Bruce R Orvis

The authors examined the friction between the U.S. Army's People First objectives (which focus on command climate, cohesive teams, career goals, and work-life balance) and Regionally Aligned Readiness and Modernization Model objectives (which focus on mission readiness) and developed strategies to mitigate this friction.

The authors developed an Army Enlistment Options Optimizer approach that creates bundles of bonus and less costly non-bonus enlistment incentives. Survey respondents choose the bundle they most value from those available according to job type, term length, recruit characteristics, and recruiting environment, potentially increasing satisfaction and enlistments, generating cost savings, and providing recruit cohorts with desired characteristics.

This report presents the results of analyses intended to build a strong Army Civilian brand--that is, to help the Army assess and strengthen its ability to attract high-quality applicants to its civilian workforce and to retain high-quality Army civilian employees.

Several U.S. Army resources and policies work together to produce recruits. Understanding their interactions under various circumstances enables the Army to use its limited resources more effectively and efficiently. The authors present a model--the Reserve Recruiting Resource Model--designed to optimize resources and policies to achieve future Army Reserve recruiting goals.

Hispanics are less represented in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) civilian workforce than in the federal civilian workforce and the civilian labor force. This report assesses what factors might account for Hispanic underrepresentation in DoD. It includes assessments of trends in Hispanic employment and analyses of job applicant data. It also presents findings from interviews with representatives of DoD and of Hispanic-serving institutions.

The U.S. Army recognizes that the recruiting environment has a significant impact on its ability to recruit, especially when the unemployment rate is lower, casualty rates increase, or operational difficulties mount. This report presents a forecasting model that provides a measure of the recruiting difficulty with up to a 24-month horizon. The resulting model forecasts whether the Army is likely to face a difficult or easy recruiting environment.

The purpose of the project was to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Army's use of available recruiting resources and policies by optimizing the required resource levels and mix to support future recruiting under changing enlisted accession requirements, varying labor market conditions and recruiting environments, and alternative recruit eligibility policies and by enabling the assessment of alternative courses of action.

Selecting recruits who complete their term of enlistment is very important for both maintaining Army readiness and minimizing cost. This report describes a tool that enables the Army to identify potential changes to selection of youth based on a variety of attributes in order to expand supply smartly or to decrease the rates of targeted adverse outcomes and related costs.

The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) accounts for two-thirds of Regular Army officer production. As student populations shift and resources tighten, both the productivity and location of ROTC units must be monitored to ensure that the Army attracts and commissions highly-qualified officers. Two new strategic planning tools can help the Army evaluate current ROTC hosts and affiliates and choose new ones.

Many service members join (affiliate with) the Reserve Component (RC) after leaving the Regular Army (RA). Attracting prior service personnel to the RC allows the Army to retain valuable military experience. This report combines quantitative and qualitative methods to understand service member decisions upon exiting the RA: to join the RC or not; to join the U.S. Army Reserve versus the Army National Guard; and the timing of their affiliation.

The fraction of American youth meeting U.S. Army enlistment standards for weight and body fat has declined markedly. In response, the Army developed a waiver program tied to a fitness test known as the Assessment of Recruit Motivation and Strength (ARMS) test. Through difference-in-differences estimates and other analytic techniques, the authors examine the program's effect on Army accession and attrition rates.

Presents the results of research on the eArmyU distance learning program, focused on making eArmyU available to more individuals while controlling program costs. The eArmyU continuing education program allows enlisted soldiers to earn college credits while on active duty. This study sought to determine how to make eArmyU available to more individuals while controlling program costs. Historically, the program's primary cost had been attributed to the laptop computer it provides. This study examined how the existing eArmyU program, as well as how removing the laptop or other provisions, affect various soldier outcomes.