No no, I think the wording was something along the lines of "...Naval Aviation's investment in these officers."
Anyway, "SM/OP-T/whatever they call it next/go back to not calling it anything in particular" and CNATRA FTS look a lot alike.
So a you're saying a non screen O-5 OP-T/SM/Whatever will be going from VT tour to VT tour until their 20? Since the majority of the first selectees on this path ended up not going to the VT's upon selection (word is 8 of 12 went TACRON), I can't say I buy that.
For the past several years, the OP-T/SM DH path was touted as an alternative to the traditional career path (keep flying, stay VTs, make O-5 etc.) However, it now seems like that path, like 8-yr winging commitments causing people to have to stay through their disassociated sea tour, was brought into play to make it easier to fill billets that people traditionally didn't want to stick around for (TACRON etc). Either PERS-43 and the powers the be did not do a good job informing the fleet of what it actually entailed, or it was a standard bait and switch... err "truth change"... that so many detailing horror stories seem to revolve around.
