Materiel Management in the United States Marine Corps War Reserve System

摘要

War Reserves are designed to provide committed/activated forces with critical support during the initial stages of conflict and until the DOD materiel distribution system and its industrial base are fully mobilized. Maintaining these assets in a ready and readily available status while trying to derive some utility from the inventory is a dilemma. This thesis approaches the problem by exploring how war reserve budget dollars are allocated, how physical assets are managed, and what alternatives to material stockage exist. Concentrating on item selection, requirements determination, replacement factors and budgeting, Marine Corps procedures are discussed in detail and analyzed along with those of other services. Recommendations are made for greater automation, a new method for quantifying item essentiality, construction of skeleton tables of equipment, additional uses of war reserves, and alternatives to war reserve stocks. (Author)