Surface Warfare Junior Officer Retention: Problem Diagnosis and a Strategy for Action

Abstract

The surface warfare community has missed its retention goals since FY76 and projections suggest that this trend will continue. To identify factors related to retention of surface warfare junior officers JOs, previous studies on retention were reviewed and a sample of JOs at the Naval Postgraduate School was interviewed. Information obtained was used to develop a research plan designed to address critical areas affecting retention. A survey questionnaire covering the research questions to be addressed by the research plan was developed and pretested. Future reports will describe results obtained by analysis of questionnaire data.