Introduction

A fundamental goal of the Air Force personnel system is to ensure that the inventory, by Air Force specialty code (AFSC) and grade, matches requirements. However, there are structural obstacles that impede achieving this goal. To remove one of those obstacles, we propose a methodology that would marginally modify grade authorizations within skill levels in order to make it possible to better achieve manpower targets. One of our main messages is that force management is a complex task that is best accomplished from a systems perspective. Three primary systems affect the strength of the enlisted force by grade and AFSC: