Recruiting, retention and future levels of military personnel (PDF; 1.4 MB)
Source: Congressional Budget Office

The U.S. military’s ability to maintain the force levels required for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan rests on recruiting and retaining service members. Several of the military components did not achieve their recruiting goals during fiscal year 2005. In particular, all of the Army components missed their recruiting goals at the same time that the overall Army was attempting to increase its personnel levels and its number of combat brigades. In 2006, some military components have had a turnaround, approaching or meeting their quantity goals, but in some cases have done so at the expense of their goals for recruits’ qualifications.

Prepared at the request of the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Armed Services, this study projects potential levels of personnel for all of the active, national guard, and reserve military components through 2010 and examines the components’ ability to overcome any adverse trends in recruiting or retention through the use of incentives and other tools. In keeping with the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO’s) mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, this study makes no recommendations.

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