A review of world events during the last year should dispel any misconception that the demands on our Navy have diminished. The crisis in the Balkans and Iraq's continued defiance of United Nations' sanctions fueled multiple conflicts. I believe these steps are essential to solving our recruiting and retention problems. We have also worked hard to improve our Sailors' quality of life through initiatives such as reforming our inter-deployment training cycle, improvements to housing, community and family support, new education programs, transition assistance, and morale and recreation activities. I am still concerned about recruiting.
Retention is still problematic.
Both retention and reenlistment rates remain below our steady state goals. In particular, retention of our mid-grade warfare officers is below what is needed and remains a significant concern. Making our recruiting goal has contributed to an improvement in our at-sea manning. As seen in this first graphic, we have been able to reduce the number of gapped at-sea billets from 18,000 in August 1998 to about 12,300 today. Our goal is to reduce that number to less than 10,000 by the end of fiscal year 2000.