At least 24 Marines had their service length’s extended after an audit by Marine Corps human resources officials. The extensions come as the U.S. military faces an ongoing recruitment crisis.
According to Marine spokeswoman Yvonne Carlock, the end of active service dates for two dozen Marine cyberspace officers were changed after an audit in October 2022 made sure the Marines’ records aligned with their contracts.
“Current and correct personnel records allow Marines to plan their careers effectively and align with what the Marine desired when they signed their service agreement,” Carlock told Marine Corps Times in a statement. “Additionally, this process reinforces the service’s combat readiness and ability to employ our highly skilled Marines.”
The Corps is conducting additional audits across the service and it is unclear how many more troops will see their service length’s extended.
According to a Marine Corps administrative message released in April, officers’ service lengths are determined by the end of their military occupational specialty schools. Before then, a “placeholder” end of active service date is included in personnel records.
The Corps explained that the “placeholder” dates cannot be updated automatically, and “an audit and manual update is required for an officer’s [Expiration of Active Service and Expiration of Current Contract] to be adjusted upon completion of [Primary Military Occupational Specialty] school.”
“Audits of service records are a normal function used to ensure all members are receiving proper pay and entitlements. These audits are continuous and conducted at multiple levels. Currently, Headquarters Marine Corps (MMOA-3) is conducting a force-wide audit of all non-career designated AC Marine officers based upon their source of entry code found in the Basic Individual Record (BIR) and their signed service agreements,” the message said.
The extensions come after at least 65 military doctors and dentists in the Navy Reserves were told that they still had to undertake at least three more years of service, a development caused by administrative record-keeping errors in their retirement credits, officials claimed.
