Analyses of the Marine Corps Officer Manpower System: Final Report

The study examines the manpower system for unrestricted officers, documenting the degree to which officer inventories did not match requirements and identifying options for addressing shortfalls. Using two different requirement measures, the study looks at the FY92-FY05 period to identify systematic shortages by primary military occupational specialty (PMOS). Next, the study analyzes promotion rates by PMOS to see if promotion rates differ. After controlling for officer quality, we found that differences in promotion rates by PMOS largely disappeared except for a few pilot occupations. In addition, the Marine Corps has used skill guidance precepts for promotion boards when the PMOS is short. We found that PMOSs included in skill guidance precepts were promoted at a higher rate and, for the most part, were promoted above the average rate.