B-177516 Enlisted Aide Program of the Military Services
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I1111 lllllIIIlllll lllll lllll lllllIll11 Ill1 Ill1 LM096396 B-177576 Department of Defense BY THE C OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, D.C. 200548 B-177516 To the President of the Senate and the c Speaker of the House of Representatives This is our report on the enlisted aide program of the \ military services, Department of Defense. C‘ / We made our review pursuant to the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 53), and the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 67). We are sending copies of this report to the Director, Office of Management and Budget; the Secretary of Defense; the Secretar- ies of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force; and the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Comptroller General of the United States Contents Page DIGEST 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 5 2 HISTORICAL AND LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND OF THE ENLISTED AIDE PROGRAM 8 Army and Air Force 8 Navy and Marine Corps 9 Legal aspects of using enlisted aides as servants 10 Summary 10 3 RECRUITMENT, ASSIGNMENT, AND TRAINING OF ENLISTED AIDES 12 Recruitment and assignment 12 Army training 13 Marine Corps training 15 Navy and Air Force training 15 4 MILITARY SERVICES' POSITIONS ON THE NEED FOR ENLISTED AIDES 16 Statements of the services regarding need for enlisted aides 16 Required hosting of official functions 18 Enlisted aides assigned by officer's rank 19 5 DUTIES AND TASKS OF ENLISTED AIDES 20 \ Major duties and tasks 20 Duties connected with entertaining 22 Feelings of enlisted aides about the the tasks assigned them 23 6 ENLISTED AIDES' ATTITUDES TOWARDTHE PROGRAM AND COMPARISONOF AIDES WITH OTHER SERVICE- MEN 24 Comparison of enlisted aides with servicemen in general 25 Rotation of enlisted aides 27 APPEND1 X Page I Letter dated November 20, 1972, from’ Senator William Proxmire to the General Accounting Office 29 II Letter dated December 1, 1972, from Senator William Proxmire to the General Accounting Office 31 III Personnel and training costs 36 IV Statutory authority for enlisted aide program 37 V Letter dated February 5, 1973, from the General Accounting Office to the Secretary of Defense 38 VI Letter dated March 23, 1973, from the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) to the General Accounting Office 40 VII Army reply 41 VIII Navy and Marine Corps replies 53 IX Air Force reply 64 TABLE 1 Geographic distribution of officers and aides as of December 1972 5 2 Percent of admirals and generals citing various duties 2 responsibilities, condi- tions, and demands on their time as a basis for needing enlisted aides 17 3 Percent, by military service, of enlisted aides who said they did various tasks and of officers who said they assigned these tasks to their enlisted aides 21 / TABLE Page 1 4 Average hours per day spent preparing and serving meals and cleaning quarters, as estimated by enlisted aides 21 Percent of enlisted aides who said they did ~ additional tasks not included in table 3 22 Percent, by military service, of officers who said they used enlisted aides at offi- cial and unofficial functions 22 7 Percent, by military service, of officers responding to several catagories of frequency of official and unofficial functions 23 8 Reenlistment intention and intention to remain in the aide program according to years in the service and years in the aide program 24 9 Racial composition of enlisted aides 25 10 Promotion rates of enlisted aides compared with those of all enlisted,men 26 ABBREVIATIONS GAO General Accounting Office I I I I I I COMPTROLLERGENERAL!S ENLISTEDAIDE PROGRAM I REPORT TO THE CONGRESS OF THE MILITARY SERVICES I I Department of Defense B-177516 I I I I ------DIGEST I I I WHYTHE REVIEW WASMADE not prohibited by law. The assign- 42 ment of enlisted men under the juris- Senator William Proxmire requested diction of the Secretary of the Navy /+ GAO to to duties in a service capacity in I I officers' messes and public quarters I --clarify the statutory and budgetary is authorized by law. (See p. 8.) I I justification for the e-de I pEwam -c-.-w-ruLT-.%x.of the military,w.*v_--I..L-.% ssL-*em,; services, Enlisted aides are assiqned to.senior I I and of~~~~~~-~~~~e~~~~~~~~nfficers I fx~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~wb;~~ch, if per- I --determine the nature and propriety formed by the officers themselves, I I of tasks and duties assigned to would be done at the expense of the I ;;ljsted aides. (See apps. I and officers’ primary military and offi- I I . cial duties. I I FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS A court decision and military regula- I I tions state that the propriety of I As of December 1972, 1,722 enlisted duties of enlisted men is governed I men were assigned as aides to 860 ad- by the purpose the duties serve I I mirals and generals and 110 Navy cap- rather than the nature of these I tains. The remaining 457 admirals duties and that the aides' duties I i and generals were not assigned en- must further the accomplishment of a I listed aides. (See p. 5.) necessary military purpose. (See I 1 p. 10.) I P- sts of the enlisted aide I program for fiscal year 1973 were GAO believes it would be difficult I I about $21.3 million; trtin.i.ng.;,cqsts to police any abuses and enforce the were about $360,000. (See.p. 7.) regulations. However, it would prob- I I ably be helpful if the military I Assignment as an enlisted aide is services formally called attention I supposed to be strictly voluntary, to violations and prohibited the L I and enlisted aides are supposed to be further use of enlisted personnel in I , able to transfer from the program such circumstances. (See p. 11.) t at any time. Of 312 aides inter- I 1 viewed by GAO, 272 said they volun- Enlisted aides usually are assigned I teered for the program. The other on the basis of one aide per star-- I I 40 aides said they were assigned. a system that, the military services I (See p. 12.) stated, long has been traditional to I I match the'officers' increasing re- The furnishing of enlisted aides to sponsibility and frequency of occa- f Army and Air Force officers, while I sions requiring personal services, I not specifically provided for by law, including official entertainment. I is a long recognized custom and is (See p. 13.) I I I I I I 1 Tear Sheet I I I I The Marine Corps has three special Most indicated also that the officers training courses for enlisted aides and their families generally treated and the Army has one special course them with dignity and respect. (See and one on-the-job training facility. pp. 23 and 25.) The Air Force and the Navy rely mainly on on-the-job training. (See Younger aides are less likely to re- pp. 13 and 15.) enlist and more likely to transfer out of the program than older aides. The military services provided GAO Aides with relatively little experi- with official positions on the en- ence in the program are more likely listed aide program. They stated to leave the program than more ex- that senior officers required en- perienced aides. (See p. 24.) listed aides due to A large percentage of enlisted aides --the 24-hour-a-day nature of their in all of the services except the jobs, Army are members of minority groups. About 98 percent of Navy aides are --the requirement to host numerous Filipinos; 65 percent of Marine aides official functions, and 35 percent of Air Force aides are black. The Navy and Marine --their extended and irregular work Corps have programs designed to al- hours, and leviate the racial imbalance. The Air Force does not restrict entry to --the need to free the officers' racial groups because the program is wives to provide leadership to voluntary. (See p. 25.) women's organizations and voluntary community services. Enlisted aides in the Navy are not promoted to the higher grades as The 106 admirals and generals re- fast as servicemen in other special- sponding to a GAO questionnaire gave ties because the high retention rates similar reasons for requiring of senior enlisted aides results in enlisted aides. (See apps. VI few openings in higher grades. (See through IX and p. 16.) Almost all p. 27.) said they used enlisted aides to pre- pare for and serve at official and unofficial functions. The average RECOMMENDATIONS number of these functions per month was 2.9 and 1.6, respectively. (See None. p. 23.) Tasks performed by enlisted aides AGENCYCOMMENTS AND UNRESOLVEDISSUES are those generally associated with domestic servants: preparing and The military services,were provided serving meals, cleaning quarters, all of the data GAO gathered in the I maintaining grounds, and bartending. interviews with the enlisted aides (See p. 22.) and from the questionnaires to the generals and admirals. GAO obtained Most enlisted aides interviewed be- the military services' official po- lieved the tasks they performed sitions on the enlisted aide program assisted the officers and released and these statements are included as them to work on their primary duties. appendixes VI through IX. 2 I I I I MATTERSFOR CONSIDERATION in its consideration of Senate bill I BY THE GONGRESS 853, which would restrict officers' use of enlisted men for servant-type I duties and would eliminate the en- I I This report may assist the Congress listed aide training courses. i I I Tear Sheet CIIAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Each of the mi litary services ass 'igns enlisted men as personal aides to senior officers to relieve the officer OC minor details which, if performed by the officer himself, would be at the expense of the officer’s primary military and official duties.