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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve dietrich who wrote (178828)	12/26/2005 11:30:54 PM
From: geode00	Respond to of 281500

It's confusing but it sounds like there are a number of reasons that people stay once they're in. One of them is the possibility of not going back to Iraq. ----------- washingtonpost.com "...Brown is typical of many mid-career soldiers who have already spent six to 10 years in the Army and plan to stay until the 20-year retirement mark. About four-fifths of the eligible soldiers in this category are reenlisting today, a figure that rises to 90 percent for those who have served more than 10 years. As they rise in rank, soldiers such as Brown gain opportunities to go to school or serve as recruiters or drill sergeants -- cutting down on the frequency of deployments. "I hope to avoid coming back over here for a while," Brown said. In contrast, the Army's junior enlisted soldiers -- as well as younger officers -- have far fewer options for escaping multiple Iraq rotations, a factor leading some to quit the military, Army officials say. For both groups, retention rose after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but is now declining. About half of the Army's enlisted soldiers now reenlist after their first term. More lieutenants and captains are also leaving the Army, as attrition among them rose from a historic low of 6.3 percent in 2003 to 8.5 percent this year. Col. Mark Patterson, chief of officer retention for the Army, said retention rates are simply returning to where they stood before the Sept. 11 attacks, which stirred "a patriotic fever." Yet anecdotal evidence from Army officers in several units in Iraq suggests that an exodus of junior officers is possible in coming months, with 80 to 100 percent of eligible junior officers in some battalions planning to get out.... For enlisted soldiers, the Army this year announced several new bonuses for those who agree to stay in. These include up to $15,000 for deployed soldiers, which was boosted to $22,500 between July and September in an effort to make up for the Army's recruiting shortfall. New bonuses of up to $50,000 were offered to soldiers with vital skills who stay in beyond 20 years. On average, soldiers who reenlist are receiving bonuses of $6,000 to $12,000, according to Army personnel data. In 2005, soldiers in Outen's battalion received a total of more than $1.1 million in bonuses...."