United States Army

commentary

An Autistic Soldier Wants You to Read This

Despite the recruitment challenges it is currently facing, the Army continues to make personnel decisions based on last century's understanding of neurodivergent diagnoses. The loosening of stigma associated with these diagnoses could improve recruitment, and the Army might reap the benefits of neurodiversity.

Cortney Weinbaum @cortney_dc

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Truth Decay and National Security, Gun Violence, Blockading Crimea: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Truth Decay and national security, America's gun violence problem, how Ukraine could blockade Crimea, and more.

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The Army Should Be Looking for a Few Older Soldiers

Recruiting older people to enlist in the Army could help increase numbers, quality, and talent. Individuals who enlist over the age of 21 perform better as soldiers on several metrics. Recruiters have noted that older recruits are of higher quality, more focused, and more motivated.

Ryan Haberman @RJ_Haberman, Michael S. Pollard @MichaelSPollard

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50 Years Without the Draft: Behind the Bold Move That Ended Conscription, and What's Next for the All-Volunteer Force

On the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force, the important question is: “How has the move to manning the Army without relying on conscription fared?” The short answer: Quite well.

Bernard D. Rostker

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Supporting America's Veterans: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on helping veterans succeed in civilian jobs, a bakery that doubles as a business school, Black Americans’ military service, and more.

commentary

David E. Johnson: A Remembrance

On October 30th, David E. Johnson, Col U.S. Army (retired), a principal researcher at RAND and a leading intellectual in national defense and military history, passed away following a long illness. His deep knowledge of military history provided a perspective to analyze problems and make sound policy recommendations that were valued by senior decisionmakers in the Army and elsewhere.

Gian Gentile, John Gordon IV

q&a

Army Lessons and Organizational Change: Q&A with Dwayne Butler

Before coming to RAND, Dwayne Butler served in the U.S. Army for 20 years. In this interview, he discusses how his military career prepared him for the research he is doing now on organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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Abortion Misinformation, Deepfakes, Environmental Racism: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on abortion misinformation in a post-Roe world, the threat of deepfakes, environmental hazards in historically redlined communities, and more.

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Teachers' Stress, Drug Dealing in San Francisco, Preventing Mass Shootings: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on stress among America's educators, what state governments can do to prevent targeted violence, stopping open-air drug dealing in San Francisco, and more.

blog

Insights on Russia's War in Ukraine, Global Citizenship, Vaccination Equity: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Russia's war on Ukraine, medication treatment for patients with opioid use disorder, promoting global citizenship in America, and more.

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'GDP2,' RAND President and CEO to Retire, Quantum Technology: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on why we should measure ‘GDP2,’ an announcement from RAND president and CEO Michael D. Rich, a look at quantum technology, and more.

essay

Army Enlistment Waivers in the Age of Legal Marijuana

Army recruits with a history of marijuana use can ask for a waiver like those who have diabetes or insomnia. They are just as likely as others to complete their first term and make sergeant, and are less likely to leave the Army for health or performance reasons.

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Gen. Charles Flynn Says Army Has Crucial Role in the Pacific Theater

What is the U.S. Army's role in an oceanic theater that spans half the globe, where China increasingly asserts itself for strategic advantage? Gen. Charles A. Flynn, head of the U.S. Army Pacific, discussed this and other topics at a recent event at RAND.

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Media Literacy, Internet of Bodies, Arctic Governance: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on teaching media literacy in schools, a “connected future” via the Internet of Bodies, gaps in Arctic governance, and more.

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RAND Art + Data, 'Gray Market Care,' Supply Chains and Cyberattacks: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on RAND's new artist residency program, Art + Data; the prevalence of "gray market care" in the United States; supply chains' cyber problem; and more.

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COVID-19, Out-of-Network Hospital Payments, Russia's Economy: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on COVID-19, limiting out-of-network hospital payments, Russia's sluggish economy, and more.

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China's 70th Anniversary, Wargaming, Fentanyl: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what the future holds for China, the importance of gender diversity in wargaming, how Army families address life's challenges, and more.

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ISIS, Women's Day, Army Privates: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what to do about ISIS detainees, stories from the Army's junior ranks, International Women's Day, and more.

commentary

An Army Caught in the Middle Between Luddites, Luminaries, and the Occasional Looney

The creation of the Army Futures Command is an important and necessary move for the U.S. Army. For the first time since the 1970s, the Army has a major command focused on preparing it for future war with a peer competitor.

David E. Johnson

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Saudi Arabia, Border Troops, China's Military: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how to deter aggression abroad, examining the need for U.S. troops at the border, China's aerospace capabilities, and more.

essay

An Inside Look at Life in the Army's Junior Ranks

History records the names of generals, not of the privates filling out supply forms, cleaning out trucks, or huffing through another training exercise. But those privates keep the U.S. Army running. RAND research provides their unfiltered take on life in the ranks.

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RAND Researchers Visit Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria

A small team of RAND researchers went to Puerto Rico two weeks after the island was struck by Hurricane Maria. They are compiling their observations into a series of studies for the Army, with recommendations to smooth its response to future disasters.

q&a

General Robert Brown on the U.S. Army's Role in Asia

Gen. Robert B. Brown, Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), offers his perspective of key defense and security issues facing USARPAC in the Indo-Pacific region today. He discusses what the Army's role would be in any potential application of U.S. military power, as well as its peacetime role in strengthening U.S. alliances.

Derek Grossman @DerekJGrossman

commentary

Five Lessons from Israel's Wars in Gaza

After a decade of operating against Hamas in Gaza, the Israel Defense Force has learned many lessons about urban warfare against hybrid adversaries. The last confrontation teaches five basic lessons that apply well beyond Gaza.

Raphael S. Cohen

commentary

A Brief History of the Assault Rifle

The assault rifle is a class of weapon that emerged in the middle of the last century to meet the needs of combat soldiers on the modern battlefield, where the level of violence had reached such heights that an entirely new way of fighting had emerged.

Michael Shurkin

commentary

Reimagining and Modernizing U.S. Airborne Forces for the 21st Century

Many of the challenges the U.S. will face in the coming years across the range of military operations could be deep inland and require rapid response. Airborne forcible entry — with reimagined and modernized airborne forces — would offer decisionmakers options in crises that they do not possess today.

David E. Johnson, John Gordon IV

commentary

The Tension Between What the Army Is and What It Does

Cooperation and integration of the Army's three components is important, but what's most important is effectiveness in war and the key to that is trained, properly organized, and ready forces.

Gian Gentile

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Planning for the 'Army of the Future'

What must the Army be ready to do as part of a joint force, now and in the future? What capacities and capabilities should the Army have in order to be ready? The NCFA comes up short in its answers to both of these questions.

David E. Johnson

commentary

Ground Combat

The U.S. Army needs to pay attention to state-sponsored irregular forces, whose numbers are growing. Such groups represent the type of adversary U.S. ground forces are likely to face.

David E. Johnson

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Understanding the Abrams Doctrine: Myth Versus Reality

As the NCFA finishes up its work on the future of the Army it is worthwhile to note that the strategic context in which the Army operates and is organized has changed over time, resulting in different calculations of costs and risks.

Conrad C. Crane, Gian Gentile

commentary

U.S. Needs Larger Army, Not a Smaller One

To meet potential challenges in the Baltics and Korea while at the same time countering the existing terror threat posed by the Islamic State group and dealing with other problems that will doubtless emerge, the United States would need more troops, not less.

Timothy M. Bonds, Michael Johnson

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Understanding the U.S. Military's Morale 'Crisis'

The military's discontent may stem from dissonance between the commitment to, and pride in, the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan and the knowledge that these sacrifices have not yielded the desired results. Those wars arguably have prompted a crisis of confidence within the military itself.

Raphael S. Cohen

commentary

Land Power and a Third Offset Through a Wide-Angle Lens

The so-called 'third offset' is intended to guide U.S. defense strategy. The right way to view it is as part of a comprehensive vision for competitive advantage, one in which land power, often minimized in offset analyses, can play a central role.

Michael J. Mazarr @MMazarr

blog

7 Lessons from 13 Years of War

RAND senior international policy analyst Linda Robinson addressed the annual Army USA Conference in Washington to present new research that distills lessons learned from the U.S. experience in the last 13 years of war.

blog

A U.S. Strategy for Dealing with China

Developing a next generation strategy for dealing with China will require the United States to sculpt a balanced and flexible approach that protects U.S. interest in East Asia while at the same time fosters cooperation with China on issues of common concern.

blog

The Bergdahl-Taliban Prisoner Exchange Isn't New, but Presents Unique Questions

While it's been many years since the United States secured the release of a POW via prisoner exchange, RAND's Jonah Blank, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff member, says that such deals are nothing new.

commentary

Rethinking U.S. Force Planning

While the renewed interest in crisis response forces by the military services is welcome in these times of uncertainty, forces that are permanently assigned to a geographic combatant command and based in a region continue to offer distinct benefits. RAND research has shown that an overseas presence enhances contingency responsiveness in most cases.

Jonathan P. Wong @jonpwong, Christopher G. Pernin

commentary

The U.S. Army Must Remain Prepared for Battle

Converting the Army into a force suited only for homeland defense or humanitarian missions abroad, without the ability to fight sophisticated foes as part of a joint force, would result in an unprepared Army.

Gian Gentile

commentary

Failure to Learn: Reflections on a Career in the Post-Vietnam Army

In the aftermath of a decade of war, the Army must have an objective, serious debate — one that it never engaged in after Vietnam — to understand its experiences, both good and bad.

David E. Johnson

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Calling for a Time-Out in the Army Intelligence Software Debate

The Army's Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) program has been getting much attention from Congress, and its future was the subject of a heated exchange between the Army's Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno and Representative Duncan Hunter in May.

Christopher G. Pernin, Isaac R. Porche III

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Book Review: 'The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor' by Jake Tapper

Tapper spends too much time providing tactical details of battles and too little offering a nuanced, thoughtful explanation of why the U.S. Army struggled so much in Nuristan, writes Seth G. Jones.

Seth G. Jones

commentary

Give Them Sabbaticals

In academia and, increasingly, corporate America, sabbaticals are a time-honored way to step aside from the daily grind and intellectually reboot. The U.S. Army should embrace something similar, writes Laura Miller.

Laura L. Miller