The Impact of Deployment on the Retention of Military Reservists

Since Operation Desert Shield/Storm (ODS/S), the reserve forces have participated in almost every large foreign deployment. Understanding how mobilizations and deployments of reservists affect their attitudes and those of their families and employers is important because of the potential effects on retention and future recruiting. This article examines retention of enlisted reservists three years after Operation Desert Storm, using a rich array of data available from the 1991 Guard/Reserve Survey of Officers and Enlisted Personnel. Overall, there is little difference between the retention of mobilized and nonmobilized reservists. The most important factors in retention are satisfaction with reserve duty and spouses' attitudes toward reserve participation. Among the mobilized, a statistical model shows no difference in the probability of retention, regardless of economic loss. However, these conclusions may not extend to deployments that are less popular and more frequent, such as those experienced by the reserve components in recent years.