Creating a better Officer Corps

[robav8r]

One of the things I have noticed throughout my time as an Officer - and now that I'm "officially" part of the problem - is that very few Officers below O4 take the time to understand their place in the pecking order when it comes to year/screen groups, promotion zones, and who their competition is within the same squadron/ship/command. Part of "fixing" the FITREP/promotion system in the military is understanding your place in it. And for many, that doesn't occur until it is too late. My .02c

 

[bert]

Maybe I don't get it... why don't/can't CO's give a second-job, 16 months in the squadron superstar LT a higher ranking than a last job 40 months LT who just fills a flight suit? Personally I would be "looking for" less gamesmanship and a more honest evaluation of the value of that employee.

But COs do that. Where do you think double-tap EPs come from? I don't know what community you are from, but in the helo world (larger wardrooms), it is also quite common for "superstar" LTs to get numbered MPs on mid-tour FITREPs ahead of supposed no-load LTs. How is that not exactly what you are asking for? (And yes, same thing goes on the DH level).

Here is kind of the ugly part: a weak CO's desire to coddle the feelings of his LTs so he doesn't have to confront them with bad news works both ways. I don't know why some people are willing to blindly assume that a CO will only try to spare the feelings of the senior guy in these scenarios. Maybe the junior guy isn't the superstar he thinks he is, and that is why he isn't getting deep-selected for greatness.

 

[A7Dave]

Ain't going to happen.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Ain't going to happen.

Of course not. But the whole point of the thread was, "What could be done to improve the process?", not "What would Millington actually do?"

 

[wink]

Performance evals/FitReps are by there very nature biased. More is expected of some employees than others by supervisors. It's a flawed system both in the military world as well as the civilian. It's worse on the civilian side. The folks who work for you who are good will strive to get better and take criticism in a constructive way. The others will get vindictive and feel that you are taking money out of their pocket.............then lawyers get involved, and as a supervisor you learn to rubber stamp the evals.

True. In the civ world hot running subordinates are too often seen as threats to the supervisor who is doing the evaluation. And that boss could be in place for many years. At least we don't have that problem in the Navy. Corner of the other pasture that isn't so green.

 

[Spekkio]

Here is kind of the ugly part: a weak CO's desire to coddle the feelings of his LTs so he doesn't have to confront them with bad news works both ways. I don't know why some people are willing to blindly assume that a CO will only try to spare the feelings of the senior guy in these scenarios. Maybe the junior guy isn't the superstar he thinks he is, and that is why he isn't getting deep-selected for greatness.

It seems like 'the system' leaves a lot of latitude to COs to manage their wardrooms to match the right officer to the right job and to make sure he writes (or at least signs) a fitrep that is appropriate for how long an officer has been at a command.

The fact that some COs drop the ball on this and dole out an exceptionally high ranking/EP early in an officer's tour, grade officers by how much he personally likes them, or give a hot runner an easy job later in his tour is no fault of Millington's. I agree with BigRed -- it seems like most of the sour grapes are due to CO missteps and not institutional policy. The only surefire way to get rid of objectivity in the promotion process is to go strictly by advancement exams, and I don't think that produces the outcome people desire.

The only real change I'd like to see is not auto-trashing a promotion kit for lowering an officer's ranking between fitreps. Sometimes people get it together later and the CO should not have to choose between artificially depressing someone's fitrep marks after a lot of hard work and ruining someone else's career entirely.

 

[av8ion]

I'm personally not joining the military for the money, but the limited ability to be promoted based on performance is a huge downside IMO. I left school after a year and was hired as a software engineer and was making a pretty hefty salary for a 20 year old. However, I decided to go back to school to become an officer... simply because I want to do something more meaningful/exciting with my life. Anyway, I guess my point is that in many careers outside of the military you could go from 50k to 80k within a year or two if you demonstrate that you can kick ass; in the military, no matter how hard you work, that could take you 10+ years.

Also, disclosure, I'm not in the fleet yet, so my opinion is essentially meaningless at this point.

 

[Spekkio]

I think that you need to take a closer look at the payscales. Btw, the longest you will go without being promoted in the Navy, assuming you eventually get selected, is about 6-7 years (LT -> LCDR being selected below zone). If you aren't selected, then it'll be a bit longer until you finish out your orders and resign.

The upside? If you kick butt then you'll find yourself a CO at sea in about 18 years. The downside? If you don't, you'll generally be shown the door.