Despite risks, retention rates increase

The Army, even with a shortfall in new soldiers, is exceeding its targets.
Washington Post
BUHRIZ, Iraq -- It was nearing midnight as Pfc. Nicholas Outen and his platoon moved silently down an alley in this Sunni enclave of canals and palm groves, on a night of raiding houses with the Iraqi police.
The patrol paused, and Outen had just crouched at a street corner when a large blast threw him backward.
"I saw a flash and a boom and was smashed against the wall," recalled Outen, 20, of Baltimore. His shoulder was ripped by shrapnel from a bomb that exploded 15 feet away, killing an Iraqi policeman. Five in Outen's platoon were wounded, including his team leader, Sgt. Nathan Rohrbaugh, who lay bleeding on top of him.
The Nov. 17 attack would draw together an already tightknit platoon, now on its second tour in Iraq. For Outen, it was doubly significant: On the same day that he became eligible for a Purple Heart, he re-enlisted in the U.S. Army.
Across Iraq, U.S. soldiers risking their lives daily in combat are also re-upping by the thousands, bolstering the Army's flagging manpower at a time when many young Americans are unwilling to serve. Since 2001, the Army has surpassed its retention targets by wider margins each year, showing an unexpectedly robust ability to retain soldiers in a time of war. While the force is facing a shortfall in recruitment of new soldiers, it raised its retention goal this year by 8,000 people and still exceeded it, with nearly 70,000 soldiers, or 108 percent of the target, choosing to stay in the Army.
On palace rooftops and pockmarked streets, GIs are re-enlisting in rituals that range from dramatic to harrowing. Soldiers have taken the oath in gaudy former residences of Saddam Hussein and in the spider hole near Tikrit where the gray-bearded fugitive was captured in December 2003. One cavalryman re-enlisted on a median of Baghdad's treacherous airport road; others made the pledge during a lull in fighting in the battle for Fallujah in November 2004.
More than 4,000 soldiers from Outen's 3rd Infantry Division have re-enlisted in the past year, including 117 who raised their hands together at a mass ceremony in April north of Baghdad. The division, whose tanks spearheaded the U.S. invasion in 2003, was the first to serve two tours in Iraq. Even so, this year it chalked up the highest retention rate among the Army's 10 active-duty divisions, hitting 137 percent of its goal.
The Army this year offered new deployment bonuses and career incentives for soldiers who chose to stay.