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Military Recruitment

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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.

Report
How the Pandemic Affected Military Recruitment and Retention
Military recruiting and retention activities are typically conducted in person, but with COVID-19–related stay-at-home orders and social distancing requirements, the armed services had to quickly adapt their policies and procedures or risk missing their end strength objectives.
Jan 18, 2022
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.
Oct 27, 2021

Explore Military Recruitment

Report
Assessment and Selection for U.S. Air Force Special Warfare: Vol. 1, Defining Attributes and Designing Rater Training
Air Force Special Warfare warrants specialized assessment and selection of future operators. The authors examine the nontechnical attributes needed to conduct challenging missions and the process for selecting candidates who can succeed.
Sep 27, 2022
Commentary
Removing Barriers to Diversity and Inclusion in the Military
Efforts to improve representation and remove barriers for personnel with protected characteristics are seen as essential steps for modern militaries, but have not gone without controversy. The UK Armed Forces could take a more-strategic approach to leveraging diversity to elevate it as a strategic enabler of military fighting power in the contemporary threat environment.
Aug 29, 2022
Report
Diversity Can Enhance Military Effectiveness
Embracing diversity in the military could bring significant operational and strategic advantages. For example, diversity is important in developing effective, ethical, and trustworthy AI systems. How can the UK and U.S. armed forces remove barriers to inclusion and attract more diverse workforces?
Aug 23, 2022
Commentary
Russian Forces in Ukraine: Muddling Through
The Russian armed forces have suffered tens of thousands of casualties and lost more than 5,000 pieces of equipment. These deficits will make it hard for Russia to hold regions in Ukraine that it may soon try to annex. To succeed, Moscow will have to replenish personnel and equipment at scale—tasks that will prove extremely difficult.
Aug 15, 2022
Report
Forecasting End Strength in the U.S. Army Reserve: An Integrated Modeling Concept
Personnel and career management are critical to a well-trained U.S. Army Reserve (USAR). The authors examined existing modeling tools and developed a detailed plan for combining outputs from the tools to enable USAR to forecast 24-month end strength.
Jul 18, 2022
Report
Resources Required to Meet the U.S. Army Reserve's Enlisted Recruiting Requirements Under Alternative Recruiting Goals, Conditions, and Eligibility Policies
Several U.S. Army resources and policies work together to produce recruits. The authors present a model—the Reserve Recruiting Resource Model—designed to optimize resources and policies to achieve future Army Reserve recruiting goals.
Jul 14, 2022
Report
End-of-Pilot Assessment of the U.S. Army's Consolidated Recruiting Program
The Army conducted a pilot test of a program in which recruiters were authorized to recruit individuals into any of its three components. This analysis found that the program's effects were small and not statistically meaningful.
Jun 15, 2022
Brochure
RAND Arroyo Center Annual Report 2021
This Annual Report illustrates the depth, breadth, and responsiveness of the studies that RAND Arroyo Center conducted for the Army in 2021.
Jun 10, 2022
Report
A Snapshot of the Department of the Air Force Total Force Recruiting Integration: Survey Results and Implications
In this report, the authors discuss the results of the first Total Force Recruiting Panel-Technology and Integration Survey, which was designed to provide baseline data about the state of Total Force Recruiting in the Department of the Air Force.
May 5, 2022
Report
Identifying Opportunities to Recruit More Individuals Above the Age of 21 into the U.S. Army
Older recruits, as a group, score higher on Army qualification tests and are more likely to reenlist and to be promoted. RAND researchers examined the potential for recruiting individuals older than 21 and derived actionable recommendations.
Mar 16, 2022
Blog
U.S.-Russia Diplomacy, Citizen Science, America's Blood Supply: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on U.S.-Russia diplomacy in the context of the Ukraine crisis, the value of citizen science, strengthening the America's blood supply, and more.
Jan 21, 2022
Report
Establishing Feeder-Designation Relationships with Colleges and Universities to Increase Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Air Force Officer Accessions
This Perspective presents conceptual design considerations for implementing a feeder system as an enhanced marketing and outreach program to assist the U.S. Air Force with increasing racial and ethnic diversity in officer accessions.
Dec 30, 2021
Report
Forecasting Religious Affiliation in the United States Army
Changes in the religious composition of the United States could affect the religious composition of recruits into the U.S. Army. This, in turn, could significantly alter the religious needs of the Army population. How has the religious composition of enlisted soldiers and of officers changed over time?
Nov 29, 2021
Commentary
Afghan Refugees Are Being Recruited to Join an Iranian Paramilitary
As Western policymakers consider how to deal with Afghan evacuees, including former members of the Afghan security forces, they might consider how to prevent adversaries such as Iran from recruiting Afghan refugees for dangerous and destabilizing operations. Greater attention to these risks may become increasingly important as refugee flows from Afghanistan continue.
Nov 23, 2021
Report
Improving the Goal-Setting Process for U.S. Department of the Air Force Recruiters
This Perspective compares and contrasts the current goal-setting process for U.S. Department of the Air Force recruiters with a more comprehensive one that accounts for factors influencing contract production.
Nov 16, 2021
Periodical
RAND Review: November-December 2021
The cover story highlights how RAND is helping to redefine high-quality care for service members with a TBI or PTSD. The Q&A with two Marines who work at RAND sheds light on how their military service informs their research and analysis.
Nov 1, 2021
Dissertation
Youth Information Networks and Propensity to Serve in the Military
Provides military recruitment planners a more comprehensive understanding of how youth build and access their career and educational information networks in high school, as part of their decision-making process.
Sep 30, 2021
Report
Tailoring Medical Standards for Air Force Personnel
To serve in the U.S. military, individuals must meet medical standards to ensure that they are fit to serve. The authors explore the implications to U.S. Air Force culture of tailoring such standards to expand or limit the pool of qualified personnel.
Apr 8, 2021

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RAND Topic:
Military Recruitment

Topic Synonyms:
Enlistment

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