Four of every five young U.S. military officers who hang up their uniforms say the best officers are bailing from the military’s ranks. And it isn’t about the money, according to a new study. The report, by two graduate students at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, asked 250 young officers to list their reasons for calling it quits.
Surprisingly, or at least counter to conventional wisdom, military pay and frequent deployments ranked at the bottom of their list of reasons. The notion of wanting to be in control — of their careers, lives and fate — were paramount, according to the study, flagged by Tom Ricks at his Best Defense blog.