term.subject="administration"

Summary: A universally accepted definition of what a sense of community is remains elusive, but policymakers agree that increasing that sense has tangible benefits for the U.S. military in improvements to commitment, performance, retention, and readiness. This report examines the role of the Defense Department's personnel support programs and focuses on nine tools for increasing sense of community: group symbols, rewards and honors, common external threat, making military membership attractive, group size and individuality, personal influence, personal investment, contact and proximity, and group activities. The report also analyzes which groups would most benefit from programs to increase a sense of community and how to avoid pitfalls when attempting to increase that sense

Summary: The U.S. armed services have different methods and processes for promoting enlisted personnel. All of the services, however, aim to ensure that promotion outcomes correspond to substantive differences in personnel quality. This report provides a snapshot of how the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force go about measuring duty performance, leadership potential, experience, knowledge, and skills to determine who among its enlisted force merits promotion, when they are eligible for promotion, and at what level promotion decisions are made. This report provides an overview of the enlisted promotion system in the 1990s as retention issues again move to the forefront of Defense Department concerns

Summary: Today's military is a military of families; many service members are married, and many of their spouses work and contribute to family income. But military wives earn less than civilian wives, and this study seeks to understand why. The authors find that military wives, knowing they are likely to move frequently, are willing to accept jobs that offer a lower wage rather than to use more of their remaining time at a location to find a higher-wage job. Compared with civilian wives, military wives tend to work somewhat less if they have young children but somewhat more if their children are older

Summary: The confrontation that began when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 brought with it the threat that chemical and biological weapons might be used against the more than half a million military personnel the United States deployed to the region. To protect these troops from such threats, the Department of Defense wished to use drugs and vaccines that, not having been tested for use in these specific situations, were considered "investigational" by the federal Food and Drug Administration. This report examines the history of the Interim Rule, adopted in December 21, 1990, that authorized the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to waive informed consent for the use of investigational drugs and vaccines for certain military uses; how this authority was used for pyridostigmine bromide and botulinum toxoid during the Gulf War; and the subsequent controversy surrounding the rule, its application, and its implications. The report then analyzes the issues the Interim Rule raised when investigational drugs are used for such purposes and makes recommendations for dealing with similar situations in the future

Summary: The authors estimate an econometric model of high-quality enlistment supply using geographically disaggregated data from two periods, FY83-87 and FY90-93. They find that econometric models based on data from the earlier period do not predict the recruiting difficulties reported by the military in the 1990s. This conforms to a preliminary assessment provided by Asch and Orvis (MR-549-A/OSD, 1994). The authors also find that econometric models estimated with the 1990s data give altered counsel about the effects of at least some policy variables, most notably the number of recruiters

Summary: The qualities of commanders and their ideas are more important to a general theory of command and control than are the technical and architectural qualities of their computers and communications systems. This theory separates the art of command and control (C2) from the hardware and software systems that support C2. It centers on the idea of a command concept, a commander's vision of a military operation that informs the making of command decisions during that operation. The theory suggests that the essential communications up and down the chain of command can (and should) be limited to disseminating, verifying, or modifying command concepts. The theory also suggests, as an extreme case, that an ideal command concept is one that is so prescient, sound, and fully conveyed to subordinates that it would allow the commander to leave the battlefield before the battle commences, with no adverse effect upon the out-come. This report advances a theory about military command and control. Then, through six historical case studies of modern battles, it explores the implications of the theory both for the professional development of commanders and for the design and evaluation of command and control architectures. The report should be of interest to members of the Joint Staff and the services involved in developing command and control doctrine for the U.S. military, and to all of those interested in the "military art and science" of command and control

Summary: The purpose of this study is to assess requirements for peace operations, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief, then to develop options for conducting such contingencies more effectively without detracting from the nation's capability to conduct major theater warfare. This study focuses on one aspect of requirements: those military units required to accomplish these types of operations. It reviews the history of operations during the period of interest, 1990-1996, assessing frequency, duration, and level of effort for each type of operation, expressed in military units. The authors then develop vignettes, or generalized patterns for each type of operation, to examine requirements--both peak strength and rotational demands--under broad projections of the level of future operations. Finally, they analyze implications for all armed services, but particularly for those Army units that are central to protracted land operations and those Air Force units that are required to secure no-fly zones and conduct strikes. The report concludes by recommending options that would improve capability. These options are mostly changes or adjustments at the margin, because U.S. forces have clearly demonstrated that they have sufficient capability to perform these operations successfully. The authors especially recommend organization of Army contingency brigades and air expeditionary forces optimized for close air support. Together, these would be a powerful, versatile force appropriate for a wide range of contingencies. The prospective audience includes decisionmakers and supporting staffs within the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff, and also the services for areas falling within their cognizance

Summary: Has opening new skills and units been enough to create equal opportunities for women in the US military? This work assesses the status of gender representation in US military occupations newly opened to women, focusing on specific issues for 10 selected occupations

Summary: Manpower constitutes a vital element of the nation's defense capability, one that must be sustained if tomorrow's force is to be ready for the wide set of contingencies currently envisioned in the post-Cold War world. The authors focus on a key aspect of this concern: the effect of recent personnel tempo, or perstempo, on reenlistment. They develop several new measures of perstempo as well as construct a theoretical model of retention that encompasses the effects of perstempo. They report that limited episodes of long separation or hostile duty positively affect the decision to stay by first-term or early-career service members. However, more extensive duty, especially if it is hostile, can reduce this positive effect; in some cases, long or hazardous duty reduces reenlistment below what it would have been in the absence of such duty. The authors also recommend new methods of data collection and analysis, and propose future studies that would enhance retention

Summary: Although the military's need for enlisted personnel has declined by almost one-third since the end of the cold war, the armed services are finding it difficult to meet their recruiting goals. Among ongoing changes in the civilian labor market is a strong demand for skilled labor, which has prompted an increasing number of "high quality" youth to pursue post-secondary education and subsequent civilian employment. Because of this competition for high quality youth, the Department of Defense may want to explore new options for attracting desirable young people into the armed forces. The military, for example, offers a myriad of options for service members to take college courses while in active service. However, the programs do not in fact generate significant increases in educational attainment during time in service