Research for Enlistment

The National Guard Youth Challenge (ChalleNGe) program enrolls young high school dropouts into a system that combines classroom instruction with a quasi-military environment. Most graduates also earn a GED (or other credential) while enrolled. Furthermore, we find that the program has positive effects on those who complete it as ChalleNGe graduates who subsequently enlist in the military have much lower attrition than those who fail to complete the program before enlistment. Outcomes differ across programs; graduates of some ChalleNGe programs have attrition rates that are consistently below those of typical high school diploma graduates. However, some portion of this difference most likely stems from unobserved differences in state populations, school quality, admissions procedures, and/or program policies. To separate program differences from other unobserved differences, we recommend following up on our results in two ways. First, matching the ChalleNGe program data to Census data will allow for the inclusion of variables measuring state and local area characteristics that are now unobserved. Second, qualitative analysis of how policies relating to admission and discipline differ across programs could reveal the source of some program-level differences, and could provide an opportunity for programs to learn from each other.

This paper summarizes FY 97 efforts to increase the recruitment of community college graduates, specifically targeting the recruitment of graduates with allied health care specialties. It compares the efforts and results for the last two years and offers recommendations for FY 98. Despite many new efforts initiated in FY 97 aimed at the community college market, only 17 more recruits had Associate degrees in FY 97 than in FY 96. Since the shift from recruiting from high school to the community college market is a major change, it will take some time to make significant progress. It appears more resources are needed for the general recruiting effort and possibly a further increase is necessary to expand community college recruiting.

The number of recruits enlisted from a target population varies significantly by aptitude score. This memorandum calculates the ratio of recruits to population by AFQT category for the fiscal years 1980 to 1987.

The Navy experiences a substantial amount of turnover among enlisted personnel. Some of this is unplanned (precontract attrition), but much of the turnover is the result of rotation or losses upon the completion of an enlistment contract. This research memorandum summarizes information on the actual length of completed tours for a sample of more than 10,000 tours completed in 1985 and 1986.