Recruiting Hispanics: The Marine Corps Experience Final Report

Abstract : The Marine Corps has been the most successful of all the services in recruiting Hispanics. As the largest minority, Hispanic recruits will be an increasingly important market for recruiters. Hispanic youth report higher active duty propensity than non-Hispanics, although both groups cite similar reasons for joining the military. Survey data on Marine Corps recruits also show similar reasons for enlisting and similar influencers. We identify components of the Marine Corps' systematic recruiting process that seem to appeal to Hispanic recruits and their families. We visited six Marine Corps recruiting stations in areas of the country heavily populated by Hispanics as well as both recruit training depots and spoke with Hispanic recruits, training personnel, and recruiters about their experiences. The Marine Corps has benefited from Hispanics' strong enlistment behavior. We find that Hispanic recruits are more likely than others to complete bootcamp and the first term of service-even after controlling for other differences. Based on these findings, we highlight several challenges that may affect the Services' ability to recruit Hispanics in the future (e.g., high dropout rates, citizenship, and language fluency of recruits and their parents) and recommend actions that DoD can take to ensure Hispanic recruits' continued success.