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Re-enlistment rules: Marine Corps

The Corps’ re-enlistment policies are intended to retain the most qualified Marines in each military occupational specialty and often lead to fierce competition in some job fields over who stays and who goes.

Based on attrition rates and staffing goals each year, the Corps grants each MOS a certain number of re-enlistment “boatspaces” — the slots it must fill with first-term Marines seeking another contract. When re-enlistment applications exceed boatspaces in a given MOS, a board determines which Marines will be retained and which will have to learn another job or leave the service.

In job fields where boatspaces exceed applications, the Corps offers cash bonuses to entice re-enlistments. Bonuses are computed by taking a Marine’s base pay, multiplying it by the number of years re-enlisted, then again by the multiple authorized for the MOS in which the Marine seeks retention. Depending on the MOS, multiples can be as little as 0.5 or as much as five.

First-term Marines cannot apply for re-enlistment until the fiscal year in which their end of active service falls. Based on their record of service and qualifications, each is assigned a re-enlistment code designating their desirability and eligibility for re-enlistment.

Marines must be recommended for re-enlistment by their commanding officer; the nature of this recommendation affects the re-enlistment code they are assigned. Applications for re-enlistment are approved by Marine Corps headquarters, which takes each leatherneck’s re-enlistment code into account when determining whether to retain him.

Once approved, a Marine has 15 days to raise his right hand, take the oath and make his re-enlistment official. After a first-term Marine re-enlists, the Corps considers him “a career Marine” and, for manpower planning purposes, expects him to continue re-enlisting until retirement. Because the Corps assumes that all career Marines will re-enlist until retirement, competition for boatspaces is found only among leathernecks seeking retention for the first time.