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The U.S. Marine Corps' Body Composition and Military Appearance Program (BCMAP) standards were not developed from populations that reflect the current makeup of the force and the fitness requirements that they are subject to. Research suggests that the implementation of these standards could drive marines to adopt unhealthy behaviors, primarily those associated with disordered eating, to meet the standards while disproportionately affecting communities of color and women more generally. Furthermore, these unhealthy behaviors can cause significant short- and long-term mental and physical health problems that could negatively affect individual marines during their service and long after. Although there is some limited research on body-composition standards and eating disorders in the services, there has been little assessment of how the negative effects of policy and the behaviors associated with it affect the mental and physical health of individual marines (particularly those from communities of color and women more generally), career retention, and overall military readiness. Service and U.S. Department of Defense leadership have made talent management and diversity of the force at different levels of leadership an institutional priority; understanding how the BCMAP affects the force will help meet these objectives. This report will help decisionmakers understand how the BCMAP and its associated policies drive individual behavior, particularly for women in general and communities of color. It will also inform talent-management efforts and discussions about relevant national security implications while providing recommendations and a general framework for policy change.

Marines --- Physical fitness --- Body weight --- Health and hygiene --- Nutrition --- Standards --- Health aspects --- United States. --- Physical training.

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Force reductions to the United States Marine Corps (USMC) due to budget cuts, sequestration, and redeployments from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have affected logistics units, and in 2015 intermediate-level supply accounts experienced a reduction in personnel authorizations. At the same time, a movement toward supporting smaller-sized units in more distributed operations has placed a heavy burden on logistics support elements. Under the dual impositions of reduced manpower and increased requirements, intermediate-level supply forces may not be able to meet the needs of future contingency operations, and further personnel reductions may place additional strain on intermediate supply capacity. In order to help the USMC address this problem, RAND researchers focused on the two main types of intermediate-level supply organizations in each Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF): the Supply Management Unit (SMU) and the Repairable Issue Point (RIP). They conducted field visits to the SMUs and RIPs at each of the three MEFs to document supply processes, interviewed subject matter experts to better understand the challenges faced by SMUs and RIPs, and identified best practices that can be shared across these accounts. Subsequently, researchers developed a methodology that can be used to determine the recommended personnel numbers and daily workload depending on the supported force. This will help the Marine Corps assess whether intermediate supply accounts are manned sufficiently to meet the supported units' requirements. Process improvements that could help intermediate supply units work more efficiently in garrison are also proposed.

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The way in which a military organization plans for and conducts logistics can provide critical insights into how capably the military can achieve its operational objectives. Assumptions are often made about the capability of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to carry out and sustain high-end operations, but missing from that discussion is an assessment of how capably its logistics systems and processes perform, which affects how well the military might operate in actual conflict.  A review of literature on China's evolving military capabilities indicates that little attention has been given to the topic of the PLA's logistics capabilities, particularly understanding and analyzing the PLA's approach to some key subfunctions of logistics, such as maintenance. The People's Liberation Army's growing ability to project and sustain power will rely on its logistics capabilities, systems, and processes. The PLA is rapidly modernizing its military systems, which requires sophisticated maintenance management practices to keep pace with and maintain much more complex systems. An assessment of PLA progress in these capabilities requires an understanding of the PLA's approach to maintenance, which includes an assessment of its maintenance apparatus and how it operates within their system. In this report, the authors look at the PLA's historical approach to maintenance, identify critical reforms that affect maintenance practices, and highlight key themes related to the PLA's current maintenance capabilities.

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In light of the five-year anniversary of the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017, the RAND Corporation sought to understand and portray strategic, operational, and tactical applications of Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) principles in U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) operations and activities. A series of vignettes highlights specific efforts to implement DoD's WPS Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan in the military services and during operations with allies and partners. Although successful efforts to implement WPS principles are directly tied to specific policies and initiatives, this project demonstrates a growing gender-diverse and inclusive culture within DoD that supports grassroots efforts to apply gender perspectives to DoD activities and operations. However, though there are demonstrated successes operationalizing and implementing WPS across DoD, room for improvement exists to ensure the continued implementation of WPS principles to support U.S. military activities and operations that require diverse perspectives and flexibility to confront adversaries in a competitive environment.