Army Can Better Use Its Soldiers Trained in Critical Shortage Occupations

GAO reviewed manpower utilization in the Army to determine: (1) the extent to which soldiers trained in critical shortage occupations are working in areas outside of their occupations; (2) why these soldiers are doing so; and (3) whether opportunities exist to reduce such utilization practices.

At the installations visited, GAO found that from 13 to 25 percent of the soldiers were performing tasks outside of their prime skill areas. This included personnel who had received cash bonuses for being trained in shortage occupations. Circumstances leading to this situation included: (1) the assignment of soldiers with skills for which installations had no authorization or for which they had more soldiers than were authorized or needed; (2) delays in processing security clearances for soldiers with intelligence specialties; and (3) mismatches between equipment and personnel. In addition, GAO found that local commanders chose to use personnel in areas outside of their occupations because they: (1) considered other tasks more important; (2) believed that it was not necessary for soldiers to work full time in their occupations to maintain their skills; and (3) needed personnel to do garrison work for which no personnel were authorized. Such practices are possible because the Army has not identified Army-wide critical shortages or set an Army-wide policy for appropriate manpower utilization, and local commanders have broad discretionary authority with regard to manpower utilization.

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.

Director: Henry W. Connor Team: General Accounting Office: National Security and International Affairs Division Phone: (202) 275-4141