Working in the Zone: Maintaining Optimal Readiness in U.S. Soldiers
Abstract
Soldier readiness is associated with the pace of military operations. For example, in a study of soldiers deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina, as deployed length increased well being declined. Building on this finding, we hypothesized that there is an ideal zone of operational tempo that maximizes readiness (e.g. performance) for units and soldiers. In order to identify this zone or band of performance, we have begun a two year study of 10 U. S. Army companies stationed in Europe, representing combat and support units. Pace of operations was viewed as mulitdimensional and included several measures such as deployment length, work hours, days on training exercises, sleep, and number of workdays per week. Data were gathered using surveys, interviews, and unit records and included issues related to medical readiness, military readiness, and family readiness. Assessment occurred in three environmental contexts: while the soldiers were in garrison, on training, or on deployment to Kosovo or Saudi Arabia. Initial findings revealed that operational tempo measures such as work hours, working on days off, losing leave time, and predictability were important in determining a band of optimal soldier performance. The environmental context, however, was critical in understanding these relationships. for instance, while both training and deployed environments produced and increase in work hours, soldiers assessed in the training environment reported increased military readiness, whereas deployed soldiers reported a decrease in military readiness. This emerging model highlights the complexity of identifying a set of predictors for maintaining soldiers and units in an optimal zone of readiness.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA388338
Entities
People
- A. B. Adler
- Ann H. Huffman
- C. A. Castro
- C. A. Dolan
- R. V. Bienvenu