The Navy retained slightly more sailors and officers than expected in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008, while enlisted attrition lagged by 14 percent, Vice Adm. Mark E. Ferguson III, the chief of Naval personnel, told the Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee during a May 20 hearing. Among the planned actions to meet force-balance goals while retaining the desired number of experienced sailors with critical skills, the Navy will:
* reduce this year’s enlisted accessions by 4,000;
* put a "high-year tenure" milestone in place for sailors with 14 years of service who have not advanced beyond petty officer second class;
* decrease or stop selective reenlistment bonus (SRB) payouts, and review all other bonus programs;
* require chief, senior chief, and master chief petty officers with more than 20 years of service to face annual review by a performance-based continuation board;
* move some sailors in overmanned specialties to undermanned ones, or force those sailors to separate from the service, and;
* address shortages of captains, commanders and lieutenant commanders in line-officer billets with special pays and other incentives.
