Army Retention on Track, Even as Recruiting Struggles
Even the busiest of units are seeing high retention as Army programs seek to smooth out the stress of service life.
SAM SKOVE | JUNE 8, 2023
When Tobey Whitney joined the Army at 32 after 9/11, he expected to serve just four years. But after two decades and three deployments to Iraq, Sgt. Maj. Whitney is still in uniform, part of a broader trend of soldiers choosing to stay in the Army even as the service struggles to bring in new recruits.
Whitney is far from an anomaly. The Army is on track to meet its goal of retaining 55,100 soldiers this year, according to Congressional testimony by Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo. The Army also met its retention goals in 2022 and 2021: just 0.86 percent of soldiers who were eligible to leave actually quit, Camarillo said.
Retention numbers are “historically high,” said Agnes Schaefer, assistant Army secretary for manpower & reserve affairs, at an event Tuesday hosted by the Center for a New American Security. And even parts of the service that are under high stress are seeing good retention.
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2023/06/army-retention-track-even-recruiting-struggles/387321/
