A MODERNIZED RECRUIT DISTRIBUTION MODEL

The Marine Corps is undertaking an organizational shift to better fulfill its role in the future national defense strategy. A crucial aspect of creating a more specialized and capable fighting force is ensuring optimal talent management. This requires assigning the best fit military occupational specialty (MOS) to over 30,000 new recruits each year. This is currently done using the Recruit Distribution Model (RDM) run at Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs (M&RA). While the RDM assigns each recruit to an MOS within the parameters of their respective contract, it is almost 40 years old, written in an outdated programming language, and does not successfully consider all aspects of talent management. The current RDM assigns each recruit an MOS that the recruit is qualified for predominantly based on school seat availability. While this model is effective, it does not optimize talent management in accordance with the Commandant’s vision for a more adept and lethal organization. This thesis creates a modernized RDM written in Python that considers many more factors in optimal MOS assignment. Examples of improvements include minimizing idle time spent between training schools, maximizing goodness of fit pairings, and ensuring the assignments over the course of a year are approximately achieving M&RA staffing goals. The modernized model provides the required flexibility to adapt over time and achieve optimal talent management among the enlisted force.Outstanding ThesisCaptain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited