Why is the Armys Infantry so understaffed, but the Marine Corps Infantry is so full!?

Question

My recruiter told me I could get 14K for being an 11 bravo but my buddy went through MEPS. and they told him that him that he couldn't go infantry when he wanted because it was FULL.


I'm kind of concerned, why is army infantry so understaffed and Marines so full, I'm excited for Army infantry OSIT but I don't understand why one is so full and one is so empty.

Answer 1

it has to do with staffing requirements, not service.
the marine corps is a small military group which is part of the navy, while the army is a large single unit within the defense community.
the army is understaffed due to being unable to recruit suficent perswonnel to fill the slots they need to fill. remember, there are eight -non-infantry personnel for every infantry person. they are the support units and are needed to keep the infantry going. they include truck drivers, tank drivers, supply personnel, cooks, and bottle washers as well as clereks and idiot officers who are good for doing nothing but taking up space.
the marine corps, has much smaller infantry units, with two to three infantry regiments per division, which has suppoort units incorporated into it.
the army has specific divisions which are designated infantry, armored, armored infantry, airborne, etc. they also have xsupport units attached, but have far more personnel in a division than is required for a marine division, of which there are only three active and two reserve. there is also the fleet marine force which consits of units attached for some period to naval landing parties and also to man security for all naval and marine bases as well as providing security and drivers for ships of the cruiser class and above, but mainly for carriers, and an occassional battleship of which there are usually none being used currently. all naval bases have marine barracks of anywhere from 200- 700 men to provide security and police services. amrine bases, of which onlyt two are for divisional units are camps pendeleton, caliuf, and camp lejuene n.c.. there are other maqrine bases for air wings and air supprt and for training and military equipment repair facilities.
the marine corps has usually been able to always keep more personnel than the army based on percentage, but the actual numbers are very different due to number of personnel overall.

Answer 2

The answer probably lies in the sizes of the service branches. The Army is a much larger branch compared to the Marine Corps. Where the Army may have 100,000 infantry forces, the Marine Corps would only have maybe 25,000. Ask your recruiter what the difference in size is concerning the two.

Answer 3

You're not looking at the picture the right way.

The Army opens up an MOS based on expected attrition (how many people in a given MOS are expected to vacate their duty positions or get out at a given time) and how many replacements are required (taking into account attrition due to training failures and such). This "magic number" changes constantly. When we're re-upping in the 11-series MOS fields (11B or 11C) and trying to change duty stations, the difference between getting a duty station we want or not can be as little as a few hours. When it comes to someone like you or your just getting into the system, the MOS might be closed because right across the country, thousands of young men simultaneously all decided they wanted to be 11B/C/X at MEPS. Same goes for the Marines when it comes to 0311s. It happens.

What happens in MEPS with regard to an MOS being open or closed has absolutely nothing to do with manning levels at units downrange. The Army is a far bigger service branch, hence its need for replacements is much greater. The Marines take a higher grade of recruit at MEPS because their replacement quotas are lower and they can afford to do so. When it comes to manning with Army infantry units, unless it's a unit redeployed back from Iraq with stop loss and stop movement orders lifted - hence, all ETS and PCS personnel leaving all at once? You're not going to find an infantry unit "understaffed" to the point where it is completely non-functional.

You'll see things better once you get downrange. Good luck at Benning.

Answer 4

The Army is huge compared to the Marines. The Army has infantry units state-side, Germany, South Korea, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. The marines is a smaller branch and has always recruited by reputation and fame. The Army to recruit has had to work hard at it!

Answer 5

Either your buddy is stroking you, or the Marine recruiter is using reverse psychology on him. The Marines are having the same challenges as the army in making mission !

The new Congress can be cited as the biggest problem the armed services have in making mission. These low lifes on capitol hill are now the biggest problem, from a secutity standpoint, we Americans have other than from Iran and al Quaeda. Something needs to be done. What ever happen to government of the people, by the people, and for the people ?

Answer 6

The Marines have better commercials! :)

Seriously, it has to do with the size of the units and the fact that the Marines are basically ALL infantry so everyone fills infantry or infantry support slots. (OK, a few pilots)

The army on the other hand also has large branches of armor, artillery, aviation, medical, etc. to fill.

Good luck to you!

Answer 7

I think that the Marines are seen as the tougher, bigger, better branch of the military. This leads people to kinda want to go into the Marines more than the Army because it seems better.

Answer 8

The army has 1 million men the marines only have 200,000. Size difference.

Answer 9

They said he couldn't go when HE wanted to, that sounds like the training cycle for the time period is full not that they are understaffed!

Answer 10

The Army is much larger.