{"id":39846,"date":"2018-10-23T19:12:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T19:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/23\/400000-troops-being-surveyed-on-exercise-sex-eating-sleeping-drinking-and-more\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:48:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:48:30","slug":"400000-troops-being-surveyed-on-exercise-sex-eating-sleeping-drinking-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/pay-benefits\/2018\/10\/23\/400000-troops-being-surveyed-on-exercise-sex-eating-sleeping-drinking-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"400,000 troops being surveyed on exercise, sex, eating, sleeping, drinking and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Watch your military email carefully over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be among the 400,000 service members chosen to participate in a Defense Department web-based survey about health topics such as diet, exercise<\/a> and sleep habits; alcohol and tobacco use; and sexual behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey, which is confidential, takes about 20 to 25 minutes to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 11 percent of the active-duty force and about 20 percent of Guard and Reserve members were chosen in a scientific random selection process to participate. The survey email will have a subject line that includes the words \u201c2018 DoD Health Related Behaviors Survey<\/a>\u201d in various forms, such as \u201cInvitation to participate in the 2018 DoD Health Related Behaviors Survey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of this confidential survey are widely distributed across DoD, as policymakers and leaders look at trends among the service member population. No one in the Defense Department or the services, including the survey participant\u2019s immediate chain of command, will know who participated in the survey or will have access to individual responses to survey items, according to a DoD authorization letter provided on the DoD Military Health System<\/a> website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey \u201cgives DoD a sense of the force readiness,\u201d said Sarah Meadows, a senior sociologist with RAND Corporation. RAND is conducting the survey along with Westat, which is collecting the data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is one of the ways that the military can take the pulse of what\u2019s going on,\u201d Meadows said. \u201cBy using this data across time, it allows DoD to see trends that might indicate a problem that isn\u2019t a full-blown problem quite yet, but it might be an upcoming threat to readiness. They can address it while it\u2019s still a lesser issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t