Comparing the Costs of DOD Military and Civil Service Personnel

Abstract : Within the Department of Defense (DoD) there is increasing interest in identifying ways to save costs while minimizing impact on force effectiveness. Civilianization-the transfer of functions performed by military personnel to civil service personnel-is a frequently discussed way to do this for two main reasons: (1) Military members are being moved in and out of jobs frequently, so there is high turnover as well as high training costs. (2) Military members do not spend 100 percent of their time performing a certain function; they also have training requirements and other duties. Although conventional wisdom suggests that civil service workers are cheaper than their military counterparts, there has been little analysis of this issue.