Military Occupational Specialties: Change and Consolidation

Over the past several years, the military Services have reduced their forces substantially. Military skill groups have been consolidated before and during that reduction. Such consolidations can benefit organizations. As a result of visits to military units and anecdotal reports from the field, some members of Congress became concerned that the skill consolidations were eroding readiness and expressed a particular concern about maintenance skills in two Services. The Office of the Secretary of Defense asked RAND to determine the extent of the consolidations and their effects on readiness. On the basis of the indicators selected from our framework, we found no evidence of deleterious effect of consolidation on readiness after a two year period of transition. The experience and availability of personnel in consolidated MOCs are comparable with those for other maintenance MOCs. The data for qualification are less clear. However, the Services’ procedures for these consolidations are clearly understood, and these procedures very likely help smooth the transitions.