Increasing a Sense of Community in the Military

Download or read book Increasing a Sense of Community in the Military written by Colette Van Laar and published by RAND Corporation. This book was released on 1999 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A universally accepted definition of what a sense of community is remains elusive, but policymakers agree that increasing that sense has tangible benefits for the U.S. military in improvements to commitment, performance, retention, and readiness. This report examines the role of the Defense Department's personnel support programs and focuses on nine tools for increasing sense of community: group symbols, rewards and honors, common external threat, making military membership attractive, group size and individuality, personal influence, personal investment, contact and proximity, and group activities. The report also analyzes which groups would most benefit from programs to increase a sense of community and how to avoid pitfalls when attempting to increase that sense.