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Military Recruitment

Attracting qualified recruits and the costs associated with essential skills training make military recruitment an ongoing challenge; low recruitment affects, among other things, enlistee counts, unit readiness, and morale. RAND has provided objective evaluations and recommendations that support decisionmakers' efforts to monitor and manage military recruiting, including examinations of demographic groups and communities where recruiting could be more successful.

Commentary

Why Women Belong in Coast Guard Crews

The Coast Guard benefits from the heightened respect that colleagues show each other in mixed-gender units, allowing personnel to focus and excel at their tasks at hand. When the Coast Guard zeroes in on evidence-based and appropriate accommodations for women and their physical capacities, as well as with parenting and family life, it will benefit everyone in uniform.

Apr 18, 2019
News Release

News Release

Women Leave U.S. Coast Guard at Higher Rates Than Men; More Equitable Personnel Policies Could Help Narrow Gap

As at other military services, women leave the active-duty Coast Guard at higher rates than men. To retain a diverse workforce the Coast Guard should continue to pursue more inclusive personnel policies, such as augmenting workforce gaps during parental leave, minimizing the impact parental leave has on evaluations and promotion, and expanding opportunities for leadership development training.

Mar 29, 2019
Report

Report

Improving Gender Diversity in the U.S. Coast Guard: Identifying Barriers to Female Retention

This report documents the results of a study designed to help identify the root causes of female attrition in the active-duty Coast Guard and develop recommendations to help mitigate identified barriers to Coast Guard female retention.

Mar 29, 2019
Research Brief

Why Do Women Leave the Coast Guard, and What Could Encourage Them to Stay?

Women leave the Coast Guard at higher rates than men. Focus groups raised concerns about work environment, career issues, and personal life matters. More inclusive personnel policies could help the Coast Guard address these concerns and retain more women.

Mar 29, 2019
Report

Report

Developing a National Recruiting Difficulty Index

The U.S. Army recognizes that the recruiting environment has a significant impact on its ability to recruit. This report presents a forecasting model that measures recruiting difficulty to forecast a difficult or easy recruiting environment.

Mar 13, 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

Report

The Relationship Between Disability Evaluation and Accession Medical Standards

If accession medical policies are changed, does the probability of medical discharge change? If so, how does the change in the probability of medical discharge alter postservice costs to the department? This report answers these questions.

Mar 11, 2019
Report

Life as an Army Private: Six Soldiers Tell Their Stories

In their own words, six junior soldiers describe why they joined the U.S. Army, their joys and frustrations, and what they hope the future brings. These stories offer lessons for policymakers, Army leaders and recruiters, and anyone considering a career in the Army.

Mar 6, 2019
Commentary

Is Japan's New Defense Plan Ambitious Enough?

Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan has significantly increased capabilities to meet increasing regional security challenges. But Tokyo may need to do more to manage the complex security environment surrounding Japan.

Dec 6, 2018
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
Commentary

Just Let Them Compete: Raising the Next Generation of Wargamers

Wargames are games that simulate aspects of warfare at varying levels, aimed at analyzing human decisionmaking. To develop the next generation of avid wargamers, the first step is both radical and simple: Let them compete.

Oct 9, 2018
Report

How Do Senior Enlisted Leaders Influence Junior Soldiers?

The primary mission of U.S. Army noncommissioned officers is to lead and mentor soldiers. But research has placed little emphasis on how to value their experience. Knowing how NCOs influence soldiers can help the Army maintain or improve leadership quality and soldier performance and reduce personnel costs.

Oct 4, 2018
Report

Evaluation of the Strength Aptitude Test and Other Fitness Tests to Qualify Air Force Recruits for Physically Demanding Specialties

This report evaluates the Strength Aptitude Test and related fitness tests to identify strategies for ensuring airmen can meet job-related physical requirements.

Aug 10, 2018
Report

Report

Resources Required to Meet the U.S. Army's Enlisted Recruiting Requirements Under Alternative Recruiting Goals, Conditions, and Eligibility Policies

The project sought to enhance efficient use of Army recruiting resources and policies by optimizing required resource levels and mix to support recruiting under varying recruiting requirements and environments and recruit eligibility policies.

Jul 12, 2018
Report

Report

Prospective Outcome Assessment for Alternative Recruit Selection Policies

To help the Army select recruits more likely to complete their first term and avoid adverse outcomes, this report describes a tool that estimates how changes in a variety of recruit characteristics affect first-term outcomes and costs to the Army.

Jul 6, 2018
Report

Report

Establishing Gender-Neutral Physical Standards for Ground Combat Occupations: Volume 2. A Review of the Military Services' Methods

This report (Volume 2) provides results of RAND's work reviewing and evaluating the U.S. military services' approaches to setting gender-neutral physical standards for combat occupations, using best practices described in Volume 1 as a framework.

Jun 19, 2018
Report

Report

Establishing Gender-Neutral Physical Standards for Ground Combat Occupations: Volume 1. A Review of Best-Practice Methods

This report identifies and describes the best-practice methodologies for establishing valid, gender-neutral standards for physically demanding military jobs.

Jun 19, 2018
Report

Report

Training Success for U.S. Air Force Special Operations and Combat Support Specialties: An Analysis of Recruiting, Screening, and Development Processes

This report addresses challenges for implementing new approaches to Air Force high-demand, high-attrition specialty recruiting, screening, and development processes, and takes a holistic approach to identifying methods to fill gaps in processes.

May 15, 2018
Report

Who Joins the Army, and Why?

The U.S. Army wants to improve its understanding of soldiers' motivations to enlist, and how the reality of Army life matches up with expectations. Interviews with soldiers ranked E-1 to E-4 offer a rich portrayal of life as a private.

May 14, 2018

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RAND Topic:
Military Recruitment

Topic Synonyms:
Enlistment

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