Military Attrition: DoD Needs to Better Understand Reasons for Separation and Improve Recruiting Systems

Abstract

We are pleased to be here today to discuss our work on the attrition and recruiting of the military services enlisted personnel. At the request of this Subcommittee, GAO has conducted a series of jobs to determine why the attrition of enlisted personnel during their first terms of duty has remained relatively constant despite the increased quality of new recruits. Our work has included (1) a report outlining the reasons for attrition during the first6 months of an enlistees term,1 (2) a report recommending how recruiter selection and incentive systems could be improved to increase recruiter performance and the likelihood that enlistees will complete their firstterms,2 (3) an ongoing study to identify reasons for enlisted attrition after basic training, and (4) an ongoing study of the process of screening incoming recruits to detect criminal backgrounds.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 04, 1998
Accession Number
AD1167664

Entities

People

  • Mark E. Gebicke

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accounting
  • Air Force
  • Attrition
  • Basic Training
  • Commerce
  • Criminals
  • Data Centers
  • Databases
  • Electronic Mail
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Internet
  • Marine Corps
  • Medical Examination
  • Medical Screening
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Physical Fitness
  • Recruiting
  • Recruits
  • Training
  • World Wide Web

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Naval Personnel Management