How long does the average person in the military actually stay in the military?

Hey everyone, I was just wondering out of curiosity. How long does the average person stay in the military? Does the average person stay in 20+ years where they can retire or does the average person stay for 4 years (i think altogether 6 - 8 years even when your 4 years are done) and leave. Thanks before hand.|||alot of the people have been doing just the 4 years so they can get all of the benifits of it.|||Well believe it or not,





40% of those who enlist, do not even finish their first enlistment contract.





They are separated because of criminal behavior, drug use, failure to adapt, injuries, illness's, fraudulent enlistment, etc.





Of the remaining 60% who enlist each year, 8 out of 10, will leave the service after their enlistment is over with.





It is a small percentage who actually reenlist and stay in the military each year.





But after someone reenlist for the first time, the majority of them, will serve at least 20 years.|||You hit the nail right on the head with that one. The average person stays enlisted in the military for 4-8 years. People do so for the GI Bill mostly, others came in just for experience so that they can get the job that they want in the civilian world. Depending on your job and what type of person you are the military is an easy life to live well not easy but you can do it for 20 and reap the full benefits of retiring. Besides there or very few jobs where you can retire once reached 20 n start receiving check right away. That's only active duty, reservist have to wait till 62 to start receiving checks but active duty can start once you retire.|||4 years... Look at the amount of privates on bottom and 20 year guys on top, as you go up and up the amount of people still around greatly decreases. It has to for a proper command structure.|||Yes, 4 years was the average. When the huge bonuses start rolling in, the average enlistment jumped up 3-6 more years. So about 6-8 is a lot more prevalent than before.|||3-4 years


1 contract|||4-6 years depending on their job. a career is 20 years +