Just as shortages of qualified personnel are a readiness problem for
the Army, so too is turbulence—a lack of stability—because the more
frequent the turnover of unit personnel, the less chance there is to
develop cohesion and teamwork, which most consider to be key
elements of an effective unit.

Turbulence is a stubborn problem. First, achieving zero turbulence
is inherently undesirable, since an Army with near-zero turbulence is
a stagnant one with limited upward or lateral mobility and few
opportunities for broadening or advancement. Second, many mea-
sures that might reduce turbulence to “better” levels would be dis-
tasteful or undesirable in other ways. These include increasing over-
seas tour lengths, altering the force structure, decreasing the
frequency of promotions, reducing permanent change of station
(PCS) school opportunities, and reducing individual taskings. ¹

However, DL-supported training programs—i.e., the judicious sub-
stitution of DL segments for some residential training—provide an
option for enhancing stability without undesirable policy or struc-
tural changes. Converting portions of the Army's resident courses to
DL can enhance leader availability and stability. While this overall
result is more or less intuitive, our analysis illustrates the magnitude
of that result. DL-supported courses increase soldier availability not
only by reducing the time spent away from home station, but also by
reducing the total amount of time needed for the training. And doing
so also improves family quality of life. Moreover, reducing the length

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