Targeted Recruitment for Naval Special Warfare (SEALS): Connecting NSW to Recruit Pools with Social Movement Theory

摘要

The ability to maintain and grow the inventory of Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) operators depends on the ability of NSW to recruit high probability candidates effectively and increase the retention rates within the existing ranks of SEAL operators. Using data from the BUDs/Pride Database, this thesis draws on logistic multivariate regression models to test the theory that candidates with a prior strong social tie to NSW are more likely to complete the BUDs training successfully than those with no such tie. Geospatial mapping supplements this analysis by providing relatively easy to interpret visualizations of the recruit network. The combination of the logistic models and the geospatial interpretations of the data provide a clearer picture of the entire recruit network. Looking at the results of the logistic regression model, and the ordered logistic regression model, it can be seen that students with a strong tie, either to NSW or another special operations force within the U.S. military, are more likely than students without such a tie to make it through the training pipeline.