II. REENLISTMENT TRENDS Reenlistment Rates Higher in All Services - the proportion The first-term reenlistment rate of qualified personnel reenlisting upon completion of initial enlistment tours -- provides a sensitive index of retention capability. As shown in the accompanying chart, the Department of Defense average rose from about 25% in FY 1957 to 30% in the first nine months of FY 1959 with significant improvement in all Services. 8 Reenlistment Rates Up in Critical Skills but Still Below Optimum Levels The improvement in reenlistment rates between Fiscal Years 1957 and 1959 has been shared by all major skill categories. Particularly significant are the increases in the rates for Electronics and for the Ground Combat occupational group. (Annual reenlistment rates for each occupational group by Service are shown in the Appendix Table). Despite this improvement, reenlistment rates in certain technical and combat leadership skills were still below the "optimum" rates required for a properly balanced career force in these fields.* In Department of Defense, as a whole, the average first-term reenlistment rates in FY 1959 were below optimum levels in Electronics, Other Technical and Ground Combat. Among the individual Services, reenlistment deficits were more widespread in Army, Navy and Marine Corps than in Air Force. In order to correct imbalances in the skill structure, resulting partly from these differences in reenlistment rates, each of the Services has undertaken programs for retraining and reassignment of qualified career personnel from surplus to shortage skills. The program of enlisted proficiency payments, concentrated in the technical and combat leadership skills, should further help in reducing shortages of qualified career personnel. * The "optimum sustaining" rates by occupational group are based on estimates submitted by the Armed Services to the Defense Advisory Committee on Professional and Technical Compensation in 1956. 10 |