According to federal laws and Department of Defense (DOD) policy, servicemembers are entitled to permanent change-of-station (PCS) benefits—paid moving expenses—when assigned to a location for longer than 20 weeks. These moving expenses are paid from each service’s military personnel appropriation. For fiscal year 1995, the $2.9 billion in PCS expenditures represented nearly 4 percent of DOD’s total military personnel appropriation. The services classify each PCS move into one of six budget categories: accessions, separations, organized unit moves, overseas rotational moves, operational moves, and training moves. Accessions and separations refer to servicemembers’ entrance into and departure from the service. Organized unit moves occur when facilities are closed or moved (for example, due to Base Realignment and Closure Commission decisions). The remaining three categories include moves to and from overseas locations (rotational), moves that occur between installations and do not require transoceanic travel (operational), and moves to and from training schools. Appendix I contains a full description of each PCS budget category and elements of PCS expenditures within the military personnel appropriation. The military services have limited control over the costs of relocating servicemembers because most relocation entitlements are provided in U.S. laws and DOD policies. The services also have limited control over the number of servicemembers they must move each year because of agreements with foreign countries and requirements of some U.S. laws. Other moves are made to maintain readiness throughout the force. Title 37 of the United States Code provided that, without regard to the comparative costs of the various modes of transportation, a member of a uniformed service is entitled to travel and transportation allowances for travel performed under authorized orders. Title 37 specifies several conditions for such allowances, including a permanent change of station, enlistment or induction into a uniformed service, and separation or retirement from active duty. Accordingly, DOD policies require the services to pay the cost of moving recruits to their first duty station. The services must also pay relocation costs for members separating from the service, whether involuntarily or voluntarily. Nearly 58 percent of the PCS moves in fiscal year 1995 were for personnel entering and leaving the military. Another 3 percent required the movement of entire units because of force structure changes, such as the changes resulting from the Base Realignment and Closure Commission decisions. U.S. national security commitments require the services to station about 250,000 military personnel overseas for tours of 1 to 3 years. Mutual defense agreements between the United States and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization require the United States to maintain about 100,000 uniformed servicemembers in Europe. Similar agreements with Asian-Pacific nations require the United States to maintain nearly 100,000 servicemembers in Asia, especially Korea and Japan. Each overseas position requires two PCS moves: one to fill the position and one for the servicemember leaving the position. About 22 percent of the PCS moves in fiscal year 1995 were for overseas rotational moves in direct support of the military services’ required overseas presence. As table 1 shows, cumulatively, accessions, separations, unit moves, and overseas rotational moves accounted for almost 83 percent of the services’ PCS moves in fiscal year 1995 and over three-quarters of their costs. As table 1 also shows, reassignments of servicemembers between military installations within the United States (operational moves) make up nearly 13 percent of all PCS moves. Sometimes, these operational moves are required to fill about 21,000 joint duty positions required under the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. Each service also must move personnel within the United States to meet requirements placed upon them by law and DOD and service policies. For example, the Army anticipates relocating nearly 5,000 active duty personnel to help train reserve forces as required under the Army National Guard Combat Readiness Reform Act of 1992. Other moves occur to fill positions the services designate as having high priority duties, such as recruiters, drill instructors, and command infrastructure and management positions. In addition, personnel separations and overseas reassignments have a ripple effect on units based in the United States and may require other PCS moves to ensure readiness at all levels. For example, personnel returning from overseas assignments cannot always fill the specific position of another individual selected to go overseas. The services must match grades, skills, and experience requirements of positions with the personnel being assigned. Thus, some additional PCS moves may occur as the services make such matches. Finally, table 1 shows that nearly 5 percent of the services’ PCS moves in fiscal year 1995 were for servicemembers to attend specialized schools or training courses for 20 weeks or longer. Some training is necessary to meet the educational requirements of selected military positions and the minimum standards established by the services. The services acknowledge that limiting the frequency of PCS moves would reduce costs and improve the quality of life for servicemembers. Consequently, the services are reviewing and revising their PCS policies and practices. Each service is examining ways to increase the time a servicemember remains in a geographic area, also known as time-on-station. In some instances, changes have been made. In February 1995, the Air Force began restricting the ability of major command officials to transfer military personnel between installations within the command unless the receiving installation was staffed below the Air Force’s average “fill rate.” The Air Force estimates that, as a result of this change, it reduced its fiscal year 1995 PCS expenditures by $8 million, or about 4 percent of total Air Force operational PCS costs. The Chief of Naval Operations encourages multiple tours in the same geographic location whenever possible—commonly referred to as “homesteading.” In September 1995, the Navy initiated a program to permit eligible enlisted sailors stationed at south Texas installations to homestead when possible. The Chief of Naval Operations instructed the Bureau of Naval Personnel to develop options expanding homesteading to as many Navy locations as possible. In December 1995, several options were given to the Chief of Naval Operations for review. In October 1995, the Commandant of the Marine Corps directed personnel managers to increase the number of enlisted personnel assigned to consecutive tours in three geographic locations—North Carolina, Southern California, and the Washington, D.C., National Capital area. They believe this program will increase the time a marine is stationed in a geographic area, improve the family’s quality of life, reduce the number of PCS moves, and save money. In June 1995, the Air Force initiated a systematic review of its PCS program to identify ways to reduce expenditures. The initial phase of this study will examine tour lengths. The goal is to reduce the number of positions with maximum tour lengths. Maximum tour lengths limit how long a person may stay in one location. In addition, the Air Force is considering increasing the number of minimum tour lengths where practicable. Longer tours mean fewer PCS moves and reduced expenditures. The Army contracted with the Rand Corporation to help determine how the Army could address personnel management issues, including suggestions to help reduce its PCS moves. Only one of the alternatives studied reduced the number of PCS moves and saved costs. That alternative was to reduce the number of soldiers stationed overseas. Rand Corporation’s December 1995 draft report noted, however, that the number of soldiers the Army must station overseas is beyond the Army’s control. All services offer incentives to personnel on overseas tours if they extend their tour or remain for a second tour. Servicemembers electing to remain overseas for a second tour receive one round-trip airfare for themselves and their authorized dependents to their home in the United States. Servicemembers electing to extend their tour by 1 year receive either additional monthly pay, 30 days of special leave, or 15 days of special leave and round-trip airfare to the nearest U.S. port of entry. According to service officials, the collective cost of the incentives is less than the two moves that would be required to replace the servicemember. The special leave and additional monthly pay incentives are funded by the services’ military personnel appropriation. In some instances, the round-trip airfare is funded by command operation and maintenance appropriations. For extension programs with allowances funded from their operation and maintenance appropriation, Army overseas commanders were reluctant to encourage a soldier to extend a tour. In these instances, the commanders believed other items funded from the operation and maintenance appropriation, such as gasoline, spare parts, and training, were higher priorities. Beginning in fiscal year 1997, all incentives will be funded from the services’ military personnel appropriation, although the Army began implementing the program in January 1996. The services believe their ongoing studies could lead to reduced costs and less frequent PCS moves. We agree with the services. In addition, in several of our prior reports on other subjects, we have identified opportunities to improve operations, which could also reduce PCS costs. We reported in October 1994 that the services could cut military personnel costs by using civilians for certain positions. Civilians can more effectively provide continuity and institutional memory because they are less subject to frequent reassignments. Yet, the services assign thousands of military personnel to support functions such as personnel management, finance, and data processing that are typically performed by civilian personnel and do not require knowledge or skills acquired through military experience. In some instances, valid reasons exist for not replacing military support personnel with civilians. For example, some military positions are needed to provide time in the United States for servicemembers rotating from tours abroad. In other instances, replacements that should be made are impeded by factors such as downsizing and funding. In commenting on a draft of this report, service officials expressed concerns about continuing reductions in funds for civilian personnel. We reported, in December 1994, that the services maintain more recruiting stations throughout the United States than they need.