The importance of socio-economic factors in recruiting and sustaining the all-volunteer force.
Abstract : This thesis investigates the importance of socio-economic factors in recruiting and sustaining the All-Volunteer Force. It reviews previous research which explored the inherent factors of the recruiting effort in attaining enlistment standards. It considers the problem areas and goals of attracting and recruiting sufficient numbers of qualified enlisted personnel to fulfill the manning level requirements needed to satisfy military operations and missions. In addition, a brief history of military manpower procurement from a draft environment to the transition of volunterrism is included. The concepts of enlistment standards, factors influencing enlistment, and incentives enhancing enlistment are also discussed. This report concludes with recommendations concerning proposed changes to ensure the viability of the recruiting effort in sustaining the All-Volunteer Force concept. (Author)
Values, Preferences and Perceptions Concerning Military Service
Abstract : The report explores perceptions and attitudes concerning military service, and the way they are linked to views about enlistment. Data are based on a sixteen-page self-completed questionnaire administered to a national sample of civilians and a cross-section of Navy personnel. Trends related to age and education are examined for five analysis groups: civilian men, civilian women, Navy enlisted men in their first tour of duty, enlisted men in their second or later tour, and officers. The findings support the conclusion that ideological issues play an important part in attitudes about enlistment or re-enlistment.
Effects of personal background and training on work values of the hard-core unemployed.
This study described how work values of 110 disadvantaged persons differ from those of 180 unskilled and semiskilled employees, identified biographical correlates of work values, and examined changes in work values following training. When compared with regular employees, hard-core trainees placed less emphasis on the tendency to keep active on the job, taking pride in their work, and subscribing to the traditional Protestant Ethic, but placed more emphasis on making money on the job. Significant relationships were found between background characteristics and work values of the hard core. Changes in work values of disadvantaged subjects after 8 weeks of training did not differ from those of 2 52 controlled subjects (insurance agents and college students). Persons classified as disadvantaged or hard core represent a subculture of our society with an indigenous life style and value system. One aspect of this value system that is of particular interest to social scientists is the concept of work values-—an individual's attitude toward work in general rather than his feelings about a specific job. Many authors have speculated about the development of attitudes of the hard core, but they have presented few data to support their conclusions. From a series of intensive interviews of 600 middle- and working-class families in Chicago, Davis (1946) identified three factors that may produce the behavior and set of values characteristic of the ghetto subculture. First, the necessity for survival forces the child of the lower-class family to seek immediate gratification of the most basic physical needs (food, clothing, and shelter), and it inhibits his striving for less urgent goals. Second, Davis argued that when a person becomes