From Boston Globe:
WASHINGTON — Recent graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point
are choosing to leave active duty at the highest rate in more than
three decades, a sign to many military specialists that repeated tours
in Iraq are prematurely driving out some of the Army’s top young
officers.According to statistics compiled by West Point, of the 903 Army
officers commissioned upon graduation in 2001, nearly 46 percent left
the service last year — 35 percent at the conclusion of their five
years of required service, and another 11 percent over the next six
months. And more than 54 percent of the 935 graduates in the class of
2000 had left active duty by this January, the statistics show.The figures mark the lowest retention rate of graduates after the
completion of their mandatory duty since at least 1977, with the
exception of members of three classes in the late 1980s who were
encouraged to leave as the military downsized following the end of the
Cold War.
UPDATE:USA Today reports on the soaring cost of bonuses to entice military personnel to stay in service…
The bonuses can range from a few thousand dollars to as much as
$150,000 for very senior special forces soldiers who re-enlist for six
years. All told, the Army and Marines spent $1.03 billion for
re-enlistment payments last year, compared with $174 million in 2003,
the year the war in Iraq began.