Military personnel leaving the Armed Forces

The importance of promoting research projects that allow for the development and monitoring of the military personnel policy of the National Defence, particularly with regard to the preparation of situational and prospective studies that contribute to the promotion of the sustainability of the current military service model, implies, among other things, the study of the factors that influence the ability to retain military personnel in the ranks.
With this in mind, the Directorate-General of National Defence Resources, within the framework of its powers and competences, proposed that the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon carry out a study on military leavers from the three branches of the Armed Forces.

For the purposes of this study, military personnel leaving consist of:
a) "Normal" exits - occur at the end of the maximum period of military service or during this service, but due to the activation of incentives provided by law. The aim of this type of exit is to characterise the individuals involved and to assess their level of satisfaction with their professional career. It includes voluntary departures (where the military member decides to activate the incentive mechanisms and change the type of service or leave for the security forces) and involuntary departures (where the military member leaves because, having reached the end of the contract period, he or she does not have the legal conditions to continue).
b) Exits due to "resignation, non-renewal or termination of service at the request of the serviceman" - exits carried out by a serviceman who would have been able to continue his service but chooses not to do so. The aim of this type of exit is also to characterise who makes these journeys, to draw up profiles and to identify the reasons for these decisions.

Estatuto:

Participant entity

Financed:

Yes

Entidades:

Direção-Geral de Recursos da Defesa Nacional

Keywords:

Armed Forces; Military Personnel Politicy of the National Defense; Youth; Trajectories

Objectivos:

The general objective of the study on Military Personnel Leaving the Armed Forces is to identify, understand and analyse the pathways that shape voluntary and involuntary exits from the armed forces, taking into account the following dimensions of analysis: a) Assessing motivations and expectations at entry to the Armed Forces in order to test the hypothesis of a mismatch between initial motivations and expectations and the experiences of the path developed in the Armed Forces; b) Identify significant experiences in the military career and assess their subjective and biographical relevance; c) Identify factors that promote retention in the Armed Forces; d) Identify the reasons for leaving the Armed Forces and analyse their variability according to factors such as branch, rank, gender, education and training, special cadre/functional area, etc; e) the path after leaving the Armed Forces, in order to identify the recruitment potential that can be generated by the passage through the Armed Forces (i.e. 'brand ambassadors').