Ensuring that a modern military has the appropriate personnel and capabilities is the key goal of military force planning. RAND research on such topics as military wages, support for military families, troop diversity, and reenlistment rates ensures that U.S. and allied militaries are well aware of issues related to career field management and personnel retention and recruitment.
America's all-volunteer military has been an overwhelming success, but after four years of war with mounting casualties in Iraq, continuing insurgency attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, and multiple deployments throughout the world, the military has experienced recruiting shortfalls for the first time since the late 1970s.
Report
This report challenges the assumption that the timing of deployments and their distribution over time are serially independent, arguing that military interventions occur in temporal clusters driven by the number of interventions in the recent past.
Report
Examines the British, French, and German armies' approaches to accommodating significant budget cuts while attempting to sustain their commitment to full spectrum operations.
Commentary
Both to repeat the successes of private military contracting and to avoid the mistakes of contractors in the recent wars, the Department of Defense must consider several points specific to security contractors, writes Molly Dunigan.
Report
The Army has provided the bulk of U.S. troops to Iraq and Afghanistan: over 1.5 million troop-years as of December 2011, and 54 percent of all active component troop-year deployments within the area of operations.
Report
This paper reviews data on the prevalence of sexual assault among servicemembers, predictors of disclosure, efforts to improve disclosure, victim needs, and DoD efforts to provide necessary resources in the immediate aftermath of a sexual assault.
Report
This report analyzes reform of the reserve retirement system, discusses the goals and obstacles to reform, and provides a quantitative assessment of the reserve retention and cost effects of possible reform proposals.
Periodical
In the face of economic uncertainties and growing pressures to reduce defense spending, the United States must choose among alternative force postures, each of which has advantages and drawbacks.
Report
Lessons from the military can be used to inform police personnel management who are concerned about recruiting and promoting a racially/ethnically diverse workforce: qualified minority candidates are available, career paths impact diversity, and departments should leverage organizational commitment to diversity.
Commentary
The urgency with which the fiscal cliff question must be addressed should not excuse faulty calculations when it comes to the U.S. military's operational and personnel needs, write Tim Bonds and Lauren Skrabala.
Blog
During a discussion with RAND president and CEO Michael Rich at RAND's Politics Aside event, Ret. Gen. Peter Chiarelli says budget cuts could strike the military unevenly, hurting vital programs.
Commentary
Honoring the sacrifices of veterans should be front and center on our policy agenda and not limited to one day a year, says Terri Tanielian.
Report
This report characterizes the current policy debate on security cooperation and force posture in Europe, develops a framework to describe the environment for the U.S. Air Force there, and defines alternatives for building partnerships.
Report
Explores occupational burnout and retention of Air Force intelligence analysts working in the Distributed Common Ground System.
Report
RAND analysts posit that federal budget deficit pressure may result in further Defense Department reductions, and suggest starting from a strategy basis in determining cuts, prioritizing challenges, and identifying where to accept more risk.
Commentary
Despite the fears of some, but in line with the experience of every other institution, both in the US and abroad, that has experienced such a transition, there have been no significant problems, writes Bernard Rostker.
Report
Since World War II, the United States has relied on a global network of military bases and forces to protect its interests and those of its allies. But the international environment has changed greatly and economic concerns have risen, leading some to debate just what America's role should now be in the world.
News Release
Since World War II, the United States has relied on a global network of military bases and forces to protect its interests and those of its allies. But the international environment has changed greatly and economic concerns have risen, leading some to debate just what America's role should now be in the world.
Report
Recommends changes that can be made to the structure and management of the Air Force's Force Support officer career field to better align development of functional competencies with positional demand for those competencies.
Report
In the absence of official guidance on planning for security cooperation with foreign militaries, this report presents best practices for U.S. Air Force planners on how to develop, resource, execute, and assess country plans.
Research Brief
Examines the possibility for the Department of Defense to save money on military pay while sustaining a high-quality force.
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