European briefs: Army captain incentives set to end

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European briefs: Army captain incentives set to end
Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, November 20, 2008

An Army program that offered captains up to $35,000 to stay in the service will end on Nov. 30, Army officials said.

Army officials believe they have retained as many captains as they can, said Col. Paul L. Aswell, chief of the Army’s officer division. Of the 21,000 captains eligible for the program, about 16,000 signed contracts to stay in the Army through 2011.

The Army expects many of the officers who did not opt for the incentive will remain, but they do not want to commit to three years, as required by the program, he said.

Aswell could not say whether the recent economic downturn may have convinced those officers to stay in the Army.

"From 2000 to 2007 we lost about 12.1 percent of our captains every year, and that included officers who were eligible for these incentives, but last year, 2008, we lost 10.6 percent of our captains," he said. "We don’t know if it’s based on the incentives or if it’s based on the economy."


Article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58937