National Guard Technicians

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the requirement that National Guard technicians wear military uniforms while performing their civilian duties at Guard facilities. GAO noted that: (1) it could not determine the cost of supplying military clothing to Guard technicians, since cost data is not readily available; (2) the Guard does not separately track the technicians' uniform costs or have record-keeping systems capable of tracking requisition data for a particular individual; (3) technicians wear the same uniform for both their civilian and military duties; (4) Guard officials and technician union officials disagree on the uniform requirement's effect on the technicians' personal comportment and status, military control of the civilian workplace, morale, mobilization, community awareness of the Guard's presence, security, safety, and personnel interactions; (5) both groups agree that the uniform does affect job performance; and (6) the uniform requirement became federal law with the enactment of the fiscal year 1996 National Defense Authorization Act.