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career progression
- Thread starter cougar23
- Start date
Kick it down the road a bit
But beware, you better want to be a naval officer above all because you might not get the warfare community which is your first choice or second choice.
OK, fair enough. Are you 99.9% sure you want to be a naval officer - not submariner, not aviator, but naval officer? If you are, then enter whichever commissioning program you qualify for. Then kick the question of community selection for whenever the aforementioned commissioning program requires you to indicate a preference (you don't get to select, they select for you based on "needs of the Navy"). By that time, hopefully, some sort of inspiration might grab you. So prioritize and re-prioritize your preferences for warfare community right up until the instant you have to indicate a preference.cougar23 said:I'm not a MIDN, and no NROTC near except at Tulane 6 hours away, and I'm currently attending a university I love. Just judging from what I've heard so far, and based on my own personality, I'm confused because I'm 99.9% sure I'd be happy in either community. Thus, the problem
But beware, you better want to be a naval officer above all because you might not get the warfare community which is your first choice or second choice.
Let me add another detail re. command.
Making O-5 is tight. There's about a 40% chance for the O-4s coming up for selection. And this itself is skewed towards the communities that are at that moment in the news. For example, there was no DH screening when I came up for LCDR. The top guys in a unit were chosen and the rest weren't. Those that weren't could kiss O-5 goodbye and the last few years of their 20 were spent in disassociated stuff like head of base security as an O-4.
When my group came up for CDR the Cold War was in full swing and Bush I had just taken-over for Reagan. If you were an O-4 in a hardware unit (i.e. flew planes or drove ships) you had the best chance, so if 40% of thr remaining O-4s could expect selection to O-5, of that number, 65% of the air or ship LCDRs made it and few non-hardware O-4s did.
Command is the top of the heap. There you are, a CDR with 16 or 17 years in and top fitreps. You've beaten almost all of the competition. Then... you gaze up that steep slope to command... and it's like Cosmic Musical Chairs Smackdown! There is one command billet for every 20 or so CDRs. Screening for command is one of the Navy's last not very proud machinations. For the first time, who is your flag mentor means more than what is on your fitreps. One of the Navy's last dirty little secrets, and it's on the way out, too. You find those who screen for command and get command fall 50 -50 into two catagories:
1. Top performers you'd follow, screaming with bloodlust, into battle.
2. Top individual performers who looked great on paper but are awful COs and from whom you want to run, just plain screaming.
I was lucky to have had only several dud COs in 21 years, and only one of those was actually dangerous in the air and for whom, the squadron had no respect. But he had a flag mentor who protected him up to retirement at
O-6.
ALL THAT SAID ... the Navy is WAY and BEYOND better than the civilian world when it comes to being judged and promoted based upon merit. Remember, for the 16 years I was in the Reserves after active duty I was also working in the civilian world, and I lost count of the total, utter *sh*l*s for whom I had to work in private industry. I left active duty because I wanted the chance to do other things in addition to flying with the Best, jumping all over the shi* of Russian subs we chased from one end of the ocean to the other, and spending time with the best aircrews in the world in foreign and exotic places (VP has this one beat, hands down).
So, go for it.
=======================================================
Just for the record, the aviation career path is completely different from surface or sub guys. I'll summarize:
1. First sea tour: 3 years in an operational squadron.
2. First shore tour: 2-3 years ashore in a wide variety of flying and non-flying billets.
3. Disassociated sea tour: 2-3 years usually staff or ships company meaning you likely won't be flying. Some billets for "Super JO" to go back to a squadron, but usually reserved for weapons school instructors.
4. Dept head tour: 2-3 years back in a squadron (assuming you DH screen) If you don't get a competitive FITREP (#1 or 2 EP) out of this tour, you won't screen for command and might not make O-5.
5. Second shore tour: 2-3 years, endless possibilities, but usually staff somewhere (DC, Millington, etc).
6. If you screen for command (big if), you'll do your XO/CO tours ~3 years.
7. After that, back to shore, probably staff.
Well, that should get you through the first 20 years for your career - the rest you'll figure out along the way. I know it's a rough guide, but you get the picture. Very different from SWO/SUBS.
Brett
Making O-5 is tight. There's about a 40% chance for the O-4s coming up for selection. And this itself is skewed towards the communities that are at that moment in the news. For example, there was no DH screening when I came up for LCDR. The top guys in a unit were chosen and the rest weren't. Those that weren't could kiss O-5 goodbye and the last few years of their 20 were spent in disassociated stuff like head of base security as an O-4.
When my group came up for CDR the Cold War was in full swing and Bush I had just taken-over for Reagan. If you were an O-4 in a hardware unit (i.e. flew planes or drove ships) you had the best chance, so if 40% of thr remaining O-4s could expect selection to O-5, of that number, 65% of the air or ship LCDRs made it and few non-hardware O-4s did.
Command is the top of the heap. There you are, a CDR with 16 or 17 years in and top fitreps. You've beaten almost all of the competition. Then... you gaze up that steep slope to command... and it's like Cosmic Musical Chairs Smackdown! There is one command billet for every 20 or so CDRs. Screening for command is one of the Navy's last not very proud machinations. For the first time, who is your flag mentor means more than what is on your fitreps. One of the Navy's last dirty little secrets, and it's on the way out, too. You find those who screen for command and get command fall 50 -50 into two catagories:
1. Top performers you'd follow, screaming with bloodlust, into battle.
2. Top individual performers who looked great on paper but are awful COs and from whom you want to run, just plain screaming.
I was lucky to have had only several dud COs in 21 years, and only one of those was actually dangerous in the air and for whom, the squadron had no respect. But he had a flag mentor who protected him up to retirement at
O-6.
ALL THAT SAID ... the Navy is WAY and BEYOND better than the civilian world when it comes to being judged and promoted based upon merit. Remember, for the 16 years I was in the Reserves after active duty I was also working in the civilian world, and I lost count of the total, utter *sh*l*s for whom I had to work in private industry. I left active duty because I wanted the chance to do other things in addition to flying with the Best, jumping all over the shi* of Russian subs we chased from one end of the ocean to the other, and spending time with the best aircrews in the world in foreign and exotic places (VP has this one beat, hands down).
So, go for it.
=======================================================
Just for the record, the aviation career path is completely different from surface or sub guys. I'll summarize:
1. First sea tour: 3 years in an operational squadron.
2. First shore tour: 2-3 years ashore in a wide variety of flying and non-flying billets.
3. Disassociated sea tour: 2-3 years usually staff or ships company meaning you likely won't be flying. Some billets for "Super JO" to go back to a squadron, but usually reserved for weapons school instructors.
4. Dept head tour: 2-3 years back in a squadron (assuming you DH screen) If you don't get a competitive FITREP (#1 or 2 EP) out of this tour, you won't screen for command and might not make O-5.
5. Second shore tour: 2-3 years, endless possibilities, but usually staff somewhere (DC, Millington, etc).
6. If you screen for command (big if), you'll do your XO/CO tours ~3 years.
7. After that, back to shore, probably staff.
Well, that should get you through the first 20 years for your career - the rest you'll figure out along the way. I know it's a rough guide, but you get the picture. Very different from SWO/SUBS.
Brett