HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS, Washington, D.C. -- In the ongoing effort to retain high quality Marines, it is essential for First Term Marines to communicate with their unit career planner early. The First Term Alignment Plan (FTAP) is already over 59% complete for FY02 with 33 MOSs closed and many more closing soon. Less than two months into the fiscal year, the Marine Corps has already reenlisted over 3500 Marines of the 5900 needed to reach the FTAP goal. All units have performed superbly in retaining First Term Marines, but are encouraged to maintain this success.
There are many MOSs that have an allocation for a bonus. If you're a Marine sitting on the fence and cannot decide what to do, talk to your career planner now about reenlistment bonuses for your MOS and duty station preferences. The bonuses are going fast and they may decrease or vanish altogether after 15 January 02. In addition, if your MOS is at 100% and a quality reenlistment board (QRP) has not yet been held, those Marines who currently have reenlistment requests (RELMS) in the system will automatically be evaluated on the board. This highly competitive board has 150 total boatspaces available for exceptional Marines. The board will extend the MOS allocation to 105% to allow top quality Marines a chance to remain in their primary MOS.
If your PMOS is already over 100% and you're interested in another career field, MarAdmin 304/01 provides the procedures for submitting for a lateral move. HQMC will begin accepting requests for lateral move on 01 December 01 and will begin approving requests on 01 January 02. Based on MarAdmin 304/01, requests are required to have 3 MOS choices only for those MOSs that remain open on the boatspace report. Marines submitting a request for lateral move out of an open MOS will require a Commanding General's endorsement to be included with submission. Lateral move requests for a closed MOS will not be entertained.
First Term Marines approaching reenlistment are urged to review the above information and MarAdmin 304/01 with their career planner to secure a boatspace before it is too late. Although the fiscal year does not close until 30 September 2002, reenlistment bonuses are only guaranteed until 15 January 02. In addition, Marines will not be authorized for cross-fiscal year extensions to compete for a boatspace in FY03.