TRAINING PIPELINE MODELING AND ANALYSIS FOR THE USMC AUTOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN’S BASIC COURSE (AMTBC)

Abstract

After boot camp, Marines enroll in a military occupational specialty (MOS) school. Unfortunately, due to enlistment fluctuations, there may be significant backlogs at certain schools. These backlogs cause Marines to enter Marines Awaiting Training (MAT) status, where they wait for a spot in their school to become available. These waits can last several months and are an inefficient use of Marine Corps resources and manpower. The Automotive Maintenance Technician’s Basic Course (AMTBC) at Camp Johnson, North Carolina, in particular struggles with a seasonal influx of new students due to the recruiting cycle. Currently, all AMTBC students are trained based on their Armed Forces Active Duty Base Date (AFADBD), without regard to prior experience, and via a fixed-sequence curriculum. The current process results in a backlog of students following the high school graduation cycle. By modeling the current process, we identify possible modifications to the system to reduce wait times and increase throughput. We also identify means of enhancing the quality of training by increasing hands-on training time, and estimate the potential impacts these changes could have on fleet-wide vehicle readiness. Additional research is needed to identify specific cost-benefit trade-offs, but the insights gained by studying AMTBC may also be applicable to other MOS-producing schools in the Marine Corps.