Managing the Armed Services' Delayed Entry Pools to Improve Productivity in Recruiting

With the delayed entry option, an Armed Services recruit can defer the date he reports to boot camp for up to a year from the time he signs a contract. A recruiter's productivity is enhanced by such recruits since they often encourage their peers to investigate the services also. The national delayed entry pool can be viewed as a scarce resource to be allocated to recruiters on an equitable basis. Area level imbalances in the size of the pool per recruiter can be reduced by altering the assignment of accession quotas across the areas using a lexicographic goal programming formulation. The approach has been successfully used by the Navy to reduce inequities and imbalances.