Military manpower policy is often crafted by policymakers without an in-depth understanding of the life experiences and views of junior enlisted personnel. It is plausible to expect that some policymakers attribute the attitudes and experiences of these young soldiers to such features as youth or lack of an advanced education and may thus believethemselves able to empathize with this population group by recalling their own parallel life experiences. However, this approach oversimplifies the life experiences of these families and neglects the reality that most policymakers and professional managers have never experienced the compendium of problems these couples face, such as youth, lack ofeducation, financial difficulties, emotional and physical distance from extended family, and invisibility in a large bureaucracy. At the center of this book are the personal stories of three junior enlisted spouses, told in their own voices and selected to emphasize the dilemmas numerous enlisted families face. The stories provide insight into the experiencesand attitudes of other junior enlisted families. Those interested or involved in the military, or those who live a military lifestyle--at any pay grade--will find these stories both useful and engaging.

The current U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) policy for assigning military women was issued in 1994, and the U.S. Army's assignment policy dates to 1992. In the ensuing years, the U.S. Army has undergone significant technological and organizational transformation, which has changed how it organizes and fights. There is concern that, in the course of operations in Iraq, the Army has not been adhering to its own assignment policy, as there are several important and potentially problematic differences between the DoD and Army policies. For example, the DoD policy prohibits the assignment of women to units whose primary mission is direct combat, whereas the Army policy prohibits the assignment of women to units with a routine mission of direct combat, and their definitions of direct combat differ. The research finds that the Army is adhering to the DoD assignment policy but may not be complying with the separate Army assignment policy for women. Assessing the Assignment Policy for Army Women serves to inform DoD decisionmaking with regard to the clarity and appropriateness of the current DoD and Army assignment policies, especially given how units are operating in Iraq.

Who joins the Army, why, and how satisfied are they with their decisions? This study's portrayal of U.S. Army privates could serve as an educational tool for Army senior leadership, junior officers, noncommissioned officers, and prospective recruits.

At the request of Congress to the Secretary of Defense, RAND undertook a study on the advisability and feasibility of a cadre of officers whose assignments and schooling would be managed so as to ensure a viable career track in which the officers would serve in interagency and international assignments. This report presents the results of the study. It (1) identifies approximately 330 such assignments at the policy level and an additional 1200 positions at the other organizational levels; (2) develops four career management models that are variations of the due-course model--managing leader succession, managing competencies, managing skills, and managing the exception; (3) looks at the feasibility of each career model at the level of the officer personnel management system as a whole and at the level of officer career tracks; and (4) assesses the advisability of the models from the perspective of the individual officer, the interagency and

RAND's National Defense Research Institute was asked to assess minority representation and recruiting in special operations forces. Our study is a quantitative and qualitative research effort to evaluate the level of minority representation in special operations forces and the reasons for current representation and to suggest policy changes that might, if necessary, increase minority representation in these forces. The study may be of interest to other agencies or organizations concerned with issues of minority representation, both within and outside the Department of Defense.

At the request of Congress to the Secretary of Defense, RAND undertook a study on the advisability and feasibility of a cadre of officers whose assignments and schooling would be managed so as to ensure a viable career track in which the officers would serve in interagency and international assignments. This report presents the results of the study. It (1) identifies approximately 330 such assignments at the policy level and an additional 1200 positions at the other organizational levels; (2) develops four career management models that are variations of the due-course model--managing leader succession, managing competencies, managing skills, and managing the exception; (3) looks at the feasibility of each career model at the level of the officer personnel management system as a whole and at the level of officer career tracks; and (4) assesses the advisability of the models from the perspective of the individual officer, the interagency and

The Goldwater-Nichols Reorganization Act of 1986 directed the Department of Defense to make a broad range of organizational and functional changes to better enable the military services to carry out successful joint operations. However, concerns raised on numerous fronts prompted Congress to reevaluate the original implementation of the legislation. RAND's research has approached the concerns from both the demand and supply sides.

This Note records work accomplished during Phase 1 of the project Analysis of Special Operations Forces Decision Aids. The objective of this project is to recommend ways in which the capabilities and contributions of special operations forces (SOF) can be better represented in decision aids that support the defense planning, programming, and budgeting process. Phase 1 includes two tasks. Task 1 required RAND to discern the issues central to SOF analysis. The results of Task 1 were briefed to U.S. Special Operations Command staff in October 1991. They are presented here in a condensed form.

Provides an annotated version of a short course on qualitative research methods. The course includes an overview of semi-structured interviews and focus groups, two techniques that are commonly used in policy research and applicable to many research questions.