Becoming (and staying) a Navy Officer

[ChuckMK23]

To me what zippy brings up is another one of those items that could lead to the perception of preferential treatment, did person A get rewarded with X because of their merits or because they are banging person B? It may be they would have been rewarded with X

Spot on - as a service we are best as a culture of meritocracy. Always.

 

[Gatordev]

We have a real problem in values as a Navy by equating your sex life (who you sleep with, are you or they married or not, etc) with professional ethics/ethos/morality.

These are archaic values our Navy embraces - and outdated - and simply wrong.

I can tell you the militaries of most EU nations could care less. It's time we stop losing talented leaders over completely natural needs. As long as it doesn't effect ones ability to make good clear operational decisions and lead - then it's none of the Department of Navy's business

Personally, I've seen the exact opposite. The chicks that are banging the E's haven't been the "talented leaders." Not because they were banging the Es, that was just a symptom, but they just generally were living in their own world. Note, though, I'm not equating being successful in their careers to any of this. I know of one former DH who, according to those that didn't want to see the continued pattern of misconduct, was thought of as a water-walker. But if you actually flew and worked with her, she was pretty average, at best. But hey, she was cute!

Finally someone stepped up and that DH was excused from the Navy prematurely. I'd argue the entire squadron was made better as a result.

 

[CommodoreMid]

We have a real problem in values as a Navy by equating your sex life (who you sleep with, are you or they married or not, etc) with professional ethics/ethos/morality.

These are archaic values our Navy embraces - and outdated - and simply wrong.

I can tell you the militaries of most EU nations could care less. It's time we stop losing talented leaders over completely natural needs. As long as it doesn't effect ones ability to make good clear operational decisions and lead - then it's none of the Department of Navy's business

When the perception amongst the rest of the wardroom that you got qualified ACTC 300 because of who you were sleeping with, then you've got a problem.

 

[phrogdriver]

We have a real problem in values as a Navy by equating your sex life (who you sleep with, are you or they married or not, etc) with professional ethics/ethos/morality.

These are archaic values our Navy embraces - and outdated - and simply wrong.

I can tell you the militaries of most EU nations could care less. It's time we stop losing talented leaders over completely natural needs. As long as it doesn't effect ones ability to make good clear operational decisions and lead - then it's none of the Department of Navy's business

It is outmoded, but some of the rules are still warranted. I just wish we'd make explicit what is normally implicit. For example, adultery is illegal if it is contrary to good order and discipline or brings discredit to the military. That second part should explicitly say something like,"if conducted with the spouse of a subordinate" or something similar, but at least something specific. Instead, it is at the discretion of the convening authority, and no one knows exactly what it means. Separated spouses end up harassing commands with allegations about their soon-to-be-exes, intend only to harass those individuals and ruin their reputations at work.

 

[Flash]

We have a real problem in values as a Navy by equating your sex life (who you sleep with, are you or they married or not, etc) with professional ethics/ethos/morality.

These are archaic values our Navy embraces - and outdated - and simply wrong.

The military as a whole follows those rules for very good reason, in no other profession can a boss order their subordinates to great personal peril.

I can tell you the militaries of most EU nations could care less. It's time we stop losing talented leaders over completely natural needs. As long as it doesn't effect ones ability to make good clear operational decisions and lead - then it's none of the Department of Navy's business.

To be brutally frank most of those EU militaries aren't at quite the same professional level or come anywhere close to conducting the same level of ops we do. They also happen to have much more liberal societies as a whole.