IMPROVING USMC RETENTION QUALITY THROUGH REENLISTMENT PRE-APPROVAL

Abstract

Improving the quality of Marines retained has long been an objective of the Marine Corps’ mission. This study assesses the effectiveness of utilizing a recently proposed binary logistic regression to select the most qualified Marines, based on their performance data, for pre-approved retention. Currently, all Marines desiring retention must submit a Reenlistment, Extension, and Lateral Move (RELM) request and await the Marine Corps’ approval or rejection decision. Implementing a targeted reenlistment pre-approval process could improve the quality of retention in the Marine Corps. To target the highest quality Marines, this study looks at the quality of Marines selected for pre-approved retention in relation to the overall First-term Alignment Plan (FTAP) retention goal and examines the effectiveness of pre-approval selection at identifying improved subsequent term performance for those Marines who have already been retained. This study also analyzes the potential impact of pre-approved retention on the availability of boat-spaces and the number of reenlistment requests submitted. The results suggest that by targeting the highest quality (Tier-I) Marines, improved quality retention can be obtained without exceeding FTAP retention goals. Additionally, the results indicate the proposed pre-approval model effectively predicts quality performance in a Marine’s subsequent term as indicated by tier calculation performance variables.