Keeping the marines in the field: Results of a field experiment

A package of tools for military managers to implement a program for effective human service activities in the unit was developed and evaluated as a pretest-posttest quasi-experiment with a matched control group. The package was comprised of a set of activities modeled after well-known principles of effective leadership behavior. Several effects of the program on commanders, unit members, and unit absenteeism rates were found, including a 50% reduction in absenteeism. Relevance of the findings to military human service programs, evaluation research, and absenteeism research are discussed.