With manpower considerations assuming an ever increasing importance for the Department of Defense, the report was prepared as part of a research program intended to bring new methodologies to bear on present and future military manpower problems. The report describes the All-Volunteer Force (AVF) recruiting, classification, and assignment (RCA) processes and examines the emerging issues surrounding those processes. Section 1 describes the operational characteristics of pre-Volunteer RCA; Section 2, All-Volunteer RCA in terms of the major underlying influences shaping its development; and Section 3, the emerging issues and potential problems acting on RCA and their relationship to one or more of the underlying influences. Pre-Volunteer RCA was relatively simple; the most important influence was the virtual guarantee of a ready supply of high quality people to fill the needs of the Services. The absence of this guaranteed supply has been the dominant factor in shaping AVF adjustments and adaptations; seven major institutional influences acting on RCA are identified, and each relates to one or more emerging issue/problem affecting RCA. Six emerging issues are identified, which have in common a high degree of complexity and pervasiveness and which, together, constitute a major challenge to AVF management. (Author/AJ)