20/30 Hindsight: What the General Really Wanted

Some time ago, I was asked by the head of a military OR group to apply an allocation technique developed for sales force management to the problems of the Air Force recruiting service. The all-volunteer force had placed stringent demands on the military recruiting process and the size and scope of Air Force recruiting operations (1,700 recruiters, 1,000 offices) made quantitative aids for decision making essential for the effective management of recruiting resources. Specifically the recruiting service was concerned with the following decision problems: (1) recruiter allocation, (2) determination of total recruiter strength, (3) office location and boundaries, (4) assignment of recruiting goals and (5) forecasts and performance evaluation.