Author: Stephen J. Kirin

Publisher:

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13:

The U.S. Army will face demanding challenges to maintain a well-trained and ready force in the face of shrinking defense budgets. Given the extensive resources used to conduct individual training (i.e., personnel, facilities, and consumables), current training methods are facing especially intensive scrutiny. In response, the Army is developing several new training concepts that could reduce the cost of individual training. Such concepts include, for example, expanding the use of new training technologies, "distributing" training to field units, and substituting civilian for military training where this may be applicable. Current RAND research is developing and applying new analytical tools for assessing alternative training approaches. The objective is to assess new strategies that modify current training approaches, considering resource inputs, costs, and consequences of training changes. Because major costs are incurred during specialized skill training, especially for enlisted personnel, the research focuses most heavily on alternative strategies for training enlisted entry-level Military Occupational Specialties (MOS). This Note documents the Army Military Occupational Specialty Database (MOS-D), which was prepared as part of the research. MOS-D contains data describing training-relevant characteristics of 317 Army MOS as of FY90. The data set contains information describing entry prerequisites, characteristics of job-holders and entry-level training courses, and the nature of the work performed. The data set can be analyzed to compare and contrast enlisted entry-level occupations in a number of ways related to how training is conducted. Such analyses can be used to guide more intensive research on alternative training strategies and methods for specific and related occupations. This document focuses on the 242 MOS in MOS-D considered entry-level, active-Army occupations. (43 tables, 8 figures, 32 refs.).