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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

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 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

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

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
Report

Report

What to Do with the Selective Service System? Historical Lessons and Future Posture

This perspective reviews the history of Selective Service registration since the advent of the all-volunteer force, then examines the current registration program and offers alternatives.

Apr 27, 2018
Dissertation

Dissertation

Finding the Force of the Future: Improving Air Force Officer Outreach through an Investigation of School and Community Attributes

Seeks to improve understanding of the factors indicative of applications to the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps' High School Scholarship Program.

Apr 17, 2018
Commentary

Military Power Is All About People: A Return to Personnel Policy

Ensuring the strength of U.S. armed forces is critical to U.S. national security and the key source of strength is its people. True investment in personnel is a long-term legacy and an investment worthy of attention and policy debate to ensure the United States continues to recruit and retain the most effective fighting force in the world.

Jul 27, 2017
Report

How to Bolster Recruitment of Women into the U.S. Military

As ground combat jobs transition to include women, efforts to improve the recruitment process are expanding. Having more female recruiters could help, as could creating outreach materials that counter stereotypes and highlight the roles of women in the military.

Jun 28, 2017
Report

Report

Are Current Military Education Benefits Efficient and Effective for the Services?

This research takes a mixed-methods approach to examine the effects of military education benefit programs on recruiting and retention-related outcomes, and to assess how the two largest education benefits may work together.

Jun 19, 2017
Report

Report

Cyber Power Potential of the Army's Reserve Component

Describes the availability of personnel with cyber skills in the private sector and the number of Army reserve component soldiers available to support the Army's cyber mission needs.

Jun 15, 2017
Research Brief

Research Brief

Assessing the Army's Ability to Regenerate Its Active Component End Strength

This analysis modeled the Army's ability to increase ("regenerate") its active component end strength over five years -- starting from end strengths of 450,000 and 420,000 -- to provide the number of deployable troops available in 2010.

May 3, 2017
Report

Report

Evaluating the Army's Ability to Regenerate: History and Future Options

This analysis modeled the Army's ability to increase ("regenerate") its active component end strength over five years -- starting from end strengths of 450,000 and 420,000 -- to provide the number of deployable troops available in 2010.

May 3, 2017
Report

Report

Assessing the Use of Employment Screening for Sexual Assault Prevention

This report reviews employment screening policies and procedures to assess how helpful these may be for Air Force sexual assault prevention efforts and also reviews self-reporting of behaviors, background checks, and personality tests.

Mar 9, 2017
Report

Report

Strengthening Prior Service–Civil Life Gains and Continuum of Service Accessions into the Army's Reserve Components

This report combines quantitative and qualitative methods to understand service member decisions upon exiting the Regular Army, particularly the decisions of whether, when, and how to affiliate with the Reserve Component.

Sep 27, 2016
Report

Recruiting Strategies to Support the Army's All-Volunteer Force

The all-volunteer U.S. Army has been in existence for more than 40 years but its success hinges on its ability to meet its recruiting requirements. A new model can help the Army analyze the cost of different recruiting strategies, resource mixes, and eligibility policies in a range of recruiting environments.

Mar 31, 2016

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RAND Topic:
Military Recruitment

Topic Synonyms:
Enlistment

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