Millennial officers' descriptions of their values and relationships related to retention in the military

Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how millennial officers describe the values and relationships which affected their retention in the military. The theoretical foundation for this study was Strauss and Howe’s Generational Theory. There were two research questions developed for the study: 1) How did millennial officers describe the values which affect their retention in the military and 2) How did millennial officers describe the relationships which affected their retention in the military? The data sources for this study were questionnaires and interviews. Participants for the study were active-duty millennial officers who were currently serving in the U.S. Military, born between the years of 1987 and 1998, recruited from military officer Facebook sites. Forty-one millennial officers completed an online Likert-scale questionnaire, with nine millennial officers from the online questionnaires who took part in one-on-one interview through Zoom. The codes used to develop the themes of family values were family values, guiding principles, something you hold on to, putting family first, and dedication to family. The themes developed in the study addressed how millennial officers describe the values and relationships which affect their retention in the military. Themes in the study listed in order of most important are family values, supportive relationships, doing what is right, Army values, character, military family history, and leadership influence concluding that millennial officers are influenced mainly by family values and supportive relationships when it comes to retention decisions in the military. Research recommendations include repeating this study for each military branch separately and with younger generations.

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