Simulating Technician Populations with Tandem Analytic and Discrete Event Models

Military workforce modelling is typically limited to either a series of analytic equations, or a simulation model. However, developing two such models in tandem has the benefit of cross-validation as well as the opportunity to explore problem space not easily accessed by a single approach. In particular, business rules for force employment are not easily described by closed-form equations while simulation models require exceedingly large computational resources to reach the asymptotic behaviour provided by analytic equations. This work leverages the benefits of both approaches to describe the population and career trends of technician individuals. As this career tends to have well defined training requirements, hence clear delineation between semi-functional apprentices and fully-functional journeymen, it is well suited to population modelling. Notional distributions for career parameters are assumed and the results for career progression and fleet readiness are compared.