Defining Self-Sufficiency in the United States Marine Corps

Abstract : The purpose of this project is to define self-sufficiency as it relates to the Marine Corps, identify the primary elements of self-sufficiency, and describe the interrelationships among these elements. Upon reviewing the applicable literature, we found three primary elements of self-sufficiency: environment, time, and supply chain. After analyzing these elements and their interrelationships, we present a framework of self-sufficiency that Marine Corps units can apply to internally increase their self-sufficiency, and that others can use to conduct further in-depth research on how to increase or optimize Marine Corps units' self-sufficiency.