Attrition Revisited: Identifying the Problem and Its Solutions

This report highlights the known and suggested causes correlated, and contributors to first-term enlisted attrition. Personal characteristics such as education credential, aptitude, gender, and age are discussed first followed be a description of organizational and situational influences. Better coordinated multivariate selection approaches to attrition are suggested as are realistic previews of military life. A pivotal factor in attrition is its management/policy control at various levels. This aspect of attrition must be understood before other reduction strategies are introduced.