Personnel

The past six years have seen the most dramatic change in the manning of the Navy and Marine Corps in the 211 years of our history. From the worst retention and recruiting in postwar history in 1979 and 1980, we have achieved the highest figures ever recorded. We are meeting100 percent of our accession goals, and have achieved 97 percent non-prior-service high school diploma graduates in the Marine Corps and 85 percent in the Navy. In virtually every category we have increased retention to near-record highs: in skilled enlisted ratings, in pilots and naval flight officers, in nuclear-trained and surface warfare officers. From a situation six years ago when some of our ships could not deploy on schedule because the fleet was manned at only 91 percent, we are now at 100 percent ship manning for a Navy that has grown by more than 75 ships. Sustaining 100 percent manning afloat has not come easily. The increase in new ships has created a heavy demand for petty officers coming on top of a shortage of 22,000 petty officers inherited in 1981. We have not only increased our petty officer inventory by more than 64,000 but have also improved our rating distribution effectiveness by more than 200 percent. As you can see below, in 1980 only 24 percent of our ratings had the proper balance of people. Today, 76 percent of our ratings are properly balanced.

Naval Reserve

The Naval Reserve contains several components which exist only in the Reserve: 100 percent of the Navy's U.S.-based logistics support squadrons; 100 percent of light-attack helicopter squadrons; 100 percent of our combat helicopter search and rescue capability; and 100 percent of naval mobile inshore/ undersea warfare units - the "Brown-Water Navy" - structured for combat on inland waterways. Upon mobilization, the Naval Reserve provides 99 percent of naval control of shipping organization manning for merchant ship mobilization and convoy formation for overseas operations; 86 percent of our ocean-going minesweepers; 86 percent of the cargo-handling battalions vital to port management and loading operations in combat theaters; 85 percent of Military Sealift Command military personnel; 68 percent of naval mobile construction battalions, the famed Seabees; 66 percent of special boat forces; 35 percent of maritime ASW patrol aircraft squadrons; 34 percent of naval intelligence personnel; 21 percent of ASW helicopter squadrons needed for fleet and convoy antisubmarine defense efforts; and 14 percent of our tactical sea-based aviation capabilities.

Reorganization of the Naval Reserve to a "horizontal integration" with the active force, begun in 1982, has had the effect of shifting a substantial portion of our force structure manning to the Ready Reserve. Increased reliance on the Ready Reserve has enabled us to reduce our original estimates of required active end-strength growth. >>>


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