Research for Requirements

Since the inception of the All-Volunteer Force in 1973, the military personnel system has shown a remarkable ability to deal with a diverse range of challenges. The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges ahead and propose how the military personnel system will have to adapt to continue to prosper. We start our discussion with a review of four potential problem areas in the future: demographic, economic, and social change; new military concepts and missions; the revolution in business affairs; and technology. Within these broad areas, we focus on specific issues and the challenges they could present for the current military personnel system. The paper also identifies four areas that need major reforms to meet these challenges: recruiting, career management, compensation, and training.

To improve the quality of life of service members and increase overall efficiency, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Facilities asked CNA to examine Department of the Navy (DON) housing processes, identify options and alternatives to the current system, and evaluate these options. In this paper, we present our analysis of current DON housing practices. Its purpose is to describe the current state of housing benefits, including costs, conditions, processes, and value to the service members. These descriptions will serve as a baseline for comparison with proposed alternatives to the current housing system. This paper has five parts. In the first, we give a short overview of current DON housing benefits and summarize the results of the study. In the three sections that follow, we discuss current family housing, bachelor housing, and off-base allowances. In the last section, we list our conclusions.

The end of the Cold War has led to a major reexamination of the requirements fir medical personnel and other resources necessary to care for Department of Defense (DoD) beneficiaries. Despite large numbers of peacetime beneficiaries, the primary need for medical resources remains the wartime mission. During the Cold War, the requirement for wartime medical providers was high and could easily justify large numbers of active duty personnel. Today's defense guidance is based on fighting two major regional contingencies (MRCs), and the required number of medical providers has fallen sharply. Determining the number and types of medical resources needed to treat casualties of future conflicts is an important and complicated issue. To help shed light on the process of determining wartime medical requirements, N-931 asked CNA to examine the methods and models that are currently in use or may be used in the near future. The current process is in flux. The models used today are being changed. The use of one model was discontinued recently when the Joint Staff changed to a new command-and-control system. The Joint Staff has proposed a replacement, but the new model is still being developed and there is some concern about its adequacy in determining service medical requirements. In this memorandum, we examine the current and proposed theater-level requirements models.

The Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) is a computerized Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) systems that is currently being fielded by the Department of the Navy. Over the next several years, CASS will replace existing ATE systems and help the Navy standardize test and training procedures. The Director of the Navy' s Air Warfare Division (N88) and the Support Equipment Program Office (PMA-260) asked CNA to review the Navy s current plans for CASS implementation within the fleet. These plans call for the phase integration of CASS into both Navy and Marine Corps maintenance facilities. This paper examines CASS requirements for supporting avionics components at shore-based Regional Maintenance Centers (RMCs). Specifically, our sponsor wanted to know: how many CASS stations do RMCs need; and how many of each type of CASS stations do they need? We address these questions by examining the planned RMC support for (only) F/A-18 and F-14 aircraft at Oceana.