A Survey System to Assess Abuse and Misconduct Toward Air Force Students in Occupational Specialty Training

📖 The Scoop

Initial skills training provides incoming officers and enlisted airmen with the basic knowledge and skills necessary to be awarded their Air Force occupational specialty. For many students, it is a developmental period during which they are transitioning into the responsibilities of adulthood, and they enter as the newest Air Force members at the lowest levels of the officer and enlisted hierarchies. They are seeking admission into career fields for which they must prove their capability, and, in some cases, they must compete for limited positions in their subspecialties. For these reasons, these technical training and flying training students may be particularly vulnerable to abuse and misconduct from one another and from those who have authority over them. To help prevent potential abuse and misconduct during this vulnerable period, the commander of the Air Force's Air Education and Training Command (AETC) asked RAND researchers to adapt AETC's survey system for monitoring abuse and misconduct in Basic Military Training to extend it to the technical training and flying training environments. Data from the proposed survey system may also provide insights into potential cultural or systemic changes that could help reduce the occurrence of abuse and misconduct and increase reporting when it does occur. This report provides background on the structure of these training environments, revisions to tailor the basic military training survey content to apply to students in these environments, survey pretest results, strategies to promote open and honest participation, and recommendations for future use.

Genre: Business & Economics / Human Resources & Personnel Management (fancy, right?)