Military Personnel: Preliminary Results of DOD's 1999 Survey of Active
Duty Members (Testimony, 03/08/2000, GAO/T-NSIAD-00-110).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of
Defense's 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel, focusing on: (1)
military personnel's satisfaction with military life and the aspects of
military life that influence decisions to stay in or leave; (2) the
extent to which military personnel are working long hours and spending
time away from home; and (3) the personal financial conditions reported
by military personnel.

GAO noted that: (1) based on the survey results, more military personnel
are satisfied with their way of life than are dissatisfied; (2) officers
have markedly higher satisfaction rates than enlisted personnel, and
satisfaction tends to increase with seniority; (3) satisfaction and
intent to stay in the military are strongly linked; (4) about 73 percent
of satisfied personnel indicated they are likely to stay in the
military; (5) only 20 percent of dissatisfied personnel indicated they
are likely to stay; (6) pay and job enjoyment were cited as top reasons
for both intending to stay and considering leaving the military; (7)
other top reasons cited for contemplating leaving included quality of
leadership and amount of personal and family time; (8) neither housing
nor health care for families was among the top reasons cited by military
personnel for considering leaving the military; (9) family medical care
was among the top reasons cited for considering staying in the military;
(10) most military personnel believe they would be better compensated
and have more personal and family time available in the civilian world;
(11) concern that the smaller military force is being stretched thin in
places may be warranted; (12) nearly two-thirds of the force reported
working between 41 and 60 hours a week, and almost one-quarter indicated
they worked more than 60 hours a week; (13) those working longer hours
had lower overall satisfaction; (14) top reasons for working more hours
than usual included mission requirements, additional duties like special
projects, staffing shortfalls, and deployment-related issues; (15)
personnel who spent 5 months or more away were less satisfied than those
who spent less time away; (16) the top difficulties encountered by
servicemembers while they were away included managing expenses or bills,
communicating with their families, and household and car repairs; (17)
more than half of all military personnel reported being financially
secure; (18) however, some enlisted personnel appear financial
strapped--about 22 percent reported that it was tough to make ends meet
or that they were in over their head; (19) many enlisted personnel seem
to have little financial cushion; (20) a small portion of the enlisted
force reported they had received assistance from government programs
like Women, Infants, and Children, Food Stamps, and Medicaid; and (21)
although the percentage of the force receiving these types of assistance
is fairly low this translated into thousands of recipients throughout
the force.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-NSIAD-00-110
     TITLE:  Military Personnel: Preliminary Results of DOD's 1999
	     Survey of Active Duty Members
      DATE:  03/08/2000
   SUBJECT:  Military personnel
	     Veterans pensions
	     Job satisfaction surveys
	     Military compensation
	     Military enlistment
	     Military discharges
IDENTIFIER:  Medicaid Program
	     WIC
	     Food Stamp Program
	     Special Supplimental Food Program For Women, Infants, and
	     Children

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Before the Subcommittee on Military Personnel, Committee on Armed Services,
House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery

Expected at

1:00 p.m.

Wednesday

March 8, 2000

MILITARY PERSONNEL

Preliminary Results of DOD's 1999 Survey of Active Duty Members

Statement of Norman J. Rabkin, Director, National Security Preparedness
Issues, National Security and International Affairs Division

GAO/T-NSIAD-00-110

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

Since the end of the Cold War and the subsequent downsizing, the U.S.
military has undergone considerable change. Last year, Congress approved
substantial increases in pay and retirement benefits for military personnel.
It is too early to know the impacts of these changes; they only became
effective in January. This year, with pay and retirement increases in place,
Department of Defense (DOD) leaders are proposing significant funding
increases to improve health care and housing.

Some accounts of military life today paint a bleak picture. Reports of
declining military readiness and decreased retention raise several
questions. What is the level of satisfaction in the military ranks? What is
keeping people in, or driving them out, of the military? Is the smaller
military being stretched too thin, resulting in long hours and too much time
away from home? And finally, how do military personnel perceive they are
faring in today's strong economy?

Last year, this Subcommittee asked us to provide information on these issues
for this year's hearing season. We worked with DOD to help refine its 1999
Survey of Active Duty Personnel. DOD then administered the survey to a
stratified random sample of 66,000 servicemembers and provided us
preliminary data from over 32,000 respondents (a 49 percent response rate).
The information we are presenting today has been projected to represent the
views of the entire force. We thank DOD for its cooperation in making this
information available so that we could testify before you today.

Because we had limited time to analyze the data, we will keep our discussion
at a summary level. We will focus on three main areas: (1) satisfaction with
military life and the aspects of military life that influence decisions to
stay in or leave, (2) the extent to which military personnel are working
long hours and spending time away from home, and (3) the personal financial
conditions reported by military personnel.

RESULTS IN BRIEF

Based on the survey results, more military personnel are satisfied with
their way of life (about 50 percent) than are dissatisfied (about 29
percent). Officers have markedly higher satisfaction rates than enlisted
personnel, and in general, satisfaction tends to increase with seniority.
Satisfaction and intent to stay in the military are strongly linked. About
73 percent of satisfied personnel indicated that they are likely to stay in
the military; in contrast, only 20 percent of dissatisfied personnel
indicated they are likely to stay. Pay and job enjoyment were cited as top
reasons for both intending to stay and considering leaving the military.
Other top reasons cited for contemplating leaving included quality of
leadership and amount of "personal/family time." Neither housing nor health
care for families was among the top reasons cited by military personnel for
considering leaving the military. In fact, family medical care was among the
top reasons for considering staying in the military. However, on balance,
most military personnel believe that they would be better compensated and
have more personal and family time available in the civilian world.

Concern that the smaller military force is being stretched thin in places
may be warranted. Nearly two-thirds of the force reported working between 41
and 60 hours a week, and almost one-quarter indicated they worked more than
60 hours a week. Those working longer hours had lower overall satisfaction.
Our analysis shows that satisfaction drops for the quarter of the force that
reported working more than 60 hours per week. Top reasons cited for working
more hours than usual included mission requirements, additional duties like
special projects, staffing shortfalls, and deployment-related issues. About
82 percent reported spending less than 5 months away from their home duty
station during the past year, and 45 percent were away from home less than
one month. Personnel who spent 5 months or more away (about 19 percent) were
less satisfied than those who spent less time away. The top difficulties
encountered by servicemembers while they were away included managing
expenses or bills, communicating with their families, and household and car
repairs.

Overall, more than half of all military personnel (53 percent) reported
being financially secure. However, some enlisted personnel appear
financially strapped--about 22 percent reported that it was tough to make
ends meet or that they were in over their head. Many enlisted personnel seem
to have little financial cushion-more than half reported having less than
$1,000 in savings. A small portion of the enlisted force reported that they
had received assistance from government programs like Women, Infants, and
Children; Food Stamps; and Medicaid. Although the percentage of the force
receiving these types of assistance is fairly low-1 percent or less for Food
Stamps, Medicaid, and state child care assistance-this translates into
thousands of recipients throughout the force.

UNDERSTANDING REASONS FOR STAYING IN IS

CRITICAL IN CHOOSING SOLUTIONS

Before discussing the details of our analysis, it is important to talk about
how aspects of military life interact to form a decision to stay in or leave
the military. That decision is complex and highly personal. Servicemembers
use their own experiences and perceptions to answer one simple-sounding
question: Would I be better off if I stayed in or left the military? If they
have or are planning a family, they also consider their well being in the
decision. The military's ability to retain personnel relies on the summation
of all these personal decisions.

The decision is not simply monetary, though money and overall compensation
are important. Compensation is within the control of the government;
Congress and the President can give the military a pay raise or sweeten
retirement or other benefits, as they did last year. However, other factors,
such as the strength of the national economy, have a profound impact.
Better-paying jobs, less time away from home, or a more stable lifestyle,
may also lure military members to civilian life.

The nature of the retention challenges facing DOD needs to be better
understood. We have reviewed retention patterns for 10 years for a report
due out in March 2000. We found that the retention problem is concentrated
in certain career fields like communications, intelligence, and equipment
repair. In our view, keeping in mind the complexity of the reasons for
staying in or leaving is important because solutions generally cannot be
"one size fits all." As we testified before this Subcommittee last year,
pockets of problems are best addressed with targeted fixes, not
irreversible, across-the-board solutions.

With that background, we will now discuss our analyses of the key survey
data in three topic areas. First, we provide information about satisfaction
and intent to remain in the military. Then, we discuss workload and time
away from home and its impact on satisfaction. Finally, we provide an
overview of the economic situation of military members. Appendix I describes
our scope and methodology.

SATISFACTION AND INTENT TO REMAIN IN THE MILITARY

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Overall, more active duty personnel reported they were satisfied (about 50
percent) than dissatisfied (29 percent).

Officers had markedly higher rates of satisfaction than enlisted personnel,
with about 65 percent of officers indicating they were satisfied compared to
about 46 percent of enlisted personnel.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Enlisted personnel constitute the bulk of the force-roughly 84 percent. This
strongly affects any DOD-wide findings because the survey data has been
weighted to represent all personnel in the force proportionately.

The line shows the percent of each grade group that indicated they were
"satisfied" or "very satisfied" with military life. Officers were more
satisfied than enlisted personnel. Within both the enlisted force and the
officer corps, higher-ranking personnel tended to be more satisfied than
lower ranking personnel.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Satisfaction with military life and intent to stay in the military are
strongly linked. However, not everyone who is satisfied intends to stay and
not everyone who is dissatisfied intends to leave. About 73 percent of those
who are satisfied with the military way of life indicate they intend to
stay, compared to only 20 percent of those who are dissatisfied.

Overall, roughly half (51 percent) of members said that it was likely that
they would stay in the military, and about 35 percent said it was unlikely.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Members were asked to rate their satisfaction with 37 aspects of military
life. These aspects addressed a broad range of issues, including pay, health
care, housing, workload, and deployments. Respondents were then asked to
choose the most important reason for considering staying in or leaving.

As shown in figure 4, basic pay was reported to be the most important reason
to stay, followed by job security, retirement pay, job enjoyment, and
medical care for families. Together, these five factors accounted for 57
percent of the responses; the other 32 factors garnered less than half the
responses.

As shown in figure 5, reasons for leaving included two of the same factors,
but also included quality of leadership, amount of "personal/family time
available," and deployments. Pay was by far the most frequently cited reason
for leaving or thinking of leaving. Taken together, the top five reasons
accounted for approximately 58 percent of the members' answers.

Two aspects were among the top five on both lists (basic pay and job
enjoyment), indicating that some view these items as incentives to stay
while some view them as disincentives. We see this as an indication that
these factors are generally important to military personnel. It should be
noted that a significant pay raise and increased retirement benefits were
approved, but had not yet appeared in paychecks, while this survey was being
conducted.

Neither housing nor health care for families was among the top reasons cited
by military personnel for considering leaving the military. In fact, family
medical care was among the top reasons for considering staying in the
military.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Regarding some of the aspects of military life that were seen as top reasons
to leave or consider leaving, military personnel perceived that the civilian
sector would treat them better.

About two-thirds of the force cited total compensation, defined as pay,
bonuses, and allowances, as being better in the civilian sector.

Three-quarters of the force indicated that more personal or family time was
available in the civilian sector.

Perceptions about the comparability of retirement benefits between the
civilian sector and the military were more mixed, with a little more than
one-third seeing civilian retirement benefits as better and a little less
than one-third seeing them as better in the military.

WORKLOAD AND TIME AWAY FROM HOME

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 The bars in figure 7 show how many hours military personnel reported working
during the week before they filled out the survey. About half of the force
reported that they had worked more than 50 hours per week, and about 24
percent indicated more than 60 hours per week.

The line shows the satisfaction rate for each of the subgroups. Moderate
amounts of overtime, up to about 60 hours per week, do not greatly affect
satisfaction. However, satisfaction tends to decrease sharply for those who
reported working more than 60 hours per week.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Members cited mission critical requirements as the top reason for working
long hours during the past 12 months. Several of the other reasons appear to
be related to staffing (e.g., high workload, additional duties,
under-staffed unit, and others not carrying their share of the workload).
Deployment issues were also prominent. About 19 percent of the members said
that they had worked extra hours to prepare for deployment. About 11 percent
cited deployment of part of the unit as a reason for working longer hours
than usual.

Furthermore, the data suggest that long hours, per se, do not necessarily
lead to lower satisfaction and retention. Those citing mission requirements
as the reason for longer hours were actually more satisfied and more likely
to lean toward staying in the service than those citing other reasons.
However, personnel who reported that staffing shortfalls, equipment
failures, others not carrying their share of the workload, poor/lack of
planning, and demanding supervisor as the reasons for longer hours had lower
rates of satisfaction.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Staffing shortfalls was one of the top reasons cited for working longer
hours, so we looked at a related survey item that asked members to rate how
well their unit was prepared in terms of having sufficient staff to
accomplish its mission.

About 37 percent felt their unit was poorly or very poorly prepared from a
staffing standpoint. These subgroups also had lower satisfaction rates than
those who rated staffing preparedness higher.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Since equipment failures and repairs were one of the top reasons cited for
working longer hours, we looked at a related survey item that asked members
to rate how well their unit was prepared in terms of the parts and equipment
needed to accomplish their mission.

About 35 percent felt their unit was poorly or very poorly prepared from a
parts and equipment standpoint. These subgroups also had lower satisfaction
rates than those who rated parts and equipment preparedness higher.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 The bars in figure 11 represent the number of months military personnel
reported spending away from their home duty station during the past year. As
shown, the vast majority of the force, almost 82 percent, reported that they
spent less than 5 months away from home. Almost 45 percent were away from
home less than 1 month. Thus, high deployment rates (defined as more than 5
months away) were limited to about 19 percent of the force.

Satisfaction is relatively stable for those who were away for less than 5
months. However, it drops off considerably for those who were away for 5
months or more.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 When personnel are away from home, they and their families can be affected
in a variety of ways. About 72 percent of military personnel were away from
home during the past 12 months. When asked about concerns they had when they
were required to be away from their permanent duty station, many members
cited problems that ranged from managing expenses or bills to child care
arrangements for their children. Figure 12 shows the most frequently-cited
impacts.

ECONOMIC SITUATION OF MILITARY MEMBERS

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 When asked to rate their overall financial security on a scale from "secure"
to being "in over their head," slightly more than half of all personnel
reported that they were financially secure or had no financial difficulties.

A higher proportion of officers reported being financially secure than
enlisted personnel. More than one-fifth of enlisted personnel reported that
things were tough financially or that they were in over their head.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 To gain a better sense of members' financial condition, we analyzed how much
they reported having in savings and unsecured debt. Savings were defined as
bank accounts, individual retirement accounts, money market accounts,
certificates of deposit, savings bonds, mutual funds, stocks, and bonds.
Unsecured debt was defined as credit card debt, debt consolidation loans,
exchange loans, student loans, and other personal loans. Members were told
to exclude home mortgages and automobile loans.

Over one-quarter of the officers and nearly one-fifth of enlisted personnel
reported unsecured debts exceeding $10,000. This level of indebtedness
within the enlisted ranks raises some concern, especially when their low
level of savings is considered. In fact, many enlisted personnel appear to
have very little cushion for emergencies or unexpected expenses, since about
54 percent reported having less than $1,000 in savings.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Figure 15 displays financial problems some enlisted members had experienced
in the previous year. The list of 14 possible problems ranged from borrowing
money from friends and family to pawning valuables to garnishment of wages.

Most enlisted personnel (about 57 percent) said they had not experienced any
of the problems listed. Quite a few, however, reported having one or more of
these problems, some of which can have serious repercussions. For example,
15 percent of enlisted personnel reported having bounced two or more checks,
a potential violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 Some enlisted members reported that they had received assistance from
various government programs during the past 12 months. About 10 percent of
the enlisted force reported receiving assistance through the Women, Infants
and Children program. This program provides checks or coupons for the
purchase of specific foods designed to supplement participants' diets. The
program also provides other services to lower-income pregnant and postpartum
women and children to the age of five. To be eligible, participants' gross
income must be at or below 185 percent of the poverty level, depending on
the income standard established by the states. According to DOD officials,
the military seeks participants and supports the Women, Infants and Children
program on some military bases.

Although the percentage of the force receiving government assistance is
fairly low for other programs--1 percent or less for food stamps, Medicaid,
and state child care assistance - this translates into thousands of
recipients throughout the force.

-->[Author ID1: at Fri Feb 18 09:41:00 2000 ]APPENDIX I

SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY

The best way to reliably assess the pulse of military members is by
surveying a broad-based, representative sample of personnel. This past year,
we worked with the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop and administer
such a survey, which covered a wide range of issues. It was mailed in the
fall 1999 to a stratified random sample of over 66,000 military personnel.
As of November 30, 1999, over 32,000 active duty personnel had completed and
returned the surveys. DOD provided us with this interim data so that we
could provide timely information to the Congress. Our work has been
conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards.

QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

The active duty survey is a recurring survey that was last administered in
1992. When DOD learned that the Subcommittee on Military Personnel had asked
us to administer a separate survey to military personnel, the Acting
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Force Management Policy) offered to allow us
to include questions on the active duty survey DOD was already planning to
conduct. We worked with DOD staff to refine the survey instrument and
address additional content areas.

The survey was pretested and refined at Navy bases around Jacksonville,
Florida; Pope Air Force Base, Fayetteville, North Carolina; and the U.S.
Marine base at Quantico, Virginia. Time constraints prevented additional
pretesting with Army and Coast Guard personnel beyond that performed by DOD
on an earlier version of the survey.

SAMPLE CONSTRUCTION

The sample of 66,040 military members was drawn from a May 1999 population
of 1,419,269 active duty DOD and U.S. Coast Guard personnel who were below
the rank of admiral or general and had at least 6 months of service. The
sample was stratified on five variables: service; pay grade; gender;
location, that is, inside or outside the continental United States; and
marital status.

DOD survey experts used response rates from prior surveys to adjust the
sample for groups with differing expected rates of survey completion. Also,
the sample was designed to provide varying levels of precision for numerous
subgroups (e.g., + 3 percentage points for each service or pay grade group
and + 5 percentage points for senior officers in the Army).

SURVEY ADMINISTRATION

As of November 30, 1999, DOD had received 32,341 surveys with at least some
questions answered. We classified all of these people as eligible
respondents, but later, more in-depth analyses could show that some of the
surveys should be reclassified as ineligible because the members left the
military or for some other reason. Another 320 respondents were deleted from
the survey because they did not qualify for participation. As a result, the
unweighted response rate was 49.2 percent (32,341 of the adjusted sample of
65,720).

DOD used a contractor to administer the survey. We did not test the
contractor's procedures or validate the data provided to us. We did review
DOD's and its contractor's quality control procedures for a similar large
survey.

WEIGHTING RESPONSES AND POTENTIAL NONRESPONSE BIAS

We adjusted the survey responses to reflect the DOD population. First, we
divided the population size for each of the 348 cells in the sampling design
by the number of completed surveys received from eligible respondents in
that cell. Then, U.S. Coast Guard personnel and their returned surveys were
removed from the population. This procedure adjusts for both the different
proportions of people sampled from each cell and the response rate for the
cell. DOD will develop more precise post-stratification weights that will
accompany the full database when it is delivered in March. Using the simpler
weights and the preliminary database was the only way that findings could be
prepared in time for this testimony.

Survey findings assume that nonrespondents would have answered like
respondents-an often-used assumption in survey methodologies. There is some
risk of nonresponse bias, but it would take elaborate and time-consuming
work to test for this bias. In recent years, both military and civilian
surveys have experienced decreased response rates. Although weighting can be
used to statistically adjust for the differing sampling rates and response
rates within the sampling cells, weighting cannot adjust for possible
differences between those who do and those who do not respond to a survey.
However, it must be recognized that the active duty survey is the only
source of DOD-wide information for many of the issues addressed by the
survey and is far more reliable than anecdotal information or information
generated by smaller, nonrepresentative samples.

(703283)

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