Steve Buyer: “The Subcommittee on Military Personnel has been striving to find the right combination of incentives to address the…”

“The Subcommittee on Military Personnel has been striving to find the right combination of incentives to address the negative recruiting and retention trends that threaten the readiness of our military forces. That is the purpose of the Buyer-Abercrombie amendment, to offer a military thrift savings plan. On the retention front, all services have incurred unsustainable losses among pockets of highly qualified experienced personnel, including aviators and many high tech skills. The most severe retention problems are in the Navy and the Air Force where officers, noncommissioned officers and enlisted members across the force are leaving at rates that threaten the future viability of those services. On the recruiting front, three of the services, beginning with the Army, then the Navy and finally the Air Force, have been struggling to meet production goals for new recruits. In addition, some sources of officer commissions, specifically Army and Air Force senior reserve officer training programs, are failing to produce the required number of new officers. As a result of the continuing recruiting shortfalls and reduced retention, senior military leaders find themselves compelled to deploy forces to crises and contingencies at manning levels well below the 100 percent or better standard that heretofore has been their goal.”