QUANTICO, Va. —

The Marine Corps achieved historic first-term reenlistment numbers and exceeded its retention goal for Fiscal Year 2024 in a competitive and challenging environment.  Engaged leaders across the Marine Corps retained the most qualified Marines at levels not seen in over a decade. Additionally, these efforts contributed to the Marine Corps exceeding its authorized end strength requirement, which is a summation of recruiting and retention efforts.
 
“This is a historic year for retention,” said Lieutenant General Michael J. Borgschulte, Deputy Commandant for Manpower & Reserve Affairs, Headquarters Marine Corps.  “We continue to maintain our high standards and exceeded our end strength requirement through successful retention and recruiting efforts. Our retention success increased the health of our delayed entry program for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.”
 
This year was historic for the Marine Corps because the Fiscal Year 2024 first-term reenlistment goal was the largest the service has seen in more than a decade. The Marine Corps not only attained 114% of its mission for first-term enlisted Marines but reenlisted over 5,700 subsequent-term Marines.
 
This reflects the Marine Corps’ shift from its legacy, high turnover “recruit and replace” personnel model towards one characterized by a greater emphasis on “invest and retain” the most capable Marines. Recruiters continue to be responsible for recruiting the Nation’s best and brightest, while leaders across the Fleet Marine Force are charged with retaining the talented Marines already serving across the total force.
 
“Retention directly enhances our service’s lethality,” said Borgschulte. “This year’s historic success in retaining the most highly qualified Marines is a ‘spike the football’ moment and is a testament to our engaged, people-focused leaders across the Marine Corps. Our continued success is evidence that our Marine Corps brand continues to resonate with the American public, that holding high standards matters, and that Marines want to stay on the winning team – The Marine Corps team!”
 
Additional initiatives created more opportunities for Marines to ‘Stay Marine’ this year – from the Commandant’s Retention Program to lateral move opportunities in addition to selective retention bonuses for certain military occupational specialties. The Marine Corps doubled the number of Marines transitioning into the reserve component via the Direct Affiliation Program and tripled the number of prior-service Marines reentering the service. The various ways to ‘Stay Marine’ enhance the service’s readiness and warfighting capabilities.
 
“Although this is a huge accomplishment, we have more work to do and cannot rest on our past successes. We must maintain the momentum into Fiscal Year 2025 and continue to prioritize our Marine Corps’ most valuable and lethal asset—its people,” said Borgschulte.

For Fiscal Year 2025, the Marine Corps is already on track to exceed its Fiscal Year 2024 mission. This is largely due to the implementation of multi-year retention cohorts. Multi-year retention cohorts afford Marines the opportunity to reenlist prior to their end of contract fiscal year. These cohorts not only increase overall retention but give Marines and their families more predictability – which fuels the retention of talent.

This "Marine Corps crushes fiscal year 2024 end strength with historic retention, recruiting success" was originally found on https://www.marines.mil/News/Press-Releases/