Officers Leave Army Hurting
Under capabilities - Amid War, Army Struggles to Retain Junior Officers in the Austin American-Statesman by Bob Deans.
Quote:
Concerned about midlevel officers leaving the Army under the strain of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has adopted new incentives, including enhanced graduate school opportunities, to help keep lieutenants and captains in uniform.
But concern persists over how the Army will be able to retain enough officers to fully staff an expanding force. The number of junior officers stands at 40,300 and needs to increase by 3,000 officers in the coming years to meet the goal for the expansion.
During the past year, 7.9 percent of the Army's junior officers left active service. To meet the growing demand for officers, the attrition rate will have to fall to 5 percent a year, a tall order given the pressures that multiple combat deployments are placing on young officers and their families.
''We know it's a strain on the force,'' said Col. Mark Patterson, chief of the Army group responsible for recruiting and retaining officers. ''It's a challenge that we're meeting head-on. We're not waiting until we have a retention problem; we're working it hard right now.''
After losing 5.7 percent of its company-grade officers in 2003 - the year President Bush launched the invasion of Iraq - the Army saw its officer attrition rate jump the next year to 8.1 percent. In 2005, it hit 8.5 percent, prompting concern within the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.
In response, the Army initiated three programs a year ago aimed at extending the service commitment of newly commissioned lieutenants and experienced captains.
The dip in the attrition rate over the past year suggests that the programs are working...
Sometimes, the real stats are right in front of them
The FAS file seemed to totally ignore the simple fact that numbers have gone down due to the number of casualties we have sustained. This war has not discriminated against any rank, and a large number of lieutenants and captains have simple been killed, maimed, or otherwise wounded in ways that make continued service problematic.
Add this statistic to the annual attrition percentage, and yes, you'll get a higher number.
Other forces are at work here, and that's why you can't punch numbers into a computer and develop a perfect model.
Of the five lieutenants that served under me during OIF I, three went on to become captains, but have since either left the Marine Corps or intend to in the next few months. In two of the three, the "family effect" played a part. They had since become married and had children. As much as the spouse may support a desire to remain part of the military, children are a totally different dynamic, and I completely respect them for wanting to watch those kids grow up. The point is that I figured these guys to be in it for the long haul and was proven wrong.
I think one spin-off of the GWOT is that attrition morphs a bit because young officers find themselves in more "un-rewarding" situations than they may been in during peacetime. Formal school slots may go down, optempo is up, we have the MiTT situation, etc., etc. We simply cannot assume that the force can be maintained as casualties continue and normal attrition rates increase. That's just simple math...
