The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are not having difficulty attracting new recruits and qualified personnel, according to a Navy official.
Juan Garcia, the Navy’s assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, told Federal News Radio that the opposite is true.
Instead, he said it is tougher to stay in the Navy and Marine Corps.
Garcia said the Navy just went through a process it calls the Enlisted Retention Board where they had to inform 3,000 sailors they needed to pursue opportunities outside of the Navy.
The issue was not a lack of an advancement or promotion system; it is simply because the Navy is not used to the level of retention of recent, Garcia said in the interview.
However, Garcia said the Navy is increasing its ranks in some target areas such as in the information technology field, unmanned vehicles, cyber and ballistic missile defense.
The Air Force is also set to create a career progression path for its cyber experts to keep them from leaving for the private sector.
Garcia said the Navy has met its civilian counterparts in its compensation package offerings and attracts highly talented personnel despite the wars.
Ken Gabriel, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s acting director, recently told a Senate subcommittee that the Defense Department should not be bothered by the amount of turnover with its cyber workforce.
