Effect of long time to train on career

[whitesoxnation]

I'm wondering if anyone could share any insight on how a long time to get to your first fleet squadron will affect career progression. It took me over 5.5 years to go from commissioning to FRS completion. I know there are dudes that are even longer. In the latest AVPLAN the DCA alluded to long time to trains hurting career progression. Has anyone been in a similar situation or know ways beyond the obvious (being an above average performer, PME, etc) to mitigate this for a dude that wants to make it a career?

Thanks.

 

[Renegade One]

It took me over 5.5 years to go from commissioning to FRS completion.

Would seem that getting all your ducks in a row for O-4 selection could be problematical, but I don't really know about how they would handle that today.

 

[wlawr005]

The only guy I know on that kinda timeline did IOC after TBS, then commanded an infantry platoon in the 'Stan for like 8 months before he reported to API. All the other Marines seem to think he's a water walker who'll have no problems picking up O-4 once he finishes his fleet tour in Miramar.

 

[Renegade One]

...commanded an infantry platoon in the 'Stan for like 8 months before he reported to API...

Yep…that would be a pretty major discriminator. I thought the OP was describing 5.5 years of NOB/STUINS FITREPs.

 

[whitesoxnation]

Not sure if I have my acronyms right but if by the above you mean not observed fitrep time then you're correct.

 

[EODDave]

Worst case scenario is you miss your disassociated sea tour. No big deal. You will get your first sea and shore tours which is what counts for your O4 board. High EPs in those two tours is what you need. Everything else is gravy.

 

[EODDave]

And if year groups go away by 2017 as SecDef wants, you and others in your shoes will have no worries. Time is on your side.

 

[MIDNJAC]

we had a couple guys in a similar boat in my JO squadron (9-10 years commissioned service walking out the door).......this year's board I guess will tell the story, but my guess is that you probably already have an idea. Could be tough on your shore tour if you didn't leave the fleet with really strong paper.......nobody is going to give the 6-10 month new guy #1 EP just because he needs it to make O-4. That being said, plenty of VFA JO's show up at the 4+ year mark and it works out fine, so you aren't really that far behind (or ahead) in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Recovering LSO]

Did any of you guys notice this was posted in the USMC thread? I'm not sure "PERS" or "disassociated sea tour" really apply here. Also, I'm not exactly sure how the YG change will affect Marines.

 

[Swanee]

I've heard from dudes that the monitors' idea of how to fix this is to send guys to resident EWS (to plus up their competitiveness for Maj) then either an AirO tour or possibly right back to the fleet.

The second answer I've heard is that if everyone is in the same boat then new breakout standards will have to be used.

 

[nittany03]

Did any of you guys notice this was posted in the USMC thread? I'm not sure "PERS" or "disassociated sea tour" really apply here. Also, I'm not exactly sure how the YG change will affect Marines.

Whoops. That's what I get for posting late on a Friday night. Bad gouge deleted.

 

[wlawr005]

On a completely unrelated note, there are VFA guys getting TAD orders to EWTGLANT on the way to jobs with DEV, GRU, and SPEC in their names. Probably not a golden path, but definately something that sounds interesting for a disassociated tour.

 

[Recovering LSO]

^ those jobs have been around for a long time and are traditionally briefed well and recognized appropriately by boards.

 

[Gatordev]

We had a member here that was part of that program here, but he's no longer with us, unfortunately.

 

[Hotdogs]

I've heard from dudes that the monitors' idea of how to fix this is to send guys to resident EWS

I have never heard of resident EWS being a critical deciding factor for the Major's board, that being said it is a competitive process and looked at favorably, but typically they'll have other things to look at and vote people down for selection to Major. EWS - for all intents and purposes (resident or DEP) is pretty much a check in the box for PME completion. The RW and FW company grade monitor is also not a voting member of the CCLEB board. Not sure if you looked at the last board but there were not a lot of 75XX selections which is typical due to career timing.