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The RAND National Defense Research Institute assessed the potential impact that fielding the five Army vehicle modernization programs would have on the operational energy requirements of combat, combat support, and combat service support forces. The modernization programs planned at the start of the research were the Ground Combat Vehicle (since cancelled), the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the Paladin Integrated Management program vehicle, and the Modular Fuel System. The authors developed and applied a methodology that leveraged detailed combat effectiveness models to account for the operational energy needs associated with supporting combat missions. RAND s methodology enables a system-level examination of the battlefield. Using this framework, one can examine both the interplay between the Blue combat force and the Red threat, and the interactions among all the elements on the battlefield, including the support force and the protection force. The team assessed the modernization programs by simulating an MCO scenario with three phases: a combat phase, a combat support phase, and a combat service support phase, examining both the operational energy needs within these phases along with the combat effectiveness of the force. The methodology developed by RAND is suitable for a range of analyses that aim to address the systemwide impact of force modernization initiatives to specifically include both logistics and combat effectiveness.

Sleep is a vital health behavior, and lack of sleep is reliably and prospectively linked with a host of adverse mental and physical health outcomes, including an increased risk of depression, suicide, accidents and injuries, cardiovascular morbidity, and mortality. Research has shown that sleep problems are prevalent in military populations particularly among servicemembers who have deployed to combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is perhaps not surprising, given that sleep problems are a common reaction to stress. Research further suggests that, for many servicemembers, sleep disturbances persist for months or even years after deployments have ended. Thus, it is critical to understand the individual- and system-level factors that contribute to the onset, persistence, and exacerbation of sleep problems, as well as the downstream consequences for servicemembers mental and physical health and operational readiness. However, no study to date has comprehensively examined the types of sleep problems servicemembers are experiencing, the programs available to servicemembers to promote healthy sleep and treat sleep disorders, or the policy-level factors that may contribute to servicemembers sleep health across the deployment cycle and specifically in the post-deployment period, when sleep problems may have lasting implications for servicemember resilience. To address these gaps, a team of researchers from the RAND National Defense Research Institute conducted reviews of the peer-reviewed academic literature and military policies and programs related to sleep. The research team also drew on both quantitative and qualitative data sources, collecting primary data on sleep problems and behaviors from a large sample (N = 1,957) of servicemembers across all Service branches and components; conducting interviews with health policymakers and personnel who work in military medical, operational, and training settings across the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Sleep is a vital health behavior, and lack of sleep is reliably and prospectively linked with a host of adverse mental and physical health outcomes, including an increased risk of depression, suicide, accidents and injuries, cardiovascular morbidity, and mortality. Research has shown that sleep problems are prevalent in military populations particularly among servicemembers who have deployed to combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is perhaps not surprising, given that sleep problems are a common reaction to stress. Research further suggests that, for many servicemembers, sleep disturbances persist for months or even years after deployments have ended. Thus, it is critical to understand the individual- and system-level factors that contribute to the onset, persistence, and exacerbation of sleep problems, as well as the downstream consequences for servicemembers mental and physical health and operational readiness. However, no study to date has comprehensively examined the types of sleep problems servicemembers are experiencing, the programs available to servicemembers to promote healthy sleep and treat sleep disorders, or the policy-level factors that may contribute to servicemembers sleep health across the deployment cycle and specifically in the post-deployment period, when sleep problems may have lasting implications for servicemember resilience. To address these gaps, a team of researchers from the RAND National Defense Research Institute conducted reviews of the peer-reviewed academic literature and military policies and programs related to sleep.