Are Smart Tankers Better? AFQT and Military A Productivity

In this article the relationship between soldier productivity and individual characteristics is examined. Our measure of output is the score achieved on a live fire tank gunnery test administered to U.S. Army units in West Germany in early 1984. The crew members' characteristics for which we controlled include mental aptitude, educational and racial background, Army experience, and time served in current position. We also controlled for the type of tank: the 1960s vintage M-60 versus the new M4-. Our statistical results confirm that both soldiers who have higher mental aptitude and those who have been stabilized longer in their current position performed significantly better in tank gunnery. In addition, the M-1 tank greatly increases productivity of tank crews. We use our results to argue that educational assistance and other enlistment incentive programs designed to attract "high-quality" recruits are justified by the recruits' greater productivity.