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Standard of Living of Enlisted Personnel

/analyses/2001/standard-of-living-of-enlisted-personnel

The level and composition of military pay is crucial to the success of the all-volunteer force (AVF). Most analyses of the "adequacy" of mil­itary compensation focus on comparability with earnings offered in civilian labor markets, but an effective compensation system needs to address other goals as well. An important goal is that military pay be sufficient to meet the basic needs of all personnel. We commonly refer to the economic status or well-being of an individ­ual or group as the "standard of living." This research memorandum focuses on the standard of living that the military compensation system provides its enlisted personnel and their families. Rather than merely characterize the standard of living of enlisted personnel, we also address the adequacy of this standard of living using different metrics developed in the literature.

Senior Enlisted Personnel Do We Need Another Grade

/analyses/2001/senior-enlisted-personnel-do-we-need-another-grade

We have proposed an E-10 paygrade, with a limit of 0.2 percent of the enlisted force. We believe that this new grade would induce addi­ tional years of service out of those senior enlisted who believe they are most competitive for the new grade of E-10. These are, quite simply, the most motivated and the best performers. We suspect that the very best of the enlisted E-9s would continue to serve, motivated by the tangible prospect of being selected for the new grade. The new grade would offer monetary compensation, recognition, and the opportu­nity for our strongest senior enlisted personnel to compete for one more level of increasing responsibility. The latter is probably the most important motivator for those who have served their country with a career in the armed forces. In short, on the assumption that the ser­ vices would promote only their very best to E-10, the strength of the armed forces would be improved and the nation as a whole would benefit from this change. While the benefits of this additional grade would be large, the monetary cost would be very small.

Military Organizations and the Navy

/analyses/2001/military-organizations-and-the-navy

In this paper we compare different military and civilian organizations and examine different ways the services can organize to exchange information. Our goal is to better understand how forces are organized for air, land, and sea combat, and how the unique organizations that have grown up in each environment can work together in a joint operation. We do this by examining service and joint organizations, and how military forces and civilian organizations currently reassemble to work across organizational boundaries. We organize our discussion by service, not joint, organizations because below the Joint Task Force commander level most operations are going to be conducted using organizations and systems designed around service models. While the organizations may be joint organizations, such as the Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC), they are fundamentally based on service (in this case Air Force) doctrine and concepts. The Army did not design JFACC, nor did the Navy; it was a concept that emerged out of Army and Air Force operational thinking and doctrine [2–3]. To realistically look at what organizations are needed in the different environment, we must acknowledge that even joint command structures are adapted to the type of environment their forces operate in.

Gaming and Shared Situation Awareness

/analyses/2000/gaming-and-shared-situation-awareness

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is interested in exploring key factors that affect how teams develop what is called shared situational awareness in an operational environment.

CNA Information Products for the Information Age

/analyses/2000/cna-information-products-for-the-information-age

This paper summarizes the insights of a CNA project to explore and experiment with applying interactive technologies and techniques.

The Great Peace and Development Debate of 1999

/analyses/2000/the-great-peace-and-development-debate-of-1999

This paper explores the context, conduct, results, and implications of what we might call “The Great Peace & Development Debate of 1999.”

Are Aviation Obligations Driving Students Away

/analyses/2000/are-aviation-obligations-driving-students-away

Evidence suggests that the quality of aviation accessions has been falling. Decision-makers question whether the decline is the result of the active duty service obligations (ADSOs) required of aviators. In a way, these lengthy obligations compensate for the expense of training new aviators to replace those who depart. Traditionally, the aviation community has been able to attract the most promising students, turning away many each year. Is the growing difference between aviation ADSOs and those required in other communities leading the best students to forgo aviation? NI 3 asked CNA to analyze this issue.

Defining and Measuring Shared Situational Awareness

/analyses/2000/defining-and-measuring-shared-situational-awareness

The development of the concept of information warfare and of modern electronic networking technologies has given rise to the belief that military staffs will be able quickly to develop a "shared sit­ uational awareness" that will greatly facilitate decision-making, thus permitting faster response to challenges by reducing the complexities of the military administrative and command structure. In addition, it has been asserted that these technologies will permit staffs to perform those duties in a distributed environment as well as they could possibly do in a collocated environment.

Evolution of the Military Healthcare System

/analyses/2000/evolution-of-the-military-healthcare-system

In recent years, as the military medical departments have imple­ mented the legislatively mandated TRICARE program, the benefi­ ciary population has voiced concerns regarding the perceived deterioration of its health benefit. The military medical departments also have expressed concerns, but of a different nature, relating to Congress's enhancement of the benefit over time without the provi­ sion of appropriate funds to support the changes. The Navy believes that it can prepare more informed future budget strategies by care­ fully examining the evolution of the current military health care ben­ efit and determining the implications of these changes on overall health care costs. In this paper, we document the legislative and regulatory evolution of the military health care benefit since 1956-the year that Congress originally authorized the offering of civilian health care coverage to active duty dependents. We also determine the extent to which major changes in the benefit have contributed to changes in program costs. We begin our analysis with an overview of the initial, contemporary, military health care benefit (or baseline benefit) as authorized by Congress. Next, we focus on the specific changes to the benefit that have affected the following features over time: who is eligible for cov­ erage, the range of covered services, the rate of payment for health services, and program administration. Finally, we examine military health care program costs over time to determine the extent to which major program changes have affected costs.

A Deep Legacy

/analyses/1998/a-deep-legacy

Already the environment the Navy must operate in, the technology available to it, and the culture and attitudes that drive its decisions are beginning to differ from what they were in the Cold War. It is reason­ able to assume that they will continue to evolve. Throughout its history the United States Navy has had to adapt to its environment. The Navy has reacted to its environment in many differ­ent ways. After looking at the Navy's history we have identified patterns in how the Navy reacted in the past that can be used to shape and direct future debates about how naval forces could operate.