Research for Demographics

The Marine Corps recruits and screens about 2,000 officer candidates annually. Recruiting minority candidates who meet its stringent standards, however, is not easy. Recruiting qualified minorities is especially difficult because of stiff competition from other services, industry, government, and the academic arena. Consider these statistics: (1) of male college graduates in 1990-1991, five percent were African-Americans, and three percent were Hispanics; (2) only two percent of males with Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores meeting USMC standards were African-American, and four percent Hispanic. It is clear that the Marine Corps must recruit more than a proportionate share of the qualified minority pool. Can the Marine Corps improve the way it allocates recruiting goals and resources to take advantage of regional variations in race/ethnicity. Headquarters Marine Corps asked CNA to help with this problem as part of its study of Successful Recruiting and Training of Marine Corps Officers. In this study, we also explored the relationship between officer candidate characteristics and success in Officer Candidate School, commissioning, and The Basic School. In addition, we looked at officer characteristics and promotions to captain and major.

The main objective of this study is to identify an improved method for allocating Marine Corps recruiter support funds to the districts. This research memorandum describes a way to account for variation in the average support cost across the Marine Corps recruiting districts. Using FY 1989 and 1990 data, certain variables are found to explain recruiting station support funding costs. Model estimates are made of FY 1992 district support funding requirements. In addition, estimates are made of support cost savings from proposed station consolidations.

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is administered in high schools and post-secondary schools as part of DoD's Student Testing Program. Norms for 11th and higher grades are based on a national sample tested in 1980 as part of the Profile of American Youth Study. Tenth grade norms use a nonrandom sample collected in 1984 by the Military Entrance Processing Command. With the introduction of Forms 18 and 19, scores will be reported on three composites and ten subtests. The objective of this research memorandum is to present norms for these scores.