Forecasting and allocation of US Army recruiting resources

It costs several hundred million dollars a year to maintain the US Army recruiting effort. Prior to the late 1980s, senior Army planners had no systematic means to assess how efficiently the recruiting resources were used or what could be expected from different levels and mixes of these resources. These issues were the subjects of frequent congressional inquiries, especially during the force downsizing years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In response to a direct request, the authors developed a computerized interactive system, based on data envelopment analysis and goal programming, for constructing and evaluating alternative programs of recruiting objectives and aggregate resource requirements which were realistic and defensible in the post-cold war time of reduced budgets.