You don’t think it is necessary because you don’t know the difference. Ask any FTS/Active Navy guy and they will tell you there is a stark difference between a straight stick reservist and one with FTS/Active experience. The Navy horribly mismanages the Reserves by letting so many members come in off the street. Increase bonuses to entice people getting off Active duty to affiliate with the reserves and get rid of E4 and below SELRES billets.
Furthermore, Intel is not the only DCO designator. CEC officers sometimes go straight into XO billets and deploy much faster than your pipeline. No 2-3 years of patty cake before doing real work.
Our job in the reserves is to be able to augment the AC with seamless integration at any time. Nothing pisses me off more than when I see or hear of SELRES acting like they don’t need to meet the standards (uniform or otherwise) of AC because they are SELRES.
There is a reason reservist have a bad reputation with the active component and FTS. Is it because of DCOIC? No, but I’m sure the lack of time to develop any resemblance of professionalism IN UNIFORM adds to the problem. Nothing beats time to train and ODS is a step in the right direction to prepare civilians to be marginally more respected in uniform as an Officer (regardless of designator).
By the way, SAPR, CMEO, DAPA, etc. are all GMT and are taught at DCOIC...
I do know the difference. I acknowledge the different. Said as much in the last paragraph too. And I stand by it. And 3 more weeks DCOIC so someone can bark at people that are already commissioned is still silly in my mind. The program is a success. Three more weeks DCOIC isn't going to make it any better. 3 weeks professional training or general military training some place down the road in years 2, 3, 4 or beyond, might.
We might actually agree that time in uniform is useful. Seemless, nothing is seamless. A change of command is not seemless - so I think the integration is about as seemless as it needs to be. If improvement could be made with actual useful training, that might be good. Longer Indoc, and DCOIC schools aren't the way to make things more seemless or perfect in my mind.
I'll be candid - I've done my fair share of active time with mobs. It is a steep learning curve. And I don't place a ton of stock into what active duty folks think about reservists. The should get over themselves and do it fast if they have an issue with reservists.
For many reservists, the only way you would know someone standing next to you is a reservist, is if they tell you. Particularly reservists that have been around a while. Many reservists have more combat time than their active duty counter parts. Reservist pull the lion share of IA deployments for the Navy. I see a lot more reservists with campaign ribbons and combat awards than I see the active component wearing. Its often one of the first things active guys ask when they meet me... Where did you get all your award? IA... as guess what - a reservist.
Most active duty might have a small resistance to reservists at first glance, but they get over it in about five minutes once they see the person busting their ass.
That being said, the few active duty I've run into that have an attitude about reservist are under performers, with bad attitudes that hate their job and resent getting behind reservists that will probably out perform them in a few short month.
Active duty that don't want to deal with reservist ought to thank their lucky stars that they can actually shine for a moment and be better than someone for a change and help reservists and help the Navy for a hot minute rather than bitching about an opportunity to mentor and train.
Frankly, active does the job everyday and very few of them are as good at it as they think they are. Few skills are so refined that other highly functional people can't fill them easily. And DCO's are mostly, if not completely limited to the restricted line. They aren't going to be taking command of 7th fleet anytime soon so they need not have warfare unrestricted line qualifications or full time status and experience.
The talent pool the Navy gets from the DCO Program is above and beyond the talent pool that is recruited in almost any field out there, including the active duty navy. It is crazy competitive. Subjecting these folks to 3 more weeks isn't going to determine their success, but it might deter them from joining the Navy as opposed to another branch. Frankly, much of what is appealing about the DCO program is the abbreviated training. Many people joining the DCO program would rather be infantry, tankers, ect... But most have specialized skill sets, careers, families, and don't want to join the Army Reserve and do a six month basic school on top of OCS.
These DCO folks will succeed against all odds and are more accomplished than most of their active duty counterparts, perhaps not on a military resume, but what they have to offer is valuable. And Senior reservists that have been a round while, will give most active duty a run for their money in any role. Senior Reservists acquire skills in the outside world and from multiple mobs that the Navy lacks and they bring something unique to the table.
Most reservist can step into their gig and be as good at it or better than active duty in very short order, albeit - a steep learning cure. There are exceptions with some communities.
The reserve will never ever in a million years compare to active duty in readiness. It isn't supposed to. You don't expect people that do the job one weekend a month to be as expert as people that do it 365 days a year. But you expect them to be ale to learn quick and excel at the role in a short period of time. And, they do. And they do integrate seamlessly, as seamlessly as any other person ripping out or into to a new role.
Active duty trains and does this job year round. The distinction is there. It is real and it will always be there. Standards are very relative and distinct between reserve and active duty. Function is what we need. I stand by it.