The Defense Department--the nation's largest employer--has announced that it is planning a 20 percent reduction in its work force. The transition is expected to go more smoothly than initially assumed. Because of education and training received in the service, most newly released service personnel should be competitive in the civilian job market. Young men and women who would have joined the military, the so-called "newly qualified," are expected to find jobs in the civilian sector, but with few of the training or education opportunities they would have received if they had been able to join the military. The people most affected by the reduction may be those whom the newly unqualified will displace on the job ladder--those with even less education and few job skills. Resources available to help those newly released from the armed services make the transition to the civilian sector might be made more effective through better ties between higher education and military education and greater use of tools for documenting skills and job competencies acquired in the military. Private industry could benefit by adopting the military's attitude and emphasizing the value of education and training in the workplace. Even at times of major adjustments, employees are better able to cope in the labor market if their last employer had well-integrated training and education programs. Planning for the adjustment is likely to be the most important element in easing the transition for affected workers and their communities. (YLB)