Exploring the Causal Relationship between Factors Affecting US Army Recruitment

Every year, United States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) dedicates considerable resources to recruiting and accessing soldiers. As the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces, the Army must meet a high recruiting quota while competing in the free-labor market for quality recruits. Over the past two decades, the Army’s success in recruiting ebbed and flowed within the broader context of society and global events. While numerous studies have examined the statistical relationship between factors associated with recruitment, these studies are observational and definitively ascribing causality in retrospect is difficult. With this in mind, we apply fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM), a graphical method of representing uncertainty in a dynamic system, to model and explore the complex causal relationships between factors. We conclude our paper with implications for USAREC’s efforts, as well as our model’s limitations and opportunities for future work.

The Relationship Between Soldier Height, Weight and Army Combat Fitness Scores

The United States Army recently implemented the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) which was designed to more accurately measure functional-combat fitness constructs. The ACFT replaced the former Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). The three advent APFT consisted of: two-minute push-ups (PU), two-minute sit-ups (SU), and a timed two-mile run (RUN). The ACFT consists of six events; 3 Rep Max Deadlift (MDL), Standing Power Throw (SPT), Hand Release Push-up (HRP), Sprint-Drag-Carry (SDC), Hanging Leg Tuck (LTK), and a timed two-mile run (2MR). This study investigated the relationship between Soldier height and body mass kg on ACFT scores of 655 male U.S. Army National Guard Soldiers in a Field Artillery Brigade. For the purpose of the investigation body mass index (BMI) was calculated as the metric representing the Soldier(s) height and weight. The mean and standard deviation (sd) were calculated for the ACFT event and total scores. Pearson correlation coefficients (PCCs or r) were calculated between BMI and ACFT event and total scores. Likewise, PCCs were calculated between the ACFT event and total scores. The ACFT mean(sd) scores were as follows: MDL=92.2(31.8) (3 maximum repetitions), SPT=9.5(2.2) (meters), HRP=24.6(13.1) (repetitions), SDC=119.8(21.7) (seconds), LTK=6.2(5.4) (repetitions), 2MR=1095.0(233.7) (seconds), ACFT total score=442.3(54.4) (points). Significant positive correlations were found between the ACFT total score: MDL (r=0.70), SPT (r=0.50), HRP (r=0.74), and LTK (r=0.76) events. Conversely, significant negative correlations were identified between ACFT total score: SDC (r=-0.68) and 2MR (r=-0.53) events. Within the parameters of this study, Soldier BMI demonstrated no to weak association with individual ACFT event or ACFT total scores. Further, the range of PCCs between the ACFT event scores were no to moderately high. Military leaders may consider the results provided as combat and fitness tests continue to evolve.

Improving winter traction for vehicles in northern operations

As part of the campaign to increase readiness in northern regions, a near commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution was identified for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV); and used to assess the suitability of commercially available winter tires for operational deployment. Initial performance evaluations conducted during the winters of 2020 and 2021 demonstrated and quantified significant improvements to traction and handling on a variety of winter surfaces. User feedback from United States Army Alaska (USARAK) Soldiers confirmed these results in an operational environment. Results of this study provide new winter tire specifications for the Army and justify the procurement of a HMMWV winter tire for improved safety and capability for US Soldier and vehicle fleet needs. The data and Soldier evaluations support attaining a National Stock Number (NSN) and provide data to develop models of winter vehicle performance that include the impact of winter tires and chains. This work also paves the way for future development and procurement of winter tires for vehicles where COTS solutions are unavailable. The motivation is to provide Soldiers with state-of-the-art winter tires to increase safety, capability, and operational compatibility with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partners in the European Theater of Operations, and mobility superiority in all environments.

Air Photo Interpretation for Spatial Analysis of Heritage Agrarian Structures in Mediterranean Settings as Sea-Breezes Proxy-Data. Application to the Island of Mallorca

Historical aerial photographs are valuable sources of climate information. In the present article, a reconstruction of the sea-breezes in Mallorca is described, based on wind-direction interpretation of threshing floors captured by the aerial photographs in 1956–1957 by the United States Army Map Service. These pre-industrial agricultural structures constitute a novel ethnographic proxy of cartographic wind direction at each site. The overall analysis of these directions has made it possible to recreate and model the spatial arrangement of the breezes in Mallorca, and to compare this recreation with that of the existing theoretical-experimental breeze models. The result is a relatively good fit between both recreations, which demonstrates the accuracy of the proposed method. This can be extrapolated to many other aerial-photographed Mediterranean regions prior to full mechanisation of the field.

A Review of the Cybersecurity Programs in the United States Army

Cybersecurity is very complex, and as such, decisions regarding cybersecurity are highly intertwined with the functionality and application of systems. The threat to cybersecurity is, however, ever-evolving and decisions regarding cybersecurity, therefore, need to be made with this in mind. Cybersecurity systems, therefore, need to be tailored to individual systems, be adaptive, have the ability to evolve with the threat as well as be highly integrated with the system designs and the mission these systems support . In the military, it is critical to develop systems that maintain the expected level of confidentiality, non-repudiation, authentication, integrity, and availability that aids towards the collective goal of cybersecurity. In the military there are several stakeholders that play a key part in cybersecurity with the main ones being; the ones commanding or using the military system, the ones involved in the acquisition, life-cycle management and testing, the authorizing officials, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the intelligence and the counterintelligence officers. Accountability and control is, therefore spread out throughout the organization. This, however, leads to the blurring of roles and responsibilities. In conclusion, therefore, even though militaries exist for the purpose of combat most of the time, they operate in relatively peaceful conditions. During these peaceful times, they imagine and manufacture wartime conditions to determine their preparedness and the chances of a victory with the current conditions and resources. A communication plan approach will be able to tear down the expected natural resistance since the leaders will support the proposed changes and even devote resources to see that they are successful. The purpose of the communication plan is to, therefore, make the leaders the advocates for change. This is based on the understanding that in this environment, change is not possible without support from the leadership. Keywords: Cybersecurity, Intelligence, Communication & United States Army

MSV(L): Continuing the Legacy of Army Waterborne Capability

The United States Army operates several classes of landing craft, which provide combatant commanders with waterborne maneuver capabilities essential for accomplishing a range of critical missions unique to the Army. These missions involve transport of personnel, cargo, and equipment from advanced bases and large sealift ships to ports, inland riverine regions, as well as remote undeveloped coastlines and beaches. Recognizing the significant roles these vessels play and will continue to play in achieving Army objectives, Army leadership allocated funding to design and build a new class of high performance landing craft: Maneuver Support Vessel (Light) (MSV(L)). The primary mission of MSV(L) is to conduct movement and maneuver of combat-configured Brigade Combat Team force elements such as one M1A2 main battle tank, or two Stryker vehicles, or four Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, each with its crew. MSV(L) will have beaching capability and be able to operate at speeds significantly in excess of any current Army landing craft. The Army Watercraft Systems organization was tasked with overseeing development of requirements and specifications, source selection and acquisition, along with contract, finance, and engineering management of the MSV(L) Program. A contract to develop the detailed design and build a series of vessels was awarded in September 2017. Launch of the initial vessel is planned during the fourth quarter of 2021.