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Military Compensation

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Developing and offering the appropriate military compensation packages—including wages, health care, reenlistment bonuses, retirement, leave, dependent benefits, and survivor benefits—is necessary to attract and retain active duty and reserve personnel with essential skills. RAND has conducted extensive research to advise policymakers on developing compensation options to attract and retain a military workforce capable of meeting a nation's strategic goals.

Report

Is It More Cost-Effective to Retain Pilots or Train New Ones?

Mar 27, 2019

Instead of relying on retaining its current pilots, the U.S. Air Force could hypothetically find and train new ones. But expanding the pilot training pipeline is costly. What is the best way for the Air Force to allocate its resources and sustain its number of pilots?
Report

Setting the Level and Annual Adjustment of Military Pay

Dec 17, 2020

Every four years, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) commissions a review of the military compensation system. How has military pay compared with civilian pay since the 1990s?

Explore Military Compensation

Report

Service Member Separation: Updating the DD Form 214

This report offers suggestions for updating DD Form 214, which is used to characterize separating servicemembers' service, military history, and the reasons for separation, for electronic delivery.

May 14, 2019
Report

Effects of the Blended Retirement System on U.S. Army Reserve Participation and Cost

The new Blended Retirement System (BRS) represents the first major change to the armed services' retirement system since the end of World War II. An analysis assesses the potential impact of the BRS on the U.S. Army Reserve participation and continuation pay cost and provides predictions of opt-in behavior.

Apr 15, 2019
Multimedia

Military Compensation to Support Retention, Performance, and Talent Management

An overview of testimony by Beth J. Asch presented before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel on March 12, 2019.

Mar 12, 2019
Testimony

Military Compensation to Support Retention, Performance, and Talent Management

Military compensation is a critical strategic human resource tool. It helps attract and retain personnel with the necessary skills and qualifications to meet service requirements. The compensation system has performed well over time, but there are elements that could potentially be improved.

Mar 12, 2019
Report

Assessing Retention and Special and Incentive Pays for Army and Navy Commissioned Officers in the Special Operations Forces

This report focuses on the effectiveness of monetary incentives, known as special and incentive pays, for U.S. Special Operations Forces commissioned officer retention.

Feb 18, 2019
Report

A Wage Differential Approach to Managing Special and Incentive Pay

Special and incentive pays allow the DoD to address personnel fluctuations, differences between external and military pay, and retention. A review of such pays finds that those with an incentive to select a longer obligation are more cost-effective and may be more beneficial than pays without such incentive, as would be the case under a wage differential.

Jan 7, 2019
Report

Military and Civilian Pay Levels, Trends, and Recruit Quality

In the all-volunteer force, pay is one of the most important policy tools for recruiting and retaining personnel. One measure is how it compares to the pay of civilians with similar characteristics. Military pay has risen faster than civilian pay since 1999 and three of the services have increased the quality of their recruits.

Dec 3, 2018
Report

Supplemental Career Paths for Air Force Pilots: A Warrant Officer Component or an Aviation Technical Track?

This report documents analyses of two ways to supplement the traditional Air Force pilot career path to enhance force sustainment: a warrant officer component to fill pilot requirements or an aviation technical track for commissioned officers.

Aug 14, 2018
Report

Capping Retired Pay for Senior Field Grade Officers

Mid-grade U.S. Army officers who began their careers as enlisted personnel could potentially retire with more years of service than high-grade officers. What would be the effect of capping retired pay for mid-grade military personnel so that only those in the highest grades and with the most years of service would receive the highest retired pay?

Mar 12, 2018
Report

Air Force Officer Management Flexibilities: Modeling Potential Policies

This report assesses the effect that proposed military human resource management flexibilities could have on Air Force officer accessions, promotions, separations, and other force management outcomes.

Oct 11, 2017
Report

The Blended Retirement System: Retention Effects and Continuation Pay Cost Estimates for the Armed Services

This report assesses the effects of the Blended Retirement System on military retention and continuation pay cost for the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy and finds that retention can be sustained relative to the legacy system.

Aug 15, 2017
Report

Paid Duty Days for Army Guardsmen and Reservists: A Comparison of Fiscal Year 2000 with Fiscal Years 2010 to 2013

This report examines how the number of paid duty days for Army guardsmen and reservists has changed over the past several years, compared with before 9/11.

Apr 3, 2017
Report

Toward Efficient Military Retirement Accrual Charges

This report presents a theoretical model and empirical estimates explaining why each service's retirement accrual charge is inaccurate under the current system and how this could be fixed by service-specific accrual charges.

Feb 1, 2017
Report

An Enhanced Capability to Model How Compensation Policy Affects U.S. Department of Defense Civil Service Retention and Cost

Researchers extend RAND's dynamic retention model for Defense Department civil service workers, add costing capability, and simulate the effects of mandating workers to pay a larger share of contributions into the Federal Employees Retirement System.

Dec 6, 2016
Report

Workforce Downsizing and Restructuring in the Department of Defense: The Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment Program Versus Involuntary Separation

Assesses the cost-effectiveness for the U.S. Department of Defense of using incentives for voluntary separations, together with or instead of imposing involuntary separations, to reduce the size of its civilian workforce.

Oct 13, 2016
Report

Policies for Managing Reductions in Military End Strength: Using Incentive Pays to Draw Down the Force

A dynamic retention model determines appropriate voluntary separation pay levels to achieve drawdowns for multiple components and services, for enlisted personnel and officers, and for the steady state and the transition to it.

Oct 10, 2016
Report

U.S. Military Pay Tables and Retention

To help retain America's most experienced service members, Congress extended the military's basic pay tables to 40 years in 2007. Would retention be equally achieved by reverting to a 30-year pay table?

Aug 3, 2016
News Release

Commercial Airlines May Siphon Pilots From U.S. Air Force, Creating Shortage of Military Aviators

The commercial airline industry will continue hiring more pilots to replace its aging workforce, causing more U.S. Air Force aviators to leave the service. Pilot pay is increasing in the commercial sector while Air Force aviator and retention pay are now discretionary programs under DoD guidelines.

Jul 12, 2016
Report

Commercial Airlines May Siphon Pilots From U.S. Air Force

The commercial airline industry will continue hiring more pilots to replace its aging workforce, causing more U.S. Air Force aviators to leave the service. Pilot pay is increasing in the commercial sector while Air Force aviator and retention pay are now discretionary programs under DoD guidelines.

Jul 12, 2016

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RAND Topic:
Military Compensation

Topic Synonyms:
Military Pay

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