Military Personnel Retention

The retention of qualified military personnel—enlisted forces as well as officers—is essential to preserving morale and unit readiness and to avoiding the costs associated with training replacement personnel in essential skills. By examining issues from PERSTEMPO and the effects of multiple deployments to family readiness and child care, RAND research supports military leaders' efforts to monitor and successfully maintain an optimal force structure.

Research conducted by: RAND Arroyo Center; RAND Project AIR FORCE; RAND National Security Research Division; RAND Europe

All Items (61)

REPORT

A New Look at Gender and Minority Differences in Officer Career Progression in the Military — May 24, 2012

RAND research conducted in the late 1990s documented differences in rates of promotion and retention among male, female, white, and minority officers in the U.S. military. This volume updates the earlier RAND study, using data from January 1988 through September 2010. It also examines the career progression of women serving in military occupations that are partially closed to them.

RESEARCH BRIEF

Identifying Civilian Labor Market Realities for Army Officers Making Stay/Leave Decisions — Apr 13, 2012

This report describes the socioeconomic environment officers will encounter if they leave active-duty service and analyzes its potential impact on Army retention and how it can be effectively communicated to officers making stay/leave decisions.

REPORT

Expectations About Civilian Labor Markets and Army Officer Retention — Dec 15, 2011

This monograph develops a comprehensive picture of the socioeconomic environment officers will encounter if they leave active-duty service and analyzes the potential impact of these factors on Army retention and how major differences between military and civilian employment can be effectively communicated to officers making stay/leave decisions.

RESEARCH BRIEF

Addressing Commanders' Needs for Information on "Soft" Factors — Dec 5, 2011

Describes a framework for thinking about commanders' critical information needs in countersurgency operations and offers practical ways for commanders to integrate influence activities into combined arms planning and assessment.

RESEARCH BRIEF

Human Capital Strategy for the Army's Human Resources Command — Nov 17, 2011

To assist the Army's move of its Human Resources Command from the Washington, D.C. area to Fort Knox, Kentucky, RAND Arroyo Center produced personnel competency models and a framework for training to support the future delivery of personnel services.

REPORT

Effects of Bonuses on Active Component Reenlistment Versus Prior Service Enlistment in the Selected Reserve — Jun 2, 2011

A major source of reserve manpower is the flow of enlisted members from an active component (AC) to a reserve component (RC). This volume examines how effective RC bonuses are in attracting prior service members and, in doing so, explores how AC and RC bonuses interact to affect both AC reenlistment and prior service enlistment in the Selected Reserve.

REPORT

Managing Air Force Joint Expeditionary Taskings in an Uncertain Environment — Feb 3, 2011

Since 2004, the U.S. Air Force has provided personnel for "joint sourcing solution" assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, certain Air Force career fields are experiencing greater-than-expected deployment strains. Air Force personnel and deployment data were used to populate a RAND-developed model to assess the supply of and demand for Air Force personnel and various types of capabilities to fill joint assignments.

RESEARCH BRIEF

Sexual Orientation and U.S. Personnel Policy Revisited — Dec 23, 2010

Summarizes results of a RAND Corporation study on sexual orientation and U.S. military policy requested by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Secretary of Defense in order to weigh repeal of the law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

REPORT

Sexual Orientation and U.S. Military Personnel Policy: An Update of RAND's 1993 Study — Nov 18, 2010

This study on sexual orientation and U.S. military policy, requested by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Secretary of Defense in order to weigh repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, examines public and military opinion on allowing gay men and lesbians to serve without restriction; research on sexual orientation, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention; and experiences of domestic agencies and foreign militaries.

REPORT

Retention of Military Physicians: The Differential Effects of Practice Opportunities Across the Three Services — Oct 11, 2010

Examines the link between practice opportunities and physician retention in the Army, Air Force, and Navy.

REPORT

Army Reserve Units Have High Turnover Prior to Deployment — Aug 8, 2010

When U.S. Army Reserve Component units experience a surge of personnel turbulence as they approach deployment, units must repeat some training, making pre-mobilization preparation less efficient and potentially increasing the extent of training that must be accomplished after mobilization.

REPORT

Evaluating Navy's Funded Graduate Education Program: A Return-on-Investment Framework — Aug 3, 2010

Sending officers to graduate schools is costly to the services. While officers incur specific service requirements in return, does that recoup the investment? The authors found that, in the U.S. Navy, breaking even financially is not always realistic. But the skills and general knowledge that officers gain in the process extend the value of their degrees beyond their majors, particularly in careers leading to flag rank.

RESEARCH BRIEF

Reserve Component Unit Instability: How Big is the Problem, What Causes It, and What Can Be Done About It? — Jul 27, 2010

A study of Army Reserve Component (RC) units finds that personnel instability is widespread, driven mostly by soldier losses and nondeployers, and affects training prior to deployment.

REPORT

Hired Guns: Views About Armed Contractors in Operation Iraqi Freedom — Jun 15, 2010

While most U.S. government officials working in Iraq believe the use of armed private security contractors has been a useful strategy, many worry that the contractors have not always had a positive effect on U.S. foreign policy objectives.

NEWS RELEASE

U.S. Military's Increased Use of Bonuses Has Improved Recruitment and Retention — Jun 14, 2010

The increased use of cash bonuses by the U.S. Department of Defense to encourage military enlistment and reenlistment had a positive effect on recruiting and retention in the armed forces.

REPORT

Cash Incentives and Military Enlistment, Attrition, and Reenlistment — Jun 13, 2010

The increased use of cash bonuses by the U.S. Department of Defense to encourage military enlistment and reenlistment had a positive effect on recruiting and retention in the armed forces. Until recently, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have placed greater stress on military recruitment and retention.

RESEARCH BRIEF

Do Bonuses Affect Enlistment and Reenlistment? — Jun 9, 2010

Congress has questioned the scope and efficacy of enlistment and reenlistment bonuses, but Army high-quality recruiting would have been lower without them; they are more cost-effective than pay but less so than recruiters as a way to gain recruits.

REPORT

An Analysis of the Populations of the Air Force's Medical and Professional Officer Corps — Jun 9, 2010

Analyzes the Air Force's seven medical and professional officer corps — the Biomedical Sciences Corps, the Chaplain Corps, the Dental Corps, the Judge Advocate General Corps (attorneys), the Medical Corps (physicians), the Medical Service Corps, and the Nurse Corps — with regard to end strengths, accession levels, promotion flow, and attrition since the late 1970s. Recent accession and retention trends have been most adverse in…

NEWS RELEASE

Too Many Months of Military Deployment Can Reduce Reenlistment Rates — Oct 7, 2009

Although U.S. Army deployments have been linked positively to the likelihood of reenlisting for much of the past decade, by 2006 the mounting burden of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan reached the point where deployment had a negative effect on reenlistment.

REPORT

How Have Deployments During the War on Terrorism Affected Reenlistment? — Oct 6, 2009

Although U.S. Army deployments have been linked positively to the likelihood of reenlisting for much of the past decade, by 2006 the mounting burden of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan reached the point where deployment had a negative effect on reenlistment.

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