	High Rate of Attrition Continues Despite Increases in Recruit Quality

By 1986, recruit quality was at historically high levels. Attrition Is Costly

On the basis of DOD-provided cost data, we estimated that in fiscal  year 1996, DOD and the services spent about $390 million to enlist personnel who never made it to their first duty stations. Currently, available data on attrition does not permit DOD to pinpoint the precise reasons that enlistees are departing before completing their training. Reducing Attrition Will Not Be Simple

In the absence of complete data on why first-term attrition is occurring, we examined the various preenlistment screening processes that correspond to the types of separations that were occurring frequently. For example, because a significant number of enlistees were being separated for medical problems and for fraudulent entry, we focused our work on recruiting and medical examining processes that were intended to detect problems before applicants are enlisted. These processes involve many different military personnel. We also believe that the services’ mechanisms for medically screening military applicants could be improved. To improve the selection of recruiters and enhance the retention of recruits, we recommended that the services (1) use experienced field recruiters to personally interview all potential recruiters, use communication skills as a key recruiter selection criterion, and develop or procure personality screening tests that can aid in the selection of recruiters; (2) emphasize the recruiter’s role in reducing attrition by providing opportunities for recruiter trainees to interact with drill instructors and separating recruits; (3) encourage the services to incorporate more structured physical fitness training for recruits into their Delayed Entry Programs; (4) conduct physical fitness tests before recruits report to basic training; (5) link recruiter rewards more closely to recruits’ successful completion of basic training; and (6) encourage the use of quarterly floating recruitment goals as an alternative to the services’ current systems of monthly goals. DOD and Service Actions in Response to Our Recommendations and the Fiscal Year 1998 Defense Authorization Act

DOD and the services have taken many actions in response to our recommendations and the requirements in the Fiscal Year 1998 Defense Authorization Act. Specifically, the working group will be tasked with devising a plan to satisfy the legislative requirements for DOD and the services to (1) improve the system of separation codes, (2) develop a reliable database for analyzing reasons for attrition, (3) adopt or strengthen incentives for recruiters to prescreen applicants, (4) assess recruiters’ performance in terms of the percentage of their enlistees who complete initial combat training or basic training, (5) assess trends in the number and use of waivers, and (6) implement policies and procedures to ensure the prompt separation of recruits who are unable to complete basic training. Until DOD has uniform and complete information on why recruits are being separated early, it will have no basis for determining how much it can reduce attrition.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed: (1) the historical problem of attrition of enlisted personnel and its costs; (2) the Department of Defense's (DOD) lack of complete data on why enlistees are being separated early; (3) GAO's recommendations on ways to improve the screening of recruiters and recruits; and (4) DOD's actions thus far to respond to GAO recommendations.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) despite increases in the quality of DOD's enlistees, about one-third of all new recruits continue to leave military service before they fulfill their first term of enlistment; (2) this attrition rate is costly in that the services must maintain infrastructures to recruit and train around 200,000 persons per year; (3) in fiscal year 1996, the services' recruiting and training investment in enlistees who separated before they had completed 6 months totalled $390 million; (4) solving the problem of attrition will not be simple in large part because DOD does not have complete data on why enlisted personnel are being separated; (5) GAO has concentrated on what it has found to be major categories of separation, such as medical problems and fraudulent enlistments; (6) because these types of separations involve the services' entire screening processes, GAO has reexamined these processes from the time recruiters are selected, through the time that applicants are prescreened by recruiters, through the medical examinations applicants undergo, and through the physical preparation of recruits for basic training; (7) GAO has recommended ways to improve the: (a) data DOD collects to analyze reasons for attrition; (b) services' criteria for selecting recruiters; (c) incentive systems for recruiters to enlist persons who will complete basic training; and (d) services' mechanisms for identifying medical problems before recruits are enlisted; (8) many of these recommendations have been incorporated into the National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998; (9) DOD and the services have already taken some positive steps in response to GAO's recommendations and the National Defense Authorization Act; and (10) however, GAO believes that DOD needs to take further action to change the criteria by which recruiters are selected, provide recruiters with more opportunities to interact with drill instructors, and revise recruiters' incentive systems to improve their quality of life.