DoD needs better data on retention, report says

Problems with military retention have been in the spotlight recently, but the Defense Department has yet to report in a systematic way on the scope of the problem across all of the military services, the General Accounting Office has concluded.

"The services track retention rates but they use different data and measures, thus making it difficult to combine information and determine what is happening to retention DoD-wide," said GAO in its report, "Military Personnel: Systematic Analyses Needed to Monitor Retention in Key Careers and Occupations" (NSIAD-00-60).

The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2000 increased military pay and benefits to help improve retention, but DoD has yet to identify trends in retention on a departmentwide basis. One of the Pentagon's first attempts to do so produced data, but no analysis or interpretation, GAO said.

While DoD's Office of Force Management Policy (OFMP) has established a group devoted solely to retention issues, more needs to be done to ensure that reliable and comprehensive assessments of military retention are produced, the report said. And if such reports become available, they should be shared with people outside the department, GAO argued.

"While the OFMP's monthly analyses of retention provide a useful snapshot of retention trends, they are reported through internal briefings to DoD leadership and have not been presented to Congress or others," the report said.

GAO's review of retention trends among officers and enlisted military at the four military services showed showed fairly steady aggregate retention rates from 1988 to 1998, a period of time in which the Defense Department underwent significant downsizing.

Retention rates for enlisted personnel, on the other hand, went down 15 percent in the Army, 10 percent in the Marine Corps and 8 percent in the Air Force over the same period.

The biggest decreases in retention came in the fields of communications, intelligence, and electrical and mechanical equipment repair.

"The department recognizes there is no 'one size fits all' solution to the complex challenges associated with retaining our valuable personnel. We will carefull review GAO's proposed methodology and, where appropriate, integrate it into ongoing systematic assessments," DoD said in response to the report.