| Summary: | This thesis seeks to determine if increased OPTEMPO has a significant effect on the retention behavior of Navy physicians. Demographic and military experience variables were used to construct logistic difference-in-difference (DID) regression models to evaluate the behavior of General Medical Officers (GMOs) and specialists making continuation decisions before and after Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although the groups were similar across time, the DID models illustrate a diverging impact of deployments on continuation after the OPTEMPO increased. The DID model indicates that GMOs affected by increased OPTEMPO were significantly less likely to continue. Continuation was also hindered by being black, being Hispanic, and being single with dependents. Factors promoting continuation included: years of service, being a flight surgeon, being an Undersea Medicine physician, and being a member of a race/ethnicity group other than white, black, or Hispanic. Similarly, the DID model indicates that specialists who deployed after the OPTEMPO increased had a substantially higher probability of separation. The probability for leaving was increased for specialists who are not in primary care. The probability of continuation was higher for individuals with more years of service, those single without dependents, those deployed before the OPTEMPO increased, and those assigned to Naval Medical Center, San Diego.
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