Service Commitment

I don't know if my dad picked it, or he was assigned after his Chief Engineer sea tour in San Pedro, but he came to USNA to teach Weapons and Systems Engineering as an O-4. Then went down to Charleston for his XO tour.

Do they still use the Academy as a shore duty for mid-career officers?? Especially in the teaching arena?
Most are post-DIVO LTs, teaching SEANAV, leadership, or as Company Officers.

The PMI and PMP programs have taken over a lot of the teaching billets, so it's relatively rare to be an academic instructor (i.e. not in LEAD/SEANAV) outside of those programs. USMC is very different, and will send O3/O4s to USNA for grad ed "payback" tours to teach.

USNA is still a "career killer" for most RL communities. Straightforward logic: It's good to go to a "production tour." USNA does not produce RL officers. If you want to teach, teach at Pensacola or Virginia Beach.
 
I'd characterize the Navy as relatively safe from really drastic reductions, unlike the Army. We don't "draw up" for wars, so we don't have to "draw down" after the war. The requirement is not based on operations, but on manning ships and submarines that were there before the war, will be there after the war, and will continue to operate perpetually.

The most drastic swings result in overshooting accessions some years and cutting more than necessary excess in response other years. You at least have the time over a couple of years to watch the select rate for aviation O4s drop from 90 percent to 60 percent.

Every community is different, and it is extremely important to seek mentorship within your own community. Inside knowledge is required to work out the finer details of what is really career enhancing and what is not, wider perspective on what is happening with the force structure, and what pitfalls to avoid.

For example, one might think duty in the White House or some special program/fellowship is always a good thing because those billets are competitive and they seek high performers. That may not always be the case: taking a tour that indicates that you were a high performer in pervious tours and going to a tour where you can demonstrate high performance ranked amongst peers can be different things.
I’m not sure where you were in the 1990s, but between 1990 and 2000 the Navy personnel end strength was reduced by 60%. Ship strength went from just under 600- a goal during the Regan years- to 318 in about a decade. My ship totals may be off a bit depending on what you count. Also not my specialty.
I knew some Navy pilots, particularly those flying P-3s and other retired platforms- who were shown the door. I know some flight classes saw candidates being separated from the Navy, even some who were winged.
In some cases the reductions were carried out through monetary incentives, but sometimes these were not voluntary.
But yeah, there were cases of overshooting as you point out. By the mid 1990s the Navy overshot their cuts in pilots. The Army was over strength pilots and there was a short lived program where Army aviation LTs could transfer from the Army to the Navy and go back through flight school. Not long ago one of these took command of a carrier.
So again, I would advise officers to always have a “plan B”. Not just when meeting the enemy, but with life in general.
 
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I’m not sure where you were in the 1990s, but between 1990 and 2000 the Navy personnel end strength was reduced by 60%. Ship strength went from just under 600- a goal during the Regan years- to 318 in about a decade. My ship totals may be off a bit depending on what you count. Also not my specialty.
I knew some Navy pilots, particularly those flying P-3s and other retired platforms- who were shown the door. I know some flight classes saw candidates being separated from the Navy, even some who were winged.
In some cases the reductions were carried out through monetary incentives, but sometimes these were not voluntary.
But yeah, there were cases of overshooting as you point out. By the mid 1990s the Navy overshot their cuts in pilots. The Army was over strength pilots and there was a short lived program where Army aviation LTs could transfer from the Army to the Navy and go back through flight school. Not long ago one of these took command of a carrier.
So again, I would advise officers to always have a “plan B”. Not just when meeting the enemy, but with life in general.
I'm not disagreeing, I just wanted to contrast the Navy with the Army and Marine Corps, which are performing some more major restructuring following the conclusion of recent wars. The Navy will not be affected nearly as much.

As the Marines transition to the "peacetime Marine Corps," sailors should know there is not really a difference for the Navy, and deployments overseas will continue cyclically until the end of time.

Unfortunately, the PRC is not going to implode any time soon.
 
Thanks for the info. Our family moved to Annapolis around '82 when he got the assignment, so it was many moons ago. Things have certainly changed in 40 years. ;)
 
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