Armed forces include active-duty and reserve personnel, officers, and enlisted corps. RAND research and analysis helps policymakers understand how to recruit, train, and educate the military workforce and provide cost-effective health care for military personnel and their families.
REPORT
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.
REPORT
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 mandated a review of gender-based assignment restrictions. To support this effort, RAND researchers analyzed service data to describe and quantify the military occupations that are closed to women, as well as occupations that are open with some positions that are closed.
PERIODICAL
Stories discuss Iran's nuclear threat, social security for Mexico's aging population, programs to help veterans and their families, the costs of crime and the value of police officers, psychological operations in Afghanistan, the U.S. health insurance mandate, legal representation in murder cases, marijuana legalization, U.S. competitiveness in educational achievement, and Louisiana's plan for a sustainable coast.
PERIODICAL
Ten RAND authors highlight seven ways in which the United States can help to ensure that veterans and their families receive health care, employment and education opportunities, and other benefits.
REPORT
This report describes the result of an expert panel assembled to consider how the Army can get the best long-term value from its investments in basic research. The panel examined trends in basic research and R&D and profiled several top-quality research laboratories, to gain insight into how the Army might better structure and fund its own labs. The report offers a number of recommendations for improving the Army research effort.
REPORT
The reserve components (RCs) must ensure that reservists are not only properly equipped and trained, but also free from health-related conditions that could limit their ability to carry out their duties. This volume identifies existing medical readiness requirements, quantifies current RC medical readiness, identifies obstacles to achieving compliance, and suggests options for improving medical readiness in a cost-effective manner.
REPORT
The Real Warriors Campaign, launched in 2009, is a multimedia program designed to promote resilience, facilitate recovery, and support the reintegration of returning servicemembers, veterans, and their families. This report presents the results of an independent assessment of the campaign.
RESEARCH BRIEF
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.
RESEARCH BRIEF
With regard to Army families, the study examines the effects of long and frequent parental deployments on children’s academic performance as well as their emotional and behavioral well-being in the school setting.
BLOG
April is the Month of the Military Child, a national initiative to support and honor America's service members and their families. The celebration is being recognized with events around the country, and is a key national initiative of First Lady Michelle Obama.
REPORT
An assessment of The Army Distributed Learning Program (TADLP) found that it has had a relatively narrow focus and has provided, at best, a modest benefit to unit readiness. Major changes are needed to meet increasing DL requirements within the Army. Several near-term initiatives are proposed for the Army's interactive multimedia instruction program to improve both the quality of the product and the efficiency and responsiveness of the…
REPORT
This briefing identifies policy questions related to compensating service
members and their survivors for fatality risk. After comparing patterns in the
characteristics of combat fatalities with those of fatalities occurring in other
contexts, it discusses the Department of Defense's current compensation
programs. Policymakers may benefit from both empirical studies and comparisons
with compensation programs that exist in other contexts.
REPORT
This report provides an overview of how standardized tests are used as part of a broader selection system for each of the services at different points in an officer's career, and a discussion of key issues that should be considered when using standardized tests, including the relationship between tests and racial and ethnic group differences, which could affect minority representation within the officer corps.
REPORT
An econometric assessment of the effectiveness of incentive pays in retaining remotely piloted aircraft pilots and sensor operators. Civilian pilot and sensor operator salaries are higher than those of other officers or enlisted personnel, indicating that incentive pays should be continued, along with reenlistment bonuses, because failure to retain enough personnel would cause serious problems with filling critical positions.
COMMENTARY
Never before in our nation's history have our service members and their families been so challenged and never before have their struggles (and successes) been the topic of so much scholarly attention, writes Sarah O. Meadows.
COMMENTARY
Though for-profit institutions had been criticized in the Senate report as offering credits that were hard to transfer elsewhere, it was the colleges' willingness to accept military transcripts that appealed to veterans who wanted to complete their degrees as fast as possible, writes Jennifer Steele.
REPORT
The Air Force has a continuing interest in reducing high attrition and training-block failure (washback) rates, as both increase training and recruiting costs. This report describes research into these issues for nine career fields.
PERIODICAL
There are three key ingredients for peace in Afghanistan. Afghan leaders must negotiate a peace. Afghan neighbors must respect the peace. And Afghan soldiers and police must keep the peace.
REPORT
To analyze policy options that would improve utilization of reserve forces, the authors assess how Army active and reserve forces are used. Converting billets from low-use to high-use career fields within a component could partially, but not completely, rebalance the reserve components. Converting billets from a low-use career field in one component to a high-use career field in another is unlikely in the near term, but an option in the…
REPORT
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.
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