DRUG USE, PREGNANCY CITED AS DRAINING MILITARY RANKS

Discharges Rising Since Iraq War Began, Pentagon Report Says

Drug use, weight problems and parenthood are among the reasons people
have been leaving the military in the past three years, since the war
on terror began, according to newly released Pentagon data.

Documents released to the Associated Press under the Freedom of
Information Act indicate the number of enlisted personnel leaving
each year has increased from 8.7 percent in 2002 to 10.5 percent last year.

Enlisted losses -- including people whose enlistments had expired --
increased from 118,206 in 2002 to more than 137,465 last year, while
officer losses have increased from 5,619 in 2002 to more than 7,500 last year.

The subset of those leaving before their term was up, for reasons
ranging from disability to drug abuse, increased from 58,214 in 2002
to 60,406 last year among enlisted personnel and from 1,011 in 2002
to 1,280 for officers.

"Service members leave the military for a variety of reasons," said
Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke at the Pentagon.

"We appreciate their service and respect their reasons for leaving
the service."

Krenke said the military met and in some cases exceeded its retention
goals this year.

None of the 1.4 million service members on active duty today is
allowed to simply quit the military, but soldiers can be kicked out,
or in certain cases receive special discharges.

The reasons for leaving the service differ in each branch, though
general misconduct -- a term which can mean anything from petty theft
to brawling with colleagues -- has consistently been the most common
explanation.

Pentagon data going back 10 years shows that service losses last year
still are below overall levels in the mid-1990s, when the Defense
Department struggled with both retention and recruitment.

But in recent years, some categories reached 10-year highs.

Pregnancy and parenthood, for example, have steadily increased as a
reason for personnel losses, especially in the Army, where last year
4,238 soldiers were discharged from the Army for pregnancy and
parenthood, up from 2,862 in 2002 and 2,565 in 1996.

Pregnancy used to mean an automatic discharge; these days, it is an
option but not a requirement. Even so, increased numbers of service
members are asking to get out because they have children.

"These days military parents are finding it very complicated to
serve, because a lot of people are being deployed, many are being
deployed multiple times, and these deployments have proved to be
unpredictable in length and frequency," said Shelley MacDermid,
director of the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue
University in West Lafayette, Ind.

MacDermid said she has even heard of instances where soldiers "use
pregnancy as a way to get out of a situation they don't like."

Drug use also is an increasing reason soldiers are being discharged
from the Army, up 40 percent since 2002; last year, 1,986 soldiers
were kicked out of the Army for using marijuana, cocaine, "ecstasy"
and other illegal drugs.

By contrast, soldiers thrown out for alcohol abuse dropped from 251
in 2002 to 164 last year.

Another issue that is prompting increased discharges is a failure to
meet weight standards.

The Army, which has the most stringent weight standards of all the
military branches, kicked out more than 3,285 soldiers last year
because they were too heavy.

The high-profile and usually controversial discharges -- like
conscientious objection and homosexuality -- represent a small
fraction of the total losses.

Only about 40 uniformed personnel received honorable discharges as
conscientious objectors last year.

The Pentagon did not release 2005 numbers of those released for
"homosexual conduct," but in 2004 just 653 people were discharged
under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

That was down from a 10-year high in 2001 of 1,273.