Research for Veterans

The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission (the Commission) has asked The CNA Corporation (CNAC) to provide a study of the issues involved in offering a one time lump sum payment instead of the current lifetime monthly compensation payments to selected disabled veterans. This topic is of great interest because of the potential benefits both to veterans and to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

This briefing serves as the Phase I Summary Report of the Veterans Transition and Defense Conversion Project, and presents CNA's analysis of the concept 'Strategic Reinvestment to Strengthen Youth.' The issue addressed is how best to reinvest--in a strategic sense--Cold War resources to strengthen America's youth. In other words, the study investigates the idea of infusing the nation's youth-services system with some of the military resources being freed up by the ongoing defense drawdown, looking primarily at personnel transitioning out of service and base facilities undergoing shrinkage or realignment into the civilian sector.

Because savings are usually expected when responsibilities are transferred from Active to Reserve units, Congress directed the services in 1984 to prepare annual reports outlining how they would provide the Reserve with new missions, more modern equipment, and greater integration with the active forces. The purpose of the Active/Reserve Force Mix Study was to provide analytical assistance to the Navy in preparing its annual report. This research memorandum summarizes the analyses conducted for the study. The availability of personnel to man missions being transferred to the Reserve forces is studied. In particular, this paper examines which homeports will be most able to support the Naval Reserve Force, what determines whether Navy veterans will affiliate with the Selected Reserves, and what the supply will be of aviation officers leaving active duty. Better techniques for estimating the cost savings of Reserve units are developed, and the operating and support costs of aviation units, especially personnel costs, are discussed.

Navy veteran (NAVET) affiliations to the Selected Reserve (SELRES) are examined. Affiliation rates by rating are calculated using national data. These affiliation rates are shown to vary across rating, Reserve Recruiting and Manning Objective System (RAMOS) category, and bonus eligibility.