Why do enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers quit the Armed Forces?

In this report, we describe a survey that the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) conducted in the project «Spesialisten», which was a collaboration between the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, the Defence Staff Norway and FFI. The purpose of the survey was to learn about why enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers in the Norwegian Armed Forces quit, and why they quit so early. The survey showed that the enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers quit the Armed Forces typically after three years. Most of them did not have children. Among those who had a long commute, there was a higher probability of leaving than among those who lived closer to their workplace. Many factors influenced the respondents’ choice to leave the Armed Forces. Most of those who had quit, said that they simply needed new challenges. Many also said that they wanted to start civilian education, and many felt that the opportunities for making a career in the Armed Forces were not good enough. Men and women gave more or less the same reasons for quitting. The women, however, were a bit more dissatisfied with their leader, and felt more “finished” with the Armed Forces. In this report, we make a few suggestions on what the Armed Forces could do to keep the enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers longer. This includes systematically registering the reasons why people quit the organization, increasing and/or clarifying the career and competence development opportunities within the organization, offering good and longer contracts, and giving the personnel relevant incentives to stay. The organization should also make a greater effort to re-recruit people who have worked in the Armed Forces earlier, as the survey shows that many of those who quit, are positive to the idea of re-enlisting in the Armed Forces.