Recruitment and Retention of Military Personnel in Argentina: On Quantity and Quality

Purpose – The aim of this chapter is to analyze how certain preconceived notions about difficulties in the armed forces’ recruitment and retention can be seen as a result of a singular national historical process that shape military data gathering. Methodology/approach – We used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, including the inspection of documents, the creation and analysis of databases, observations and working with information specialists within the military. Findings – Analyzing how the process of collecting information is designed, we found out that the introduction of the preconceptions mentioned above limits a deep understanding of the different variables that determine the recruitment and retention problems in the Argentinean armed forces and affect policies regarding them.