"Your vast experience in the Navy may lead you to think there are no standards, but my 18+ years of experience says you're mistaken. I've sat on a lot of qualification boards and I can say the length of the board is meaningless. Some Captains like to try and explore the limits of a candidates knowledge, and some Captains have their minds made up already based on what they've seen on the bridge and the deckplates."
...couldn't agree more; my OOD board was a fairly short event, but that was likely (and hopefully) becasue the CO had observed the last 10 or so evoloutions I stood U/I. PQS is PQS, some of it seems vauge and for many platforms, irrelevant, but it usually forces the qualified folks to dispense the "pearls" of wisdom that guide your progress. I fiished my PQS almost ten months before I stood the board, and within three months of arriving onboard...the CO's personal trust is key to getting your letter and pin.
