The Cost of a Military Person-Year

A Method for Computing Savings from Force Reductions

Carl J. Dahlman

ResearchPublished Jul 22, 2007

The Department of Defense strives to only use military personnel for military-essential tasks and has consistently recommended the civilianization of ever-more military functions and positions. This guidance also stems from the belief that military personnel cost more than comparable civilians. As a policy, civilianization can only be properly applied when it is an integral element of a broader personnel-management strategy. This work presents a new method of estimating the cost of a military person-year that focuses on the actual cost of the retirement benefits that the federal government must provide to military personal. It provides a better foundation for the development of a broad, force-shaping strategy than previously available measures that focused only on annual retirement-fund accrual costs. A major implication of this alternative calculus is that truly effective force management — using strategic human-resources principles to identify the proper mix of age and experience in the personnel inventory — requires an increased focus on the cost of personnel.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 2007
  • Pages: 152
  • Document Number: MG-598-OSD

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Dahlman, Carl J., The Cost of a Military Person-Year: A Method for Computing Savings from Force Reductions. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2007. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG598.html.
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The research described in this report was prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The research was conducted in the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the OSD, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.

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