Summary: GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of enlisted forces, focusing on how the Army and Air Force: (1) managed the size and composition of their enlisted forces; (2) planned for enlisted force reductions; and (3) complied with enlisted force management requirements.
GAO found that the Air Force and Army: (1) used a variety of tools to manage the size and composition of their enlisted forces, including promotions, retention, and retraining; (2) between fiscal years (FY) 1987 and 1990, reduced the number of personnel recruited and accelerated the release of members already scheduled to leave the service; (3) in anticipation of the potential need for significantly larger future force reductions, planned to expand the range of force management tools to include controlling reenlistment levels and tightening the enforcement of standards; (4) planned to examine the impact of various force reduction levels on the enlisted force; (5) generally complied with most DOD enlisted force management requirements between FY 1986 and 1989; and (6) exceeded the planning target for enlisted career personnel with more than 4 years of service, mainly due to growth in enlisted seniority. GAO also found that, although DOD attempted to constrain the growth in enlisted career personnel by reducing service budgets through the budget review process, it failed to establish criteria for identifying the level of seniority needed.
