Analyzing Personnel Rotation in the Navy

The purpose of this paper is to analyze personnel rotation in the Navy. Although primarily a sea-going force, the Navy must periodically rotate personnel to shore duty. The effective administration of this policy promotes morale and reduces attrition. It also enables managers to control the distribution of personnel, so that programmed changes in force manning levels can be implemented gradually without disrupting individual career development. In order to accomplish this, however, Navy planners must understand the effect alterations in individual parameters will have on the system. A simplified mathematical model is developed and analyzed to help clarify these interrelationships. The results of this analysis are applied to answer some important questions concerning the present enlisted force.