Eyal Aharoni

This report examines stress and dissatisfaction in the U. S. Air Force's remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) community and ways to mitigate that stress and dissatisfaction. Focus groups revealed that RPA personnel were concerned by heavy workloads, undermanning, shiftwork, lack of training, and undesirable base locations. Researcher recommendations include reducing crews' workload and establishing a "combat-to-dwell" policy for RPA personnel.

A review of major online U. S. military surveys found very low response rates among young enlisted members. The authors identify possible explanations, and note that low response rates do not necessarily yield results with bias. The authors propose ways to understand how well surveys are capturing a representative sample and determine recruitment strategies that would actually target the source of the problem and not just exacerbate it.