Patricia K Tong

According to the U. S. Department of Defense, approximately one-third of military service members experience a permanent change of station (PCS) move every year. The authors used a mixed-methods approach to compile a list of PCS-related family disruptions and to understand what programs exist to address these disruptions.

The number of field grade and noncommissioned officers with more than 30 years of service has increased since 2007. Drawing on interviews with subject-matter experts and using RAND's Dynamic Retention Model, the authors consider the effects of capping retired pay for mid-grade military personnel so that only those in the highest grades and with the most years of service would receive the highest retired pay.

This report presents an analysis--requested by the Office of the Secretary of Defense as input for Congress--of the implications of flexible spending account options for active-duty service members and their families that would allow pre-tax payment of dependent care expenses, insurance premiums, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. The authors evaluate the benefits and costs of these options to service members and the U. S. Department of Defense.

This report documents research and analysis conducted as part of a project entitled Improving the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Special and Incentive Pays in the Army, sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. The purpose of the project was to help the Army determine how to best increase incentives for higher performance among enlisted members and to more efficiently achieve Army retention objectives.

The authors develop the analytic capability to calculate the efficient amount of special and incentive pay for Air Force career enlisted aviators (CEAs). They also estimate the trade-offs between retaining CEAs and increasing accessions for a given force size and the value that recruiting and training costs would need to reach for retaining more experienced CEAs to become more cost-effective than increasing accessions.

In support of the Thirteenth Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation, the authors of this report assess the advantages and drawbacks of a using a table based on time in grade, rather than time in service, to set military pay, and whether the benefits of a time-in-grade pay table could be achieved by using alternative policies under the current time-in-service pay table.

The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) provides income security for the survivors of U. S. service members who perform in an authorized-duty status and die in the line of duty, as well as for the survivors of retired members enrolled in SBP. This report assesses SBP in terms of participation and benefits, compares it with similar plans in public and private organizations, and considers the feasibility of having SBP provided by commercial sources.