military joint assignments

Development Beyond the Joint Qualification System: An Overview

By Dina Eliezer, Theresa K. Mitchell, and Allison Abbe Joint Force Quarterly 95

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I n 1986, Congress passed the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act, leading to substantial reforms in joint officer personnel policy and management. Goldwater-Nichols requirements were based on concerns that the Department of Defense (DOD) had paid insufficient attention to joint officer management and on a perception that there were disincentives to serving in joint assignments. Twenty years after Goldwater-Nichols, continued congressional interest in joint officer development resulted in the 2007 requirement for DOD to establish different levels of joint qualification and supporting criteria for each level. 1 In response to this congressional requirement, DOD evaluated the state of Joint Officer Management (JOM) and the Joint Specialty Officer designation process and implemented the Joint Qualification System (JQS) to support a more strategic human resource approach to JOM. 2

The JQS is a system of progressive career development steps intended to prepare officers for unified action at the operational and strategic levels. Under the current JQS, officers become credentialed as Joint Qualified Officers through a combination of education and experience, and this designation is required for promotion to general officer/flag officer. The experience requirement can be met either through standard joint duty assignments (S-JDA) after service in a Joint Duty Assignment List (JDAL) position or through joint experience points obtained from experience in non-JDAL joint duty assignments and experiences that demonstrate an officer’s mastery of knowledge, skills, and abilities in joint matters (experience-based joint duty assignments, or E-JDA). For both S-JDA and E-JDA, the preponderance of duties must involve joint matters as defined by statute.

The JQS recognizes that significant experience in joint matters is gained through operations supported by joint task forces and other organizations, such as the interagency community and international and nongovernmental partners, as well as through joint exercises and joint training events or courses. At the time of its implementation, the definition of joint matters was fairly general and focused on the joint aspects of military operations: “matters related to unified action by multiple military forces in operations across domains such as land, sea, or air, in space, or in information environment.” 3 As a result, the JQS was originally intended to include a broad range of experiences, including joint training, education, participation in exercises, and self-development learning opportunities, as well as non-JDAL joint assignments.

Subsequent changes to the definition of joint matters and associated policy since 2007 have limited credit for E-JDA and S-JDA to strategic roles and select education and assignment opportunities. Changes to the definition in 2016 shifted the focus to the strategic mission level: “the development or achievement of strategic objectives through synchronization, coordination, and organization of integrated forces in operations conducted across domains, such as land, sea, or air, in space, or in the information environment.” 4 Additionally, other changes to the JOM policy have limited what are considered joint experiences. For instance, experiences in which the officer is not responsible for implementation of joint policy or program—for example, as a student or in a fellowship or in assignments affiliated with a degree-granting institution or research program—are not eligible for consideration.

Joint Leader Competencies

By focusing solely on the strategic level, the JQS omits a host of joint experiences that may nonetheless be important for building joint competencies. Despite changes to JOM policy and a narrowing of the joint matters definition since 2007, successful leadership in joint environments continues to require a broad set of competencies. In a study on developing Army officers for the joint environment, the officers interviewed cited the importance of joint knowledge, including awareness of the function, capabilities, and cultures of other governments, agencies, or Services. 5 They also emphasized the importance of critical thinking and expertise in their functional specialties. However, above all else, officers emphasized the importance of interpersonal skills, explaining that in joint environments it is essential to develop relationships, listen to diverse viewpoints, and motivate disparate groups to collaborate toward a common goal. Another study of senior executive service members, Reserve component and general and flag officers, and noncommissioned officers arrived at similar conclusions about the skills needed in joint environments. Interviewees emphasized the importance of general people and leadership skills, understanding of other organizations, knowledge of joint operations and doctrine, and expertise in their own fields. 6

Despite an adequate understanding of the skills needed in joint environments, officers are not always sufficiently prepared for assignments at joint commands. In one study of Joint Staff officers and their senior leaders serving in assignments at the nine combatant command headquarters, more than half of respondents indicated that the learning curve required in their position was 7 months or longer. 7 This amounted to almost one-third of a 22- to 24-month assignment period. Part of the skill deficit may be due to a lack of education, as about three quarters of Joint Staff officers had not yet attended joint professional military education Phase II courses. Furthermore, given that nearly half of the headquarters billets were at the O-4 level and below, officers may have lacked a sufficient career history of joint duty assignments, deployments, and exercises to prepare them for the position.

To better prepare personnel for these roles, the Services and Joint Staff should consider developmental assignments more systematically and promote joint development at an earlier career stage. Formal joint professional military education specifies learning outcomes, instructional methods, and content, and aligns assessments to those learning outcomes. Informal experiential learning, by definition, does not lend itself to the same degree of structure; nonetheless, experiential learning through assignments can be part of a developmental career progression that sets the conditions for systematically building joint competencies over time.

Challenging Experiences Build Competency

Joint development is best completed through a progressive model or building-block approach whereby leaders are exposed to a wide range of increasingly complex and challenging learning experiences. These opportunities to progressively develop the joint competencies described above are not limited to just the strategic level or to formal educational settings, as predicated in the current JQS. Rather, research suggests that a broad range of experiences builds competency, particularly in areas of knowledge that lack clear guidelines or specific sets of rules. 8 Knowledge that is acquired through experience and that cannot be articulated through a formalized set of rules is referred to as tacit knowledge . In this context, tacit knowledge includes understanding how to work with and lead others of different backgrounds, shape the environment, and contribute and combine Service-specific resources in the joint environment. This learning through application or experience-based tacit knowledge is especially important for problem-solving and has been linked to favorable performance among military and business leaders. 9 Tacit knowledge may be particularly important for joint assignments, given the scope of responsibilities and the competencies required.

Foundationally, experiences must be sufficiently challenging, complex, and broad to have a significant impact on leadership development. Developmentally enhancing experiences often involve high levels of responsibility while performing novel tasks, implementing change, working across functional domains, and working with diverse groups. 10 These challenging experiences promote joint development because they push individuals to think beyond parochial Service perspectives, expend greater effort, cope with uncertainty, reflect on their outcomes, and develop new behaviors. 11 A wealth of empirical research supports the positive relationship between challenging work environments and development. In fact, supervisors rate junior managers as more competent when they are positioned in challenging assignments. 12 Leaders indicate that they developed the most in positions that were different from their typical assignments. 13

While it is important to provide challenging and diverse developmental experiences, individuals also vary in their abilities to draw the appropriate lessons from these challenging experiences and then generalize those lessons to subsequent experiences. Leaders early in their careers are more apt to develop and modify their behaviors in response to challenging experiences, compared to more experienced leaders. Experienced leaders may have well-established belief systems and patterns of behavior that are less amenable to change when compared to their younger counterparts. Less-experienced leaders simply have more to learn and may be more willing to adapt and change. 14

Implications for Joint Leader Development

As reflected in the research above, to develop joint competency in the military, it is necessary to place Servicemembers in challenging joint environments early in their careers. Joint environments require leaders to manage a complex set of individual and group relationships, all while executing a technically challenging and novel mission. Not all joint experiences may be sufficient to develop joint competency. To contribute significantly to development, experiences must be novel, complex, and difficult, without creating overwhelming cognitive demands. 15 This points to a progression of multiple, increasingly challenging joint experiences over one’s career.

To assess whether the types of experiences recognized in the JQS meet these criteria, we reviewed a subset of E-JDA self-nominations, limiting the review to Air Force submissions that were disapproved in calendar year 2017. E-JDA submissions are reviewed by JQS Experience Review Panels three times per year. Panels determine whether each submission meets the joint matters criteria, does not meet the criteria, or should be rewritten. The panels then make a recommendation to the Vice Director of the Joint Staff.

When considering whether to award joint credit for an experience, the JQS Experience Review Panels assess both the “how” (the nature of the work completed) and the “who” (with whom the officer worked). Guidance to the panels requires that joint experiences must be strategic in nature and meet the other elements of the joint matters definition—for example, involving interaction with personnel from another Service, with other U.S. departments or agencies, with foreign military or agencies, or with nongovernmental entities. Although the who component of this requirement is quite broad, the strategic focus limits the scope of experiences eligible for joint credit.

The review of Air Force E-JDA submission denials confirmed the limitations of the system described herein. Although the E-JDA submission form requests information on what members did and with whom they did it, the decisions recommended by the panels do not appear to reflect consideration of the who, but instead rely almost exclusively on the what. Most of the disapproved submissions reported experiences involving supervisors and peers from other Services, foreign militaries, and U.S. agencies or non-DOD entities, but they did not receive joint credit due to the tactical or operational level of the work. Thus, the JQS recognizes joint experiences at only one mission level rather than encouraging a progression of experiences that develops leaders over time. Strategically focused joint experiences are certainly critical, but experiences at the tactical and operational levels are important components of a developmental progression toward joint and strategic leadership. The extent to which an experience is broadening and challenging likely plays more of a role in determining joint development than the specific mission level.

By focusing solely on the strategic level, the JQS omits a host of joint experiences that are important for the Services to encourage, track, and assess for their own joint leader development efforts. Additionally, current Service career milestones may not incentivize joint experiences at early career stages. This limited scope may be necessary from a DOD perspective; providing too many officers with joint qualification through E-JDA may deplete the supply of officers available for JDAL positions. However, from a Service perspective, the limited scope of the JQS provides no benefit and could serve as a disincentive for personnel to seek a variety of challenging joint experiences. Because officers early in their careers likely have the most to gain from the challenge of a joint experience, it is advisable to encourage joint experiences through alternative mechanisms outside the JQS. The Services often retain their best talent for Service leadership positions at the expense of exposing members to a greater breadth of joint experiences at different levels.

Broader approaches to assess, track, and manage joint capabilities are needed within the Services to develop a fully joint-competent force. Service-specific approaches to recognize a wide range of joint experiences throughout the career cycle should emphasize the value of joint matters, encourage Servicemembers to pursue joint opportunities, and support more informed personnel management. It is important for the Services and DOD to recognize and convey the value of joint experiences for career development. Joint experiences are broadening experiences; they provide opportunities to develop general leadership and problem-solving skills that can be applied to both Service-specific and joint domains.

The Air Force Joint Talent Tracking and Management Initiative

Airmen bring unique Service perspectives and capabilities to the complex challenges of joint warfighting. Yet the Air Force is underrepresented in the senior joint positions most influential for national security strategy and warfighting, as well as Joint Staff positions that are seen as preparatory positions for senior levels of joint command. Various factors may explain this underrepresentation, but one important reason may be that the Air Force often develops its top talent for positions within the Service rather than for joint leadership. 16 Moreover, as revealed in the review of the 2016 Air Force E-JDA submissions, Airmen are gaining valuable joint experiences that are not recognized under the JQS, which can serve as a disincentive to seeking joint experiences that would help develop joint leaders.

Recognizing the need for greater emphasis on joint development within the Air Force, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General David L. Goldfein, established “Strengthening Joint Leaders and Teams” as an Air Force key focus area to advance the Air Force’s Future Operating Concept, Strategic Master Plan, and Air Force priorities. In response, the Air Force initiated 26 supporting projects to improve joint development. One of these projects is the Joint Talent Tracking and Management (JTTM) initiative to assess, track, and manage joint experience within the Air Force.

The JTTM initiative recognizes the need to value and track both traditional and nontraditional joint experiences across different career fields. The current joint matters definition in the JQS is too narrowly focused on strategic roles and has been limited to joint officer development, whereas the Air Force aims to track and encourage a broad range of joint experiences for all Airmen (officers, enlisted, and civilians). Accordingly, the Air Force broadened the definition of what is considered joint.

Specifically, JTTM uses a broad Air Force–specific definition of joint experiences : “an assignment or experience that develops or demonstrates mastery of knowledge, skills, and abilities in joint, interagency, intergovernmental, or multinational (JIIM) topics or activities.” JIIM experiences include not only billets and operational assignments, but also education, exercises, and other experiences. The definition aligns with joint policy, adapting the definition of E-JDA in the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction on JOM, but expands the range of experiences and extends beyond officers to enlisted Airmen and civilians. Additionally, the JTTM development team defined a set of indicators to use in identifying, validating, and potentially valuing these experiences. The indicators, drawn from previous studies regarding joint experience, are as follows: type of experience, duration of the experience, exposure to non–Air Force personnel or organizations, organizational level, mission level, joint functions, and joint role. 17

To ensure that Airmen had a voice in the initiative, the JTTM development team gathered input from Career Field Managers and other Airmen when developing the definition and indicators. Career Field Managers tested a precoding questionnaire to assess officer and enlisted assignments on the joint experience indicators (duration, exposure to non–Air Force personnel or organizations, organizational level, mission level, joint functions, and joint role). Additionally, both officer and enlisted Airmen completed self-nomination questionnaires describing their joint assignments, deployments, and education along the indicator dimensions. The study initially involved career fields that were known to have joint experiences, such as air liaison, explosive ordnance disposal, medical corps, judge advocate general corps, logistics, and weather, but later extended to a broader range of fields (for example, foreign area officers, cyber, intelligence, force support, mobility pilots, fighter pilots, and airfield operations).

Responses to the precoding and self-nomination questionnaire indicated a diverse range of joint experiences, roles, and functions available to Airmen. Most respondents indicated that exposure to JIIM personnel or organizations occurred on a daily or weekly basis. The majority of precoded questionnaires identified experiences at the tactical level, while about half of self-nominated questionnaires were at the operational level. Given that the majority of these experiences lacked a strategic focus, they would not be eligible for E-JDA credit, yet they clearly demonstrated exposure to a broad range of joint experiences in a variety of domains.

In a related initiative, the Air Force is working to refine joint knowledge standards as part of its Institutional Competencies. Many of these joint competencies align with the knowledge, skills, and abilities described by officers and other senior leaders in the research highlighted above, particularly those pertaining to joint knowledge. Recognizing the interdependency between joint competency and leadership competency in general, the joint competencies were developed to align with the Air Force’s broader competency framework. This allows for a greater integration of joint skills throughout career development.

Currently, the Air Force is working to implement its Institutional Competencies (including joint competencies), JTTM, and other joint development initiatives. Next steps for JTTM include developing the processes and information technology to support the collection and storage of JIIM experience information for use in career development. In combination with the other joint development initiatives, the Air Force’s JTTM system will directly promote joint career development by conveying the value the Air Force places on joint experiences, encouraging more Airmen to pursue joint opportunities, and supporting more informed personnel management. Broadening the tracking of joint experiences beyond officers and to a wider spectrum of experiences, including tactical and operational joint exposure, will enable the Air Force to develop a deeper pool of joint competent and credible Airmen across all ranks. The Air Force’s enhancement of its tracking and management of joint experiences for all Airmen acknowledges the crucial role of enlisted and civilian Airmen and the fact that officers serve as only one element of the Air Force team in a joint fight.

Conclusions

Joint experiences provide the kinds of complex “stretch” assignments that contribute to leadership development. A variety of joint experiences at all mission levels (for example, tactical, operational, and strategic) can place Servicemembers in complex situations, expose them to diverse perspectives, and require them to engage in new behaviors and ways of thinking that develop stronger leaders. As such, joint experiences should be considered as valuable for their potential to develop not only joint competencies but also broader leadership and problem-solving skills that will transfer to both joint and senior Service leadership. The Services should plan for these experiential assignments more deliberately, developing the bench for future joint leadership earlier in members’ careers.

Today’s adversaries are increasingly challenging the United States by employing lethal and nonlethal effects across multiple domains and regions. As military operations grow in sophistication and complexity, the value of joint leaders who have progressed through developmentally challenging joint experiences will increase. The JQS focus on officers working at the strategic level will be insufficient to build the joint-ready force needed to meet our nation’s warfighting demands. It is time to move beyond a strategic and officer-centric joint development focus and ensure that joint development encompasses the total force. Joint officers cannot succeed without civilian and enlisted leaders who are similarly developed for joint roles. The Air Force has taken steps to enhance joint development that can serve as a model for the other Services in developing their own career development processes to better prepare leaders for the demands of joint operations. These efforts should proceed in close coordination with the Joint Staff, consistent with JOM and education policies, to ensure that career development meets both Service and joint requirements. JFQ

1 H.R. 5122, Pub. L. 109-364, John Warner National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2007 .

2 Government Accountability Office (GAO), Joint Officer Development Has Improved, but a Strategic Approach Is Needed , GAO-03-238 (Washington, DC: GAO, 2002); Independent Study of Joint Officer Management and Joint Professional Military Education (Washington, DC: Booz Allen Hamilton, 2003); and Harry J. Thie et al., Framing a Strategic Approach for Joint Officer Management (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2005); Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 1330.05A, Joint Officer Management Program Procedures (Washington, DC: The Joint Staff, December 15, 2005).

3 “Department of Defense Joint Officer Management Joint Qualification System Implementation Plan,” March 30, 2007, A-4.

4 Title 10, U.S. Code, § 668, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 .

5 M. Wade Markel et al., Developing U.S. Army Officers’ Capabilities for Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational Environments (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2011).

6 Raymond E. Conley et al., Enhancing the Performance of Senior Department of Defense Civilian Executives, Reserve Component General/Flag Officers, and Senior Noncommissioned Officers in Joint Matters (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2008).

7 The Joint Staff Officer Project, Final Report (Washington, DC: The Joint Staff, April 2008).

8 Morgan W. McCall, Jr., “Developing Executives Through Work Experiences,” in Human Resource Planning : Solutions to Key Business Issues , ed. David M. Schweiger and Klaus Papenfuss (Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag, 1992), 219–229; and Cynthia D. McCauley, Leader Development: A Review of Research (Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership, 2008).

9 Jennifer Hedlund et al., “Identifying and Assessing Tacit Knowledge: Understanding the Practical Intelligence of Military Leaders,” The Leadership Quarterly 14, no. 2 (2003), 117–140; and Robert J. Sternberg and Richard K. Wagner, “Tacit Knowledge: An Unspoken Key to Managerial Success,” Creativity and Innovation Management 1, no. 1 (1992), 5–13.

10 Cynthia D. McCauley, Patricia J. Ohlott, and Marian N. Ruderman, Job Challenge Profile, Facilitator’s G uide: Learning from Work Experience (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 1999); Cynthia D. McCauley et al., “Assessing the Developmental Components of Managerial Jobs,” Journal of Applied Psychology 79, no. 4 (1994), 544; and Patricia J. Ohlott, “Job Assignments,” in The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development , ed. Cynthia D. McCauley and Ellen Van Velsor (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 151–182.

11 D. Scott DeRue and Ned Wellman, “Developing Leaders via Experience: The Role of Developmental Challenge, Learning Orientation, and Feedback Availability,” Journal of Applied Psychology 94, no. 4 (2009), 859.

12 Lisa Dragoni et al., “Understanding Managerial Development: Integrating Developmental Assignments, Learning Orientation, and Access to Developmental Opportunities in Predicting Managerial Competencies,” The Academy of Management Journal 52, no. 4 (August 2009), 731–743.

13 Morgan W. McCall, Jr., and George P. Hollenbeck, Developing Global Executives: The Lessons of International Experience (Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, 2002).

14 Giles Hirst et al., “Learning to Lead: The Development and Testing of a Model of Leadership Learning,” The Leadership Quarterly 15, no. 3 (2004), 311–327.

15 DeRue and Wellman, “Developing Leaders via Experience,” 859.

16 Caitlin Lee et al., Rare Birds: Understanding and Addressing Air Force Underrepresentation in Senior Joint Positions in the Post–Goldwater-Nichols Era (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2017).

17 John F. Schank et al., Who Is Joint? Reevaluating the Joint Duty Assignment List (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1996); Sheila Nataraj Kirby et al., Who Is “Joint”? New Evidence from the 2005 Joint Officer Management Census Survey (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2006); and Margaret C. Harrell et al., A Strategic Approach to Joint Officer Management: Analysis and Modeling Results (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2009).

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Pursuant to congressional requests, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) joint duty assignment list (JDAL) to determine whether assignments provided officers with experience in joint military operations.

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Military Leaders Urge Congress to Pass Timely 2025 Defense Budget

Hokanson and others testified today before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee hearing on the National Guard and Reserve budget. 

The general's statement emphasized the importance of passing the budget on time and avoiding continuing resolutions, which reduce buying power and negatively impact readiness and modernization. 

Spotlight: FY 2025 Defense Budget

"If we fail to modernize our equipment and force design adequately, we increase the risk of sending America's sons and daughters into large-scale combat operations with equipment and formations that may not be fully interoperable with the active duty forces we serve alongside," he said in written testimony. 

Last year, the National Guard conducted peacekeeping missions, homeland defense operations and training exercises. Guardsmen also responded to disasters, saving 476 lives, he said in the statement.  

Spotlight: Helping Hands

The Army Reserve is "fiscally efficient," supporting the total force with just 16% of reservists serving as full-time support, she said in her statement. 

Making up nearly 20% of the Army's total personnel, the Army Reserve provides critical skillsets and capabilities at a cost of just 6% of the total Army budget, Daniels said in prepared testimony. 

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"The joint force cannot deploy, fight and win without the Army Reserve," she said in her written statement. 

The Army Reserve requires consistent, adequate and predictable funding to maintain critical operational capabilities, the general said in her statement. 

Of the 60,000, 15,000 are on active duty, Mustin said in his statement. 

Timely, predictable and relevant funding from Congress enables the Navy Reserve to deliver this strategic depth and meet operational mission requirements, Mustin said in his prepared testimony. 

"Our commitment to readiness is unwavering," he said in his statement. 

Anderson noted that the Marine Corps Reserve has 158 Reserve Training Centers in 47 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. 

The Air Force Reserve budget request is crafted to ensure interoperability with the joint force and continuation of weapon systems modernization, he said. 

Spotlight: Taking Care of Our People

All five leaders spoke at length about the importance of innovation, taking care of their people and families and improving talent management.

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Active-Duty Families Seek Transparency on Hate Crimes and Racism in Military Communities

A nonprofit group is lobbying for the Defense Department to provide data to service members on community safety, hate crimes and compassionate reassignments at prospective duty stations to help their decisions when accepting orders.

The Secure Families Initiative, a nonprofit founded in 2000 to provide military families a voice on national security and foreign policy matters, launched its "Campaign for PCS Safety" this week to advocate for the disclosure of information that may sway a family's decision to move -- especially households who belong to a racial minority.

Shalena Critchlow, the wife of a Marine veteran and mother of an active-duty Marine, said her family experienced racial discrimination when seeking housing in Birmingham, Alabama, where her husband was assigned to recruiting duty. Critchlow, who is of Mexican descent, and her husband, who is Black, were told not to stop on their drive from Alabama to Mississippi for a Marine Corps ball one year.

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"We weren't from the South and only in the area because of military orders. But that moment was the first time that I feared we might be in harm's way," Critchlow wrote in a blog post on the organization's website.

Roughly one-third of all active-duty service members identify themselves as members of a racial minority, and 18% say they are Latino or Hispanic. The Defense Department does not collect race or ethnic data on military family members, but the Secure Families Initiative says that nearly half say they belong to a minority group.

A family's identities and composition are "rarely taken into account," however, when the military issues orders for a permanent change of station move, or PCS , according to the organization.

With this in mind, the group says troops regardless of rank or ethnicity should be provided information to make informed decisions on PCS orders. SFI Organizing Director Brandi Jones said that, while many states provide crime data, little is available from the federal government on the safety of its installations.

"The main takeaway is [there are] some policies that could help our families feel more safe ... like what is the crime rate, what are the hate crimes that are happening? Have you sent families home from this location for compassionate reassignment because of racial or ethnic bullying and how many? And was it a family like mine?" Jones said during an interview with Military.com.

Nearly universally, the spouses who spoke during a rollout session of the initiative on Facebook recounted experiences with racism in Southern states, although Utah also stands out as unfriendly to military families of color, said Kate Marsh Lord, the group's spokeswoman.

"There's a specific base where multiple families have been reassigned for bullying, bullying in schools," Lord said during an interview.

According to the Justice Department, the number of hate crimes in the U.S. rose from 10,840 in 2021 to 11,634 in 2022. Race-based crimes made up 56% of those incidents, while nearly 18% were related to religion -- largely anti-Jewish bias. Roughly 15% were crimes against gays or lesbians.

The group is seeking uniformity across the services on policies that improve service members' quality of life, including adoption of a Navy initiative that lets sailors defer a PCS move for a year if they have a high school senior, and the Air Force 's policy on expediting compassionate moves.

Even if the information on future duty stations is readily available, refusing orders to a duty station can damage or even end a military career. Jones said the information still could help service members decide to leave their families at their current community or send them home while the military member moves, known as "geo-batching."

SFI members met this spring with Senate Armed Services Committee members and staff seeking data transparency on crime, education policies and installation safety. They believe their voices have been heard, given that the Senate has included the creation of a commission on quality of life for military and civilian workers in its proposed fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, according to Jones.

While the text of the bill has yet to be released, the commission’s creation is noted in the legislation’s executive summary published Monday.

Jones said military children have a right to attend schools where they won't be bullied for their skin color, and spouses should be able to live in safe communities that feel like home. She added that the issues are also relevant to recruitment .

Citing her own child's experience encountering racism at various duty stations, she could see why military dependents might not follow in their parents' footsteps.

"These children ... are at that crossroad of having grown up and been treated this way, having concerns for their safety and not being included in the community. ... Would that be something they would want to continue?" Jones asked.

Related: Gay, Bisexual Troops More Likely to Suffer Sexual Assaults, Study Suggests

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US aircraft carrier arrives in South Korea for joint drills

• Carrier’s arrival shows the ‘firm resolve’ of South Korea and the US to respond to escalating threats from the North, Seoul’s navy says

A US aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Saturday for joint military drills aimed to better counter North Korean threats, Seoul’s navy said.

The announcement came a day after South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to Seoul to protest against a defence deal signed by President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang this week, which included a pledge to come to each other’s aid if attacked.

“The US Navy’s aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt … arrived at the Busan Naval Base on the morning of June 22,” the South Korean Navy said in a statement.

Its arrival “demonstrates the strong combined defence posture of the South Korea-US alliance and their firm resolve to respond to the escalating threats from North Korea”, it added.

The carrier’s visit comes around seven months after another US aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, came to the South in a show of strength against Pyongyang.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt is expected to participate in joint exercises with South Korea and Japan this month. Pyongyang has always decried similar combined drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

The United States, South Korea and Japan have expanded their joint training exercises and heightened the visibility of strategic US military assets in the region to deter the North, which has declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear weapons power.

The carrier arrived a day after Seoul said it had fired warning shots when North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the heavily fortified border in the third such incursion this month.

North Korean soldiers have recently been engaged in activities such as laying more landmines, reinforcing tactical roads and adding what seemed to be anti-tank barriers near the border, according to the South Korean military.

The two Koreas have also been locked in a tit-for-tat “balloon war”, with an activist in the South confirming Friday that he had floated more balloons carrying propaganda north.

Pyongyang has already sent more than a thousand balloons carrying trash southward, and Kim’s powerful sister Kim Yo-jong warned on Friday the North is likely to retaliate.

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Reporting by Anna Peverieri and Olivier Sorgho; Editing by Peter Graff and Mark Potter

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