MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- Officers stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and Camp H.M. Smith had the opportunity to meet with their monitors when the Manpower Management Officer Assignments Road Show made a two-day stop in Hawaii Oct. 19 and 20.
This year the team’s new branch head was on the road with them.
“My intent is to make our staffing goal model (accurate) and part of that accurateness is, generally speaking, finding and assigning compensation for any new requirements,” said Col. James N. Flowers, branch head, MMOA. “If a new unit stands up within the (fiscal year) where does the compensation come from to make it happen?”
He said there is an end strength in the Marine Corps of almost 19,000 officers.
“Retention is pretty good right now,” said Flowers. We’re not hemorrhaging. It is a very competitive Corps right now.”
The road show leader said the purpose of the trip is to build communications within the population and to have some face-to-face communication with every monitor and officer. This allows the monitor to know the wants and desires of each officer and to try and match those desires with the needs of the Marine Corps.
During each one-on-one counseling the monitor fills out a single interview sheet regarding information about where you have been stationed and where you want to go next.
“We counsel them on what is best for them and for the Corps,” said Capt. Brodie Carmichael, company grade monitor, MMOA. “This gives them a good understanding of how our process works and the expected path the officer should take.”
Although the monitors are available to any Marine officer, Carmichael said the main focus was the officers who are projected to move within the next year.
“It is an intel collection process,” he said. “We find out what it is they want to do, and we look at what is best for their career progression.”
According to Flowers, not everybody thinks about what is best for his or her career, so they take the officers out of their comfort zone and place them somewhere else. That is how you show you’re competitive, he said.
“Showing diversity is very important,” he said. “When looking for job assignments, think about what your peers who graduated from (The Basic School) have done. That is who you will be competing against for promotion.”
Traveling with the team this year is the recently implemented Force Augmentation Cell.
“We have different members of the cell briefing the commands on the program,” said Capt. Patrick S. Savage, force augmentation officer, FAC.
Savage said, the FAC was established in June in order to conduct future manpower planning and to globally source Marines needed for individual augments and transition teams.
The road show began its tour in September and is scheduled to visit the majority of Marine Corps installations between now and December.
“By December, we should have a clear picture of our assignable officer population and our staffing goals,” said Flowers.
The team of monitors departed Sunday en route to California for the next leg of the road show. Their schedule is posted on the Manpower and Reserve Affairs Web site for those interested in knowing when the team will be in their area.
“Realistic expectations. Come with realistic expectations,” said Flowers. “Most know what that is by now. The needs of the Marine Corps are going to come first; and then what you want to do, but they (monitors) do a good job making the two work together.”