The Delayed Entry Program's effects on initial entry training attrition

Abstract

The Directorate of Personnel Management at the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (DCSPER) establishes the Army's future personnel needs and sets the Department of the Army (DA) accession mission for the United States Army Recruiting command (USAREC). Recently, DCSPER accession planners have had difficulty in assigning the appropriate accession mission due to the large number of losses during the first term. The first term begins when a soldier enters his basic military training and continues until his initial contract period is completed. Attempts to explain these attrition rates have focused around USAREC's Delayed Entry Program (DEP) management. The DEP serves a variety of roles for USAREC and is used as an inventory system of recruits which acts to smooth out the seasonal fluctuations in demand for lET soldiers. This study investigates the relationship between the time an individual spends in the DEP and the risk of becoming a loss during the initial entry training (lET). Furthermore, it explores other factors related to IET attrition.