| Summary: | Manning United States Army Reserve (USAR) units are fundamentally different from manning Regular Army (RA) units. A soldier assigned to a USAR unit must live within 75 miles or 90 minutes commute of his Reserve Center (RC). This makes reserve unit positioning a key factor in the ability to recruit to fill the unit. This thesis automates, documents, reconciles, and assembles data on over 30,000 ZIP Codes, over 800 RCs, and over 260 Military Occupational Specialties (MOSs), drawing on and integrating over a dozen disparate databases. This effort produces a single data file with demographic, vocational, and economic data on every ZIP Code in America, along with the six year results of its RA, USAR, sister service recruit production, and MOS suitability for each of the 264 MOSs. Preliminary model development accounts for about 70% recruit production variation by ZIP Code. This thesis also develops models for the top five MOSs to predict the maximum number of recruits obtained from a ZIP Code for that MOS. Examples illustrate that ZIP Codes vary in their ability to provide recruits with sufficient aptitude for technical fields. Two subsequent theses will use those results. One completes the MOS models. The second uses the models as constraints in an optimization model to position RCs. An initial version of the optimization model is developed in this thesis. Together, the three theses will provide a powerful tool for analysis of a strategic-based optimal reserve force stationing. === Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army
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