The Effect of MOS Selection and Placement on the Retention of Marine Company Grade Officers
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to assess the relationships between Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) placement and retention of company grade officers. An officer data file from the Center for Naval Analyses is augmented with Total Force Data Warehouse data to create the primary analysis data file. The data set contained officer cohorts from 1994-1999 and 2001-2002, a total of 5,922 newly commissioned officers. Several 5- and 6-year multivariate retention models are estimated to test the sensitivity of the retention effect of MOS preferences and to determine if including prior enlisted Marines in the data affects the basic effects. The objective is to isolate the effects of MOS placement outside of an officer's top three MOS preferences on junior officer retention. The findings indicate that MOS placement has a strong negative effect on the retention of Naval Reserve Officer Training Course (NROTC), Platoon Leaders Course (PLC), and Officer Candidate Course (OCC) graduates. Among demographic groups, black and Asian officers are more likely to be retained than white officers. Significant differences in retention do not exist between men and women; however, when prior enlisted officers are included in the samples, the sizes of the key coefficients fall in magnitude. The findings for the 6-year model indicate no significant effects of MOS placement, gender, or race, with and without prior enlistees, on the retention decisions of officers who graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA497038
Entities
People
- Justin L. Blackmon
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School