ABSTRACT
Military organization provides a rich and convenient setting for field research. Military operations generate salient issues in public policy. The public image of military organization is one of elaborate pageantry and ritual, esoteric rank and organizational designations, and a highly specialized and dangerous technology. The initiation to military life, whether in basic training or in a service academy, is a socially and psychologically expensive process. All military organizations are rigidly stratified into two major status groups, officers and enlisted men, a ranking that pervades all aspects of their service, family, and community life and is proactive into post service life. The major subgroupings in military organization are, of course, officers and enlisted men. The Military Personnel Records Jacket contains social background data, intelligence and aptitude test scores, assignment and occupational experience, records of disciplinary action in the term of service, and copies of all correspondence pertaining to the individual.
