First lateral entrants could join the Marine Corps within months
By Irene Loewenson
Mar 6, 06:09 PM
Marine officials underscored that lateral entry will not be a way for people to bypass Officer Candidates School or boot camp. (Sgt. Matthew Lucibello/Army)
The Marine Corps is working on a pilot lateral entry program that will let people with in-demand skills enter or reenter the Marine Corps at a higher rank than they otherwise would — perhaps as soon as a few months from now.
“There’s a situation where you go out [after active-duty service], you get extensive 5G experience, which simply doesn’t exist within the military at that threshold, and now you’re like, ‘You know what? I really miss it. I want to come back,’” Lt. Gen. James Glynn, deputy commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, said at a roundtable with reporters at the Pentagon on Friday. “That would be a lateral entry scenario we could envision.”
The Corps in 2021 announced in its Talent Management 2030 strategy document, which lays out changes to personnel policy, that it intended to offer lateral entry for “exceptionally talented Americans.”
An update to Talent Management 2030, released Monday, makes clear that the pilot program for lateral entry will target prior-service Marines and Marine reservists.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2023/03/06/first-lateral-entrants-could-join-the-marine-corps-within-months/
