Thanks for the answer Bill. I'm wondering if I asked the right question though
Clearly, the US navy has to have certain staffing levels to man its 300+ ships. Each ship requires that it be staffed at acceptable levels or it isn't considered to be seaworthy (or what ever the proper terminology might be). I know too that the navy has personnel who are separating from service, while it also has new recruits who are being trained for service. The problem then is to try and figure out what minimal staffing levels are, and how the Navy does it. Note too, that the Navy needs support personnel at its naval bases to keep the bases running smoothly. These positions can and are likely to contain civilian contractors. I've narrowed down from one document, that it costs the US government Roughly $20,629 to train a civilian into an enlisted marine. Cost to train an officer rises to $71,044. I stumbled across a document that implies that the cost to train, equip, etc - 6 officers and 176 enlisted (One rifle company) runs about 5 million dollars assuming that the force is enlarged. The reason I'm digging into these numbers is because I'd like to try and see if I can come up with a good guideline for what it costs to equip a fleet with the personnel it requires. For instance, based on a document regarding rising health care costs, the average cost of healthcare rose from about $6000 to roughly $19,000 and accounted for roughly half the cost of cash compensation (defined as basic pay, the housing allowance, and the subsistence allowance). This looks like a major expense not included in any kind of budgeting that I've seen for Traveller military forces. Just something for me to pursue

Clearly, the US navy has to have certain staffing levels to man its 300+ ships. Each ship requires that it be staffed at acceptable levels or it isn't considered to be seaworthy (or what ever the proper terminology might be). I know too that the navy has personnel who are separating from service, while it also has new recruits who are being trained for service. The problem then is to try and figure out what minimal staffing levels are, and how the Navy does it. Note too, that the Navy needs support personnel at its naval bases to keep the bases running smoothly. These positions can and are likely to contain civilian contractors. I've narrowed down from one document, that it costs the US government Roughly $20,629 to train a civilian into an enlisted marine. Cost to train an officer rises to $71,044. I stumbled across a document that implies that the cost to train, equip, etc - 6 officers and 176 enlisted (One rifle company) runs about 5 million dollars assuming that the force is enlarged. The reason I'm digging into these numbers is because I'd like to try and see if I can come up with a good guideline for what it costs to equip a fleet with the personnel it requires. For instance, based on a document regarding rising health care costs, the average cost of healthcare rose from about $6000 to roughly $19,000 and accounted for roughly half the cost of cash compensation (defined as basic pay, the housing allowance, and the subsistence allowance). This looks like a major expense not included in any kind of budgeting that I've seen for Traveller military forces. Just something for me to pursue
