Opportunities Exist for Substantial Savings in Administration of Military Skill Training Programs

The Department of Defense (DOD) spends about $6.1 billion a year with a military and civilian staff of about 169,600, excluding contractor support, to train military personnel. About $3.4 billion of this amount provides skill training for over 1.2 million military personnel.

DOD has not instructed the services as to how many hours a week military students should be required to attend initial skill training classes; the number of hours per week students attend classes varies widely. During fiscal year 1977 the services could have reduced costs an estimated $155 million a year if they scheduled 40 hours a week in the classroom, shop, or laboratory for all initial skill training courses. Nonskill activities could be accomplished without extending training time if scheduled outside the 40 hours. The Army has overstated the need for school instructors by understating the hours they are available to teach; at least 1,250 hours teaching time a year is attainable because the Army uses it for interservice training courses, and it is the lowest number of hours used by any of the services. DOD could reduce training costs by millions of dollars by using civilians and by contracting for more skill training.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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