27-10-2012, 01:14 PM
The Army Military Occupational Specialty Database
ABSTRACT
The U.S. Army will face demanding challenges to maintain a well-trained and ready force in the face of shrinking defense
budgets. Given the extensive resources used to conduct individual training (i.e., personnel, facilities, and consumables),
current training methods are facing especially intensive scrutiny. In response, the Army is developing several new training
concepts that could reduce the cost of individual training. Such concepts include, for example, expanding the use of new
training technologies, ‘distributing’ training to field units, and substituting civilian for military training where this may be
applicable. Current RAND research is developing and applying new analytical tools for assessing alternative training
approaches. The objective is to assess new strategies that modify current training approaches, considering resource inputs,
costs, and consequences of training changes. Because major costs are incurred during specialized skill training, especially for
enlisted personnel, the research focuses most heavily on alternative strategies for training enlisted entry-level Military
Occupational Specialties (MOS). This Note documents the Army Military Occupational Specialty Database (MOS-D), which
was prepared as part of the research. MOS-D contains data describing training-relevant characteristics of 317 Army MOS as
of FY90. The data set contains information describing entry prerequisites, characteristics of job-holders and entry-level
training courses, and the nature of the work performed. The data set can be analyzed to compare and contrast enlisted
entry-level occupations in a number of ways related to how training is conducted. Such analyses can be used to guide more
intensive research on alternative training strategies and methods for specific and related occupations. This document focuses
on the 242 MOS in MOS-D considered entry-level, active-Army occupations. (43 tables, 8 figures, 32 refs.)