A key part of managing your officer career will be the counseling you receive. However, the quality of the counseling you receive is only as good as its source. No matter what the advice or the source, the career decisions you make affect your career.
In general, the most reliable sources for career information are your Commanding Officer, Executive Officer and your detailer. COs and XOs are knowledgeable and experienced counselors, able to address both general and specific requirements for your career path. Other, similarly experienced senior officers can help with the detailed requirements of your technical specialty. There are many career considerations which do not change, such as the importance of sustained superior performance. For guidance on specific billet choices in a changing career path, you will need to contact your detailer. Your detailers should know your qualifications, career needs, personal preferences and which billets are available.
5 comments:
Those are nice, but unhelpful.
Buy the guide to what you should expect: pay, benefits, housing allowance, per diem, dependents, moving leave, house-hunting leave, special programs for Master's Degrees, Ph.D degrees, sent to Medical School as a doctor candidate drawing full pay and allowances.
There is so much out there. GO FOR IT!
HMS Defiant,
how is that post unhelpful? You obviously haven't had the benefit of meaningful counseling sessions by your CO, XO, and/or detailer.
Simply buying a "guide" for the reasons you listed aren't the best tools for career-level advice, esp. for personnel looking for upward mobility advice. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is a substitute for mentoring from experienced and successful officers/senior enlisted.
the n2 got sacked. the deputy n2 got sacked.
Notice a trend?
Sit up! Pay attention!
Not sure who you are referring to. If it's VADM Branch and RDML Loveless, then I'd say your comments are premature and irrelevant to the discussion at hand. While the Navy selection and promotion process isn't perfect by any means, merely relying on "publications" to provide career guidance and mentorship is ill-advised. For all the bad apples out there, there are outstanding officers out there that can provide solid career guidance and mentorship. Mentorship is reciprocal; the junior will, at times, seek out an experienced and successful Officer for advice. More importantly, the advice of several and then make an "educated" assessment on salient points of advice.
Again, seems like you're not speaking from much experience or rather bad experience at that.
Unfortunately, "the trend" is bad attitudes and pessimism from those that read sensationalism from tabloids and haphazardly export those beliefs to the entire fleet.
I would say speaking from the SWO/LDO side there is very little mentorship going on from the senior level on down. The CO/XO are so busy running the ship day to day that mentorship is something they would just rather not worry about and since they don't get graded on it it's easy to just push it off to the side.
Or worse think that mentorship is handing the JO's quals out the door as a departing gift even though that Officer should be nowhere near the engineering plant or Standing OOD. Its always easier to just push your garbage along then actually do the hard thing and tell someone that they are just not cut out be a part of Navy life.
Although we are talking about the JO's the same thing can be said for the CO/XO's holding the CPO's accountable as well. Don't recommend someone for CPO/SCPO/MCPO if they are not ready!.
Just my two cents and my opinion.
OPS TECH LDO
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