Analysis of I Marine Expeditionary Force support team reset operations

Abstract

Non-deployed United States Marine Corps (USMC) ground units are in a degraded state of supply readiness as a result of over a decade of war. Due to current fiscal constraints and budget pressures the USMC cannot purchase new ground equipment to replenish its units. The USMC must repair current ground equipment used in Operation Enduring Freedom, much of which has greatly exceeded its normal peacetime usage. In order for the USMC to remain a force in readiness equipment must replenish the non-deployed unit home station quickly. This research analyzes the time it takes to repair an equipment item received from Afghanistan and be sent to a non-deployed unit. We do this by analyzing the Retrograde and Redeployment in Support of Reset and Reconstitution (R4) efforts performed at the Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) level, specifically I MEF Support Team (1st MST). We use queueing theory and simulation methods to develop an analytical model in which we draw conclusions from. Using 1st MST R4 data, we capture the amount of time required to repair ground equipment and identify the driving factors most affecting this time.