Non-citizen recruits less likely to wash out, study says
Stars and Stripes today plumbs a think-tank study and takes a look at the “washout rate” of the 70,000 non-citizens who enlisted in the U.S. military since 9/11. The nut graf? A much lower attrition rate than citizens.
Within three months of entering active service, 8.2 percent of citizen enlistees have been discharged. That is more than double the 4 percent attrition rate of non-citizens who volunteer to serve in America’s military.
At the three-year mark, 28 percent of citizens have left before completing initial service obligations while the washout rate for non-citizens remains significantly lower, at 16 percent. And the disparity widens by the four-year mark, with 32 percent of citizen recruits having been discharged versus only 18 percent of non-citizen accessions… .
Says the report; “The interviews revealed that, relative to citizen recruits, non-citizen recruits generally have a stronger attachment to serving the United States, which they now consider to be ‘their country,’ and [they] have a better work ethic.”