Joni Ernst Accuses Navy Of Counting Junior Sailors In Senior Billets To 'Inflate Our Readiness'

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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) asked Navy Secretary John Phelan about recruiting and readiness.

Transcript

00:00Senator Ernst. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Secretary Fela and Admiral Kilby and General

00:06Smith for being here today and for your service to our nation. I'd like to start with a discussion

00:12on recruiting and ship manning. So, Secretary, we'll start with you. The Navy did meet its

00:19recruiting requirement in fiscal year 24, but even though it did that, we're still concerned

00:27about the top-line metrics when it comes to meeting the fleet needs. The fleet is still

00:32short roughly about 18,000 at-sea billets, and that's primarily among the junior enlisted ranks.

00:39And so, of course, we see the chronic under-crewing fatigue and, of course, the operational strain.

00:46So, there was a GAO report in 2024 that flagged some really unusual or troubling data practices

00:55where our junior sailors are being counted in senior billets, which does inflate our readiness

01:03metrics. And I believe the report stated it was by 23 percent. So, it does undermine transparency,

01:10and it makes it really difficult for us to do our congressional oversight. So, Secretary,

01:17what specific actions are you taking to close the manpower gap and restore the transparency in how the

01:24Navy is reporting its personnel readiness to Congress?

01:30Thanks for the question, Senator. So, I have not seen a GAO report. I will get it and come back to you

01:36with that. So, I'm unaware of it. Transparency is something we are working on very hard. I've learned in my

01:43first 70 days here that if I don't ask the question and then the other four questions that are going to follow

01:50it. I don't get the information I need. So, we need to be transparent with you. I'll ask Admiral Kilby maybe

01:57to comment on this specifically because I'm not specific around it. But I can just tell you in terms

02:03of the gaps that you mentioned, we were at about 23,000, I think, two years ago, 20,000. We were hoping

02:11for fiscal year 25 to be at 18,000 in terms of shortage. But our recruiting numbers are up pretty

02:17significantly. I'd like to think we're going to exceed our targets this year. We've seen a real

02:22pretty big pop in that. So, we're optimistic that we'll beat those numbers.

02:28Thank you, Secretary. Admiral?

02:29I just add to what the Secretary said. We really drained our reservoir, which is called the Delayed

02:36Entry Program, DEP, to 12%. It's now at 32%. We have exceeded our goals and we need to continue to do that.

02:44And we need to continue to do that through 26, 27, 28. Because it's going to take, it takes nine

02:50months to get a recruit to a ship with no training. And so, we're seeing that curve start to kick in.

02:57When we testified before the hack, we were at 23,200 gaps today, 22,900 gaps are trending in the right

03:05direction. But we are focused on this every day. It is, of the three things I worry about, it's number two.

03:13Okay. We've really, really got to close that up and we'll follow up with you on that. General Smith,

03:19you have consistently within the Marine Corps met your recruiting goals. Can you talk about the

03:25success of the Marine Corps and how you've achieved that?

03:29Senator, I can. And thanks for calling that out. I'm very proud of our Marine recruiters.

03:33The way we do it is Marines don't fail. We make our mission. We give our recruiters a mission.

03:40We hold them to account for that mission. Every month, they are required to recruit three

03:45individuals. And when they don't make it, we give them counseling. And if they continue to not make

03:50it, we replace them. Recruiting is our lifeblood. We place our best and our brightest on recruiting

03:55duty. And we reward them with a duty station preference, promotions, and awards when they do

04:01successfully complete their recruiting mission. And it's a simple fact. We're Marines. We don't fail.

04:05Well, thank you. We do appreciate that. And thanks for meeting those recruiting goals and inspiring

04:12those generations that are joining into the Marine Corps. So I really appreciate that. I do have a,

04:20it's called the CERV Act, and it provides a pipeline for young Americans to go into our service branches.

04:27And we hope we can get that included in this year's NDAA. I do want to talk very briefly because

04:34I'm running out of time. I want to talk about auditing. Everybody's favorite topic. I love this

04:40topic. But Secretary Phelan, you, you pledged during your confirmation hearing to deliver a clean audit by

04:472028. And that is called for in our NDAA. I got my start in public service as a county auditor. So this

04:55is really exciting stuff to me. But yeah, everybody laughs. But it is. So the Marine Corps has achieved

05:04a clean audit, not once, but twice, which is very, very, very good. It is, it proves really that success

05:14is possible when you have really good leadership that prioritizes it. So General Smith, what is the

05:21Marine Corps doing differently than our other service branches that has enabled you to meet

05:26this milestone, not just that once, but twice? Well, Senator, thanks for calling that out. I'm

05:31very proud of my Marines and the Marine Corps for passing an audit two years in a row. I can't speak

05:35for the other services. I can only speak for Marines. We're accountable. We, we, we started at recruit

05:42training. We started officer candidate school. You're issued a shelter half, five tent pins, three tent poles,

05:47and a guide wire. And when you leave the unit, you're expected to turn in your shelter half,

05:52five tent pins, three tent poles and a guide wire. And if you don't turn it in, we NJP you,

05:58nonjudicial punishment you, or we allow you the opportunity to replace that using your own money.

06:04But we hold people accountable. And it's, this is American tax money. And it's not ours to tinker

06:09with. Yeah, as a logistician, I appreciate that. And Mr. Chairman, if I might, it, it may be

06:15over-exaggerated, but is it true that, uh, the, uh, the Brits had said, uh, on your next joint

06:23training exercise, instead of sending your Marines, you send them your accountants?

06:29Uh, I'm, I'm not going to swear to that, ma'am, but that may have been said.

06:32Really appreciate it. Thank you, gentlemen, very much.

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