In order to improve business practices within the Department of the Navy, an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of optimizing the schoolhouse and its effects upon recruiting, recruit training, and the fleet is currently underway. As part of this analysis, this thesis examines if there is an optimal recruting pattern within both the Navy and the Marine Corps based upon historical data. With a data base consisting of 23,590 enlistment records, standard statistical and quantitative methods are used to analyze DEP attrition, first-term attrition, and reenlistment rates. Additionally, the monthly cost per recruit is analyzed for four functional cost areas for the Navy area and Marine Corps district recruiting levels. Major findings are: the longer a poolee remains in the DEP, the more likely the poolee will attrit from the DEP. Poolees who survive the DEP, however, are more likely to complete their first-term of enlistment as their time in-DEP increases. As time in-DEP increases, a Navy poolee is less likely to reenlist; in the Marine Corps, a poolee is more likely to reenlist. For both the Navy and Marine Corps, the highest quality shippers, per contact cost, occur during July, August, and January.