Say Anything Blog

This is very deceptive. Break the numbers down by MOS and you find that Combat Arms officers are remaining beyond the initial term of their commission. Oh, and by the way, Officers don’t "enlist", they are commissioned. Retention rates among non-Combat Arms Officers is always lower, many of them do their active duty time then return to college or further professional development while continuing service in Reserve or NG units. Hopefully Chief will sign in on this one. He could give a much more precise explanation than I.

The story greatly overstates the issue in another way.  I think officers sign up for a longer service 3-7 years.   Assuming 5 years and a 8.6 "quitting" rate you’d spread that 8.6 over 5 years.  So the number of officers leaving early would be less than 2% per year.  One would imagine that that rate of turnover might even be a good thing.  Not everyone’s cut out for the job.

As a former Army officer (and West Point graduate,) I can tell you that there is nothing alarming about this at all.  It is quite common for officers to leave after their initial commitment is over.  What most people forget is that the vast (and I do mean vast) majority of Army officer came not from West Point, but rather from ROTC programs.  Many of them went the ROTC route for the scholarship money.  They pay back the money with 3-4 years of their time (depending on the scholarship,) then they take off.  This is no different than many of the enlisted men coming into the Army for money for college.

Among West Point officers, it is a slightly different story.  Many of them didn’t fully understand what West Point and the Army are when they first come in.  Once you complete two years at West Point, you are committed to the Army.  If you leave before graduation after that, you go in as an enlisted man.  Many stick it out to avoid that fate.  Once they are in the Army, they do their time and hit the road as soon as they can.

One interesting note:  I have been amused to watch my classmates and their time in the military.  Many of the people who swore they would be "out and alive in 5" are either retired or still on active duty.  Others who swore they were going to distance have bailed out and moved on to other things.  Whether at peace or at war, the Army is an experience that each person views differently.

Steve, thank you for your service, Sir! You hit it in the black. Never can tell who is going to stick it out and who is going to bug out. This ranks right up there with the wailing and gnashing of teeth over recruiting numbers last summer, Highschoolers take delayed entry so they get that last summer vacation before heading to Basic. Leftards never point that little fact out. I have friends at Ft Campbell,Ft Sill,and Ft Hood, they all say they had more boots than bunks at the begining of this last training cycle. This weekend is opening of Trout season, we are having a 4 day send off for a group of troops re-enlisting and returning to Active Duty. Started out with 5 guys, now we are up to 67, just from our local 3 county area. Funny, according to the MSM and DNC troops are running away from the military as fast as they can.

Steve,

Please let me add my thanks for your service to those of 2H9.  God bless you, Sir. 

Officers don’t "enlist", they are commissioned.

Sorry, no offense intended.  I’m not always down on all of the military lingo. 

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Did not mean that as a rebuke, just pointing it out.

This article was HILLARIOUS!

From the chart on the left hand side:
"More young officers are leaving the Army after completing their initial active-duty commitment, compared with the years directly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."

In ‘02 all of us were revving up for the big show.  In ‘03 stop loss began.  In ‘04 (and possibly ‘05), unit specific stop loss began.  Now, officer retention is getting back to pre-9-11 normalcy.

Ring Knockers getting out at five have actually been in the Army for NINE YEARS!

Heck, if gas prices dropped a dollar one day and rose ten cents the next, the only thing we’d here is that gas is ten cents more expensive…

"But the service’s difficulty in retaining current captains has generals worriedly discussing among themselves whether the Army will have the widest choice possible for its next generation of leaders."

This is nothing new.  My current senior rater was part of a think tank in ‘98 whose mission was to figure out why captains leave the Army.  People have always left the Army.

And did the writer interview any captains about to separate?  Talking to cadets about staying active duty makes no sense.

Any way you look at it, the numbers haven’t even reached pre-9-11 normalcy.  And even if they had, the numbers would still be EXTREMELY low because part of that percentage would be the officers who wanted to, but were not able to, exit during the last three years (because of stop loss).

If someone wanted to do a worthwhile story, they should do a story on what type of JMOs are getting out and why.

I have a buddy who just completed his tour as a 1st Lt. in Iraq and promptly left after his commitment was done.  He had some sort of pre-qualification for Ranger school but his Captain kept him around instead...  to do what you ask?  To fill out paper work for commendations.

Then, since his Captain and another had a pissing contest, he was required to hand-deliver the paper work to another Captain for approval.. outside the Green Zone, almost 50 miles away.

Incompetence.