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Surface Warfare to CEC

C

Charles Edward

Member
I once met an officer who was a surface warfare (SW) officer. I then learned that he switched to the Civil Engineering Corps (CEC). I know this officer had both bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering.

Why would a ship driver want to switch to CEC?

Aren't there more command and promotional opportunities in the SW community? After all, an SW can get go all the way to 4 star admiral. A CEC can only go to two stars. Does this not mean that promotions are hard to come by for all officers in that community?

Thanks.
 
Lots of people do not just have promotions in mind. Outside career training, quality of life, places to be stationed, areas to deploy to, missions you do, all factor into it. You'll find a whole host of people in the Navy content with stopping at O-4 or O-5, no where close to 2 or 4 stars...
 
He could have done it due to medical disqualification, when I went on a few CEC VIP trips with prospective CEC officers, I met a CEC officer who was a prior sub officer and another that was a prior NA.

I would bet both were medical issues that caused redesignations, the sub officer only spent 18 months on a sub and the NA was at about 6 years of service as one of the people on the trip asked what year he joined the USN and that put him at 6 years at the time.
 
Charles Edward said:
Why would a ship driver want to switch to CEC?

Aren't there more command and promotional opportunities in the SW community? After all, an SW can get go all the way to 4 star admiral. A CEC can only go to two stars. Does this not mean that promotions are hard to come by for all officers in that community?
Click to expand...

There is more to the Surface Warfare community and a Naval career than just promotions and career advancement. Maybe the dude didn't want to keep driving ships. Maybe he hated the long deployments and constant underways. Maybe he had some bad experiences with the toxic SWO culture. Who really knows, but there are other things in life than making Flag. Also, if your sole goal for your career is to make Flag, then you are going to have a miserable time and will need to sell your soul to a make sure you have the right friends in the right places to make the right political decisions so that you get selected for a star. No matter your community, the odds of making Flag Officer are very small.
 
Plenty of reasons to lat transfer from SWO. They are usually personal; the most personal reason being that your average human being isn't well-suited to being a SWOs (not bragging about being a SWO, not talking shit about SWOs, just stating a fact).

Further, as others have said, 4 vs 2 stars... ridiculous. 99.9% of officers who commission will fail to achieve any stars. SWO is certainly a more operational path with great opportunities to command a ship, but CEC officers also command in their own way and get to spend more time ashore with better quality of life.
 
Charles Edward said:
I once met an officer who was a surface warfare (SW) officer. I then learned that he switched to the Civil Engineering Corps (CEC). I know this officer had both bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering.

Why would a ship driver want to switch to CEC?

Aren't there more command and promotional opportunities in the SW community? After all, an SW can get go all the way to 4 star admiral. A CEC can only go to two stars. Does this not mean that promotions are hard to come by for all officers in that community?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you recently ran into this person? Why not ask him?

There's a variety of reasons why people lateral transfer. Many personal, some for professional reasons. Perhaps this officer applied for CEC as a civilian applicant, didn't get selected and decided to become an officer anyway by going SWO. When he/she qualified SWO, found the opportunity to apply and get selected for lateral transfer.

CEC officers don't need to be a 1-2 star to be successful once they're done with the Navy. Most have the engineering background + certifications that make them very competitive for civilian employment.
 
AllAmerican75 said:
Says the guy not getting his boots filled with concrete. ;)The stories I've heard from my Seabee colleagues have been interesting to say the least.

Also, Seabee parties are apparently lit AF: https://taskandpurpose.com/news/xos...-woods-gets-entire-seabee-command-staff-fired:D
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They do have interesting stories, I will say the billets they can go to are in some nice and interesting places, I put one guy in and when he was in Bahrain him and his wife flew all over Europe, Asia, and Australia for vacations, another stationed in Italy flew all over Europe for vacations.
 
RecruitingGuru said:
I'm assuming you recently ran into this person? Why not ask him?

There's a variety of reasons why people lateral transfer. Many personal, some for professional reasons. Perhaps this officer applied for CEC as a civilian applicant, didn't get selected and decided to become an officer anyway by going SWO. When he/she qualified SWO, found the opportunity to apply and get selected for lateral transfer.

CEC officers don't need to be a 1-2 star to be successful once they're done with the Navy. Most have the engineering background + certifications that make them very competitive for civilian employment.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply and thanks for all the other replies.

I personally have not seen this officer lately. I just read and heard he was now an CEC officer. Years earlier, I know he had been a shipdriver after completing ROTC and an engineering degree as an undergrad. I know that he since married, so maybe that was part of the reason for the transfer.
 
Charles Edward said:
Thanks for the reply and thanks for all the other replies.

I personally have not seen this officer lately. I just read and heard he was now an CEC officer. Years earlier, I know he had been a shipdriver after completing ROTC and an engineering degree as an undergrad. I know that he since married, so maybe that was part of the reason for the transfer.
Click to expand...

What do you want to do? Do you know what you are qualified to do?
 
NavyOffRec said:
What do you want to do? Do you know what you are qualified to do?
Click to expand...
I think I would like to do something that would provide me managerial and leadership experience that could help with a graduate business school application later down the road. Of course, I would be open to staying in the service, if I enjoyed it.

Thanks for asking.
 
So you want to get a commission simply to make yourself look better for your business school application? Here's something that may be more your speed:

https://www.lockheedmartinjobs.com/leadership-development

https://jobs.boeing.com/entry-level

Maybe look into other major corporations that have entry-level management/leadership training programs. With your veteran status, you should be a shoe-in for these positions. They'll even pay for your MBA!

The life of a naval officer requires a level of dedication, focus, and motivation that is something more than just trying to look good for grad school.
 
Charles Edward said:
I once met an officer who was a surface warfare (SW) officer. I then learned that he switched to the Civil Engineering Corps (CEC). I know this officer had both bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering.

Why would a ship driver want to switch to CEC?

Aren't there more command and promotional opportunities in the SW community? After all, an SW can get go all the way to 4 star admiral. A CEC can only go to two stars. Does this not mean that promotions are hard to come by for all officers in that community?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm a SWO that lateral transferred into the CEC. The promotion rate for O-4 is definitely lower than SWO (60% last year vs SWO's 93%). The CEC sends you to grad school for MBAs (eng focused MBAs) which is my plan down the road.

My reasons we're:
-I never saw myself being a CO of a ship.
-I wanted to pursue becoming a professional engineer. The Navy pays for multiple engineering professional certificates. A naval officer/professional engineer? That's a dream job for me!
-Better quality of life.
-Job security after the Navy.

I'm glad that I made the switch. I love my job. I plan on staying in until the Navy doesn't want me anymore.
 
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