Quality Comparison of draft-motivated Navy enlistees with all-volunteer force enlistees.

Abstract

Since World V^ar II , the Navy has relied upon volunteer enlistments to maintain its force structure. However, it is recognized that many men were motivated to enlist by the prospect of being drafted into the Army. Now that the All-Volunteer Force policy is in effect for all services , there is speculation that the quality of new Naval recruits will diminish. This paper makes a quality comparison of enlistees under the Draft Lottery system and enlistees under the All-Volunteer Force policy from data obtained in the Monterey Peninsula, California area of the Eighth Naval Recruiting District. The results indicate that no significant change in quality has occurred during the first four months of the All-Volunteer policy. The implications are that 1) no reduction in the quality of new enlistees is a good indication that the Navy is maintaining a quality status quo, and 2) no increasing trend in quality might reflect the effectiveness of the Navy's program to enlist the highest caliber of recruit needed to form a future smaller, but more professional, naval force.