Analysis of the field artillery battalion organization using a Markov chain.

Abstract

This thesis develops a model for comparing Marine Corps field artillery battalion organizations. It specifically examines the 3X8 and 4X6 direct support battalions. The status of the battalions are represented as continuous time, finite state, semi-Markov chains. The primary measure of effectiveness (MOE) for comparing the two structures is the long-run expectation of the number of guns in position. A set of APL programs manipulates the transition probability matrices and mean sojourn times. It then returns the long-run equilibrium probabilities and mean recurrence times for the states. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to explore the effects of changes in the transition probabilities and sojourn times.