Thousands defer plans to leave the military during crisis

Stuart Morgan, the senior Army career counselor, said Gozikowski was able to take advantage of a new program designed to help soldiers who were planning to leave this year but are now worried and reconsidering their options. So far, the number of Air Force personnel who have withdrawn their requests to leave the service or have asked to extend their enlistment is 700 more than last year at this time, including 230 pilots and medical staff. In addition, Marines who were planning to leave the service are being allowed to extend their enlistments by a few months, to get past the initial COVID crisis, or by a year or two. Maj. Craig Thomas, a Marine Corps spokesman, said virus-related restrictions on recruiting and shipping new Marines to initial training will likely mean the service won’t meet its goal for total force size this year.