The Effects of Perstempo on Officer Retention in the US Military

Abstract

Since the end of the Gulf War, the operational tempo of the military services has increased dramatically. By some accounts, deployments have increased anywhere from 60 percent (GAO, 1999) to 300 percent (Peters, 1997) between 1986 and 2000 for a force that has 700,000 fewer members and an officer corps that is 31-percent smaller. With recent retention shortfalls, it is often alleged that increased deployments are causing personnel losses. The most commonly cited evidence of this comes from surveys of servicemembers who are queried about their likes and dislikes of military service. While surveys of intentions, and other voiced dissatisfactions with military service, are important tools for identifying areas that require attention, it is just as important to evaluate actual behavior. The relevant question is whether such stated dissatisfaction translates into action so that increased deployments actually result in decreased retention.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA411776

Entities

People

  • Ronald D. Fricker Jr.

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Active Duty
  • African Americans
  • Air Force
  • Base Closures
  • Demography
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Law
  • Manpower
  • Marine Corps
  • Military Personnel
  • Personnel Retention
  • Standards
  • Students
  • Training

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Naval Personnel Management
  • Organizational Psychology.