Attrition in the Army from the Signing of the Enlistment Contract through 180 Days of Service

摘要

This work addressed attrition from the Army's Delayed Entry Program (DEP) and the training phase of enlistment. The sample was the file of all non- prior service Active Army contracts executed in fiscal years 1992 and 1993, tracked in service through fiscal year 1995. Independent variables were all information the Army routinely collects with the signing of enlistment contracts; the dependent variable was the dichotomous attrited or still serving. The total N of 159,649 was divided into two halves. The first half was used to identify independent variables that discriminated the criterion groups, the second half to determine what the effect would be if those variables were used for pre-enlistment screening. Results indicated that AFQT Category IIIB individuals had attrition rates indistinguishable from IIIA scorers; that non- high school diploma graduates continued to be poor attrition risks, except for those who had participated in military youth programs; and that extremely heavy individuals were poor risks. The information was applied to screen holdout group files and construct plots cross tabulating cases which would have qualified or not, by attrited or still serving.