." Haskins said he discovered his supervisors weren't much more receptive at his new assignment. Because babysitters were difficult to find at 5 a.m. when, Haskins was required to report for physical training, he brought young Natalie with him. That ended with letters of reprimand in his personnel file and orders forbidding him to bring his daughter. 6 Another relatively new trend which has had a significant impact on unit effectiveness is the percentage of single women Marines who become pregnant. Although service wide statistics were unavailable, an analysis of a headquarters battalion at Twenty-nine Palms, by the battalion commander is provided. During the last 12 months, 11 percent (9 of 77) single women Marines in my battalion became pregnant. Twenty-two percent (2 of 9) of those Marines chose both to have their babies and stay in the Corps. The remainder chose administrative separation..., Of concern from a single parent standpoint is that the number of Marines involved tend to be the more junior first termers, very young and inexperienced to life. 7 The dramatic changes throughout the world has forced an examination of the structure of the defense department. Before the potential for severe personnel reductions was realized, the Marine Corps had the ability to cope with the difficulties and special considerations of the single parent. However, should the Marine Corps realize those cuts envisioned, will it be able to absorb such disruptive personnel problems while under the demands of mission accomplishment in an expeditionary environment? Another growing trend which demands special attention by the manpower managers is the dual-service couple. A primary concern when considering the dual-service couple are those couples desire for joint domicile which requires the monitors to coordinate the assignments of two people. There is also concern about the deployability of couples with children because they, like single parents, do not have a civilian spouse expected to assume parental responsibilities. 8 In an organization as small as the Marine Corps, reassignments and transfers are very personal and MOS specific. Juggling two often very different career patterns and getting them into the same geographical area is not an easy task. The effort and time expended is often disproportionate to considerations given to families of one service member. With the change in demographics within the Armed Forces and specifically the Marine Corps, some significant changes and leadership challenges will have to be dealt with in order to provide a flexible effective force structure. Perhaps the single greatest change the Armed Force has initiated in response to these evolutionary personnel trends, is the creation of high level positions which in turn, have created new and reorganized old family service programs. While these new bureaucracies all seem to have the interest of the service family at heart, they are still, in fact, bureaucracies. In the "old days" the family service center was where you went to borrow a punch bowl for a party or some pots and pans to get through a transfer. Today the family service centers are full fledged social welfare agencies, handling matters from job placement for dependents, to child and spouse abuse. As a battalion executive officer, my experiences working with them has resulted in mixed emotions. The individuals that work within the system are totally professional, committed, and highly competent. However, when in a committee setting, with the responsibility of resolving the intimate and personal problems of Marines under my charge, they tended to look at those Marines as "cases," often becoming jaded during the "briefings" on those Marines and their "problems." They were also inclined to second guess decisions made by the command concerning those Marines, and in a few cases hinted to question the commands resolve in taking care of the Marines and their problems. In a seminar discussion at the 1986 Russell Leadership Conference, the evolution of these services and the social welfare phenomenon was discussed. Is it possible that we have developed a system of programs by which we do not really solve the problem but instead take ownership of the problem from the individual. Offering the Marine and/or his family a plethora of agencies and solutions that assume his/her problems/responsibilities tends to reduce them to just by standers in the solution process. We tend to be breeding a sort of "Welfare Society" full of dependents rather than a Corps of self-aware, self confident leaders capable of handling their own problems. Marines must be held accountable and responsible for their own life, Leaders must get involved and provide the tools, knowledge and experience necessary to permit their Marines to cope with the stresses and problems associated with military life. 9 Perhaps the single greatest and most serious issue the family service networks face is that of spouse and child abuse in the home. Very often it is directly related to alcohol abuse by one or both parent and is normally found in the young junior enlisted family, although abusive families and can be found within the officer and noncommissioned officer family structure at a similar rate. When examining the reasons for an abusive home and the family at risk, the one cause that seems to resurface again and again is stress. ... the domino that seems to start the stack tumbling - is stress. Stress in the military can take many forms, including separation, transfer, and the accompanying loss of friends. Young parents, because of separation and frequent transfers, cannot call upon the "extended family" (grandparents, close relatives, etc.) for help and counselling in dealing with stress and crisis. They often feel ostracized because of low rank or their military status. A lack of choice in job placement, loss of job satisfaction, authoritative management styles, high risk jobs and family conflicts also create stress, which then increases the likelihood of abuse. 10 The effects of an abusive family on a unit is considerable and disruptive. The attention required by the command in monitoring a single case and the coordination required with the specific family service agency "handling" the case is not only costly but, both time consuming and inefficient. I am not trying to imply that the commander should not be "bothered" with such "non-warrior" issues; to the contrary, these problems have a direct impact on the efficiency of his command and must be handled with skill and compassion. However, if a battalion commander is faced with five or six active cases he could find himself spending the proverbial "ninety percent of his time with the ten percent." The bottom line is that family abuse hurts the Marine, his family and his unit. It will affect the individual and his readiness to do his job. When individual readiness is affected, unit readiness will also be affected. 11 In revisiting the single parent issue as to its impact on efficiency and deployability, the most pressing question is whether the single parent is flexible enough to be trained and deployable in the future, fluid expeditionary environment? As stated previously, the day to day performance of most single parents in a static, regulated working environment is generally very good. However, once that schedule is upset through extended training or deployments, the difficulties of child care can become difficult, at best. Often the individual is rendered nondeployable or incapable of executing their responsibilities within the unit. When these problems are looked at on an individual basis, they generally take care of themselves. Commanders make special arrangements and the single parents' fellow Marines often pick up the slack. With the pending force reductions and the unlikely reduction of the Marine Corps' deployment responsibilities, will we be able to effectively make special concessions or pick up the slack for the single parent? Deployments where one or two good Marines are constantly being over used due to limited number of deployable Marines in the unit are well documented. These Marines end up in a deployment revolving door where they are constantly coming and going while others never deploy. The resultant outcome is that the producing Marine does not reenlist because he/she and their problems would not have the attention, support and consideration afforded in the Corps anywhere else. We therefore tend to perpetuate and increase our group of Marines with restrictive problems while depleting our group of strong performers. 12 As in the case of the single parent, other special interest groups have the potential to adversely disrupt the manning of deployable units and overseas assignments. The dual active duty family also carries with it the potential to negatively impact on the flexibility required of monitors and personnel officers to adequately, and fairly flush out deployable units without undue concern for the special requirement imposed by dual assignments. Is this special attention and consideration fair to the force as a whole, and does it punish those Marines without special requirements that can be moved and deployed a lot easier, and with very little notice? The evolutionary personnel challenges resulting from our liberal policies toward the marriage of our junior enlisted and accommodation of special interest groups with unique personal problems, has the potential to seriously degrade the Marine Corps' ability to train and deploy in the future. In the case of problems associated with young married families, i.e. abuse within the home, financial problems etc., we have established considerable family service programs that address the symptoms without addressing the actual problem. Although my recommendations are not new and are relatively simple, they are controversial and will undoubtedly stir emotional discussion. Instead of treating symptoms we should go to the root of the problem by restricting junior enlisted Marines from getting married during their first enlistment. First and foremost, we should restrict enlistment to singles only, and require them to remain single throughout their first term. In doing so, a considerable reduction in the other problems associated with the recent substantial increase in dependents will result. In his article, LtCol Hinds considered this as a solution to the problem. The obvious solution is to restrict the primary source of single parents, which is the increased number of first term marriages. By reestablishing the "corporal under four" limit to marriage without command approval, the number of married Marines would rapidly decrease and, in direct ratio, the number of divorces that result in single parents. The dual-service families would experience a similar reduction since a significant number of them are also first termers. 13 Arguments against, might include that this solution will adversely hinder the recruiting effort. However, with the expected reduction in force, the Marine Corps could be more selective in their recruiting criteria and establish the "come in single and stay single" as a requirement. Others might contend that restricting marriage is a violation of rights and would not stand up in court. However, the services have repeatedly been challenged in other rights issues and have almost always come away with their programs intact. The drug program and its accompanying urinalysis for example, are still being argued in the private sector, but have stood in the Armed Forces against several significant court challenges. A recommendation to solve the issue of the single parent is a little tougher to come up with, and is not as black and white as the "stay single" proposal. The potential for an officer or senior staff NCO with seventeen or eighteen years of service to become a single parent suddenly, is a very real possibility. In the event of such a circumstance, the commander on the scene has to be able to make the call as to the potential for continued service. If the situation can be accommodated with little negative impact to the efficiency or deployability of the unit, there should not be a problem. If not, some tough decisions would have to be made. Finally, we have to get a handle on our social welfare approach to leadership. The recently established family service programs are vital, appropriate and necessary. They must however, be reestablished as a tool for commanders to assist their Marines with serious problems, and not as an overwatching bureaucracy with the ability to usurp the prerogative of those commanders. The future Marine Corps will be smaller, lighter, combat arms oriented with significant strategic mobility. Marines will have to be flexible and deployable at a moments notice. The structure will have to be highly efficient in order to effectively project power in the evolving expeditionary environment. In order to insure that the Marine Corps continues to evolve as one of the worlds premiere fighting organizations, these pressing personnel issues must be addressed and solved in the very near future. FOOTNOTES 1 U.S. Marine Corps, 1986 Russell Leadership Conference, Sep 5,1986, encl. 2, p. 12. 2 U.S. Marine Corps, encl. 3, p. 2. 3 Molly Moore, "Single Parents Struggle In Military," The Washington Post, Sep 3, 1986, Sec. A, p. 1. 4 LtCol Steven M. Hinds, "Single Parents and the Marine Corps," Marine Corps Gazette, (Jan 89), p. 63. 5 U.S. Marine Corps, encl. 5, p. 22. 6 Moore, Sec. A, p. 4. 7 Hinds, p. 64. 8 Mady Wechsler Segal, "The Military and the Family as Greedy Institutions," Armed Forces and Society, Vol. 13, (Fall 86), p. 27. 9 U.S. Marine Corps, encl. 5, p. 8. 10 LtCol Carl L. Remmel, "Child Abuse and the Commander," Marine Corps Gazette, (Mar 86), p. 31. 11 Remmel, p. 32. 12 U.S. Marine Corps, encl. 5, p. 6 13 Hinds, p. 65. BIBLIOGRAPHY Hinds, Steven M., LtCol, "Single Parents and the Marine Corps," Marine Corps Gazette, (Jan 89), p. 63-65. Moore, Molly, "Single Parents Struggle In Military," The Washington Post, Sep 3, 1986, Sec. A, p. 1. 4. Remmel, Carl L., LtCol, "Child Abuse and the Commander," Marine Corps Gazette, (Mar 86), p. 31-32. Segal, Mady Wechsler, "The Military and the Family as Greedy Institutions," Armed Forces and Society, Vol. 13, (Fall 86), p. 27. U.S. Marine Corps, 1986 Russell Leadership Conference, Sep 5, 1986, encl. 2, p. 12, encl. 3, p. 2., encl. 5, p.6. 8. 22.
