What Happened?
Service members and their families at remote military installations across the U.S. are receiving inconsistent support, and the Pentagon lacks a clear system to fix it. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Department of Defense (DOD) has no consistent definition of what makes a military installation "remote and isolated," limiting its ability to systematically identify which installations face the greatest risks.
Across nine remote installations reviewed, the GAO found 624 vacant positions in critical support services during fiscal years 2023 through 2025. Of those, 607 were in morale, welfare, and recreation roles.
Why Does it Matter to Me?
The GAO reported that remote and isolated military installations are often far from population centers, which makes services such as health care and housing consistently difficult to deliver, and that these installations often have reduced support services for service members and their families. Civilian workforce reductions beginning in January 2025, including federal hiring freezes and a deferred resignation program, made staffing those positions even harder at locations where recruiting is already difficult, the GAO found.
Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska recorded 428 vacant critical support positions and an average hiring time of 407 days. All but one installation with sufficient data exceeded the DOD's own 98-day average hiring benchmark.
Both Sides, Now
The DOD concurred with both GAO recommendations, which call on the Secretary of Defense to update the department's definition of remote and isolated installations and to assess the impact of the 2025 civilian workforce reductions at those locations.
As of May, the Department of the Air Force had not completed its designation process, and it said additional designations under the existing criteria would be premature because the guidance did not provide additional authorities, resources, or policy exceptions to address the identified challenges. Congress directed this review through the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, which required the GAO to assess civilian positions supporting critical services at remote installations.
What Happens Next?
The Army and Navy had already compiled lists of remote and isolated installations under 2024 DOD guidance, but the Air Force had not completed its designation process as of May. A Department of Defense official said efforts to fully develop the risk assessment process in its 2024 guidance would begin only after initial designations of remote and isolated installations are complete.
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