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SWO description, career paths, and other basic questions

zippy

Freedom!
pilot
Contributor
You guys don't have a bonus eligibility Window? It seems odd that you can sign a bonus before you leave your first command.
 

azguy

Well-Known Member
None
The "window," for all intents and purposes, is 3-6 YCS. Year 3 is when you are screened for DH, year 6 is where you start losing out on some of the money if you sign later.

As I've said, I think that 3 YCS is too soon for most people. To "fix" this, PERS-41 has increased the bonus by 50% as of this year and changed the payment structure such that waiting from 3 YCS to 6 YCS will cost you $30k. This isn't a completely stupid idea and was partly driven by a few recent YGs where everyone signed the bonus just before that 6 YCS deadline; this threw off PERS' bean counters as the retention rate for YG 08/09 was much higher than normal; this messed with the DH pipeline sequencing and now people are sitting around on shore duty and stashed for longer, then they are doing 12 month DH tours. Good deal for the DHs, but not a very efficient way for PERS to run business.
 

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
USNA Blue and Gold Officers just received this (and a ppt brief, of course) from the SWO Career Management Officer. This spells out some of the SWO career path options AllAmerican has mentioned above. It appears some are newer, and there may be more interest in making them work than ever. Also noted, specific mention that promotion boards are going to be given guidance to make sure guys in the "non-traditional" path are not hosed. I actually was going to post this in another thread about aviator O-4 promotion rates and straying from the very narrow golden path, but this thread popped up. I may still post it in another thread to prevent thread jack.
 

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  • SWO CAREER CHART FACT SHEET.pdf
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azguy

Well-Known Member
None
Regardless of what the latest PERS ppt may say, you still need to think twice about straying from the golden path. SWO and other communities have, in past years, tried to spin up Specialty Career Path, IA, SWO Clock, etc, with the promise that it's an important job that will work out great. Historically, that's far from the case.
 

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
Regardless of what the latest PERS ppt may say, you still need to think twice about straying from the golden path. SWO and other communities have, in past years, tried to spin up Specialty Career Path, IA, SWO Clock, etc, with the promise that it's an important job that will work out great. Historically, that's far from the case.

Quoted for truth. I've talked with some buddies who are in SCP and they're wondering if they'll ever make O5 due to the fact that everything dried up for their (and many other) SCP designators. As always, Community Managers, Placement Officers, Detailers, and SWOS are all working to make sure that there will be enough qualified O5s to select for command at sea in each YG by the time that comes (usually about the 15 year mark).

My $0.02 is that the only programs that will survive will be the graduate degree programs, WTI program, and maternity leave. All else will eventually crumble into dust. I'm also skeptical of the metrics they'll use to determine "superior performance" and who's the "most talented" amongst us Divos. How do you rate an ensign/JG lower half coming off of their first tour without taking into account qualification times, collateral duties, etc., which, depending upon when you get to your ship, you may get hosed on. I fear that this will undo all of the hard work and progress we've made over the last few years to dig ourselves out of the "SWO's eat their young" mentality amongst JOs.
 

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Too lazy to figure it out on just a bunch of Google research. I am wondering how many O-5 command billets slated for strictly 11xx vs those for O-5 aviators. Tangentially, we know there are virtually no O-4 commands in aviation (sheriffs star, not big time det OIC ). How many left in SWOdom?
 

cfam

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
My $0.02 is that the only programs that will survive will be the graduate degree programs, WTI program, and maternity leave.

I hope you're right about the WTI program. It's great to have a schoolhouse we can call whenever we have integration questions. I'm not saying there aren't kinks that still need to be worked out, but the integration piece is definitely better than it used to be.
 

azguy

Well-Known Member
None
There are 24 sheriff star wearing SWO LT/LCDR billets. Both PC and Minesweeper. That allows for ~16 early command COs per YG.
 
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