Graduate Education Degree Opportunity for New Ensign Aviators

[GWU PNS (emeritus)]

Just in case Midshipmen who will soon commission might be interested, there is a rare opportunity to attend the Naval Post Graduate School for several different graduate specialties. These new Ensigns will spend a year getting their Masters degrees and then head to their Aviation NIFE school. Specific details are below.

***********************************************

Subj: OFFICIAL MAIL MESSAGE #044-23 NAVAL POST GRADUATE SCHOOL OPPORTUNITIES FOR AVIATION CANDIDATES (FORAC)


1. This message cancels OMM #027-22.

2. In order to maximize the time between commissioning and Naval Introductory Flight Evaluation (NIFE), the Naval Aviation Enterprise is investing in student Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers by offering a graduate education option to up to ten highly qualified, newly commissioned Ensigns from ROTC. Those selected by PERS-43 will attend the Naval Post Graduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California to obtain a graduate degree in one of several programs. Flight training will follow.

3. This is a post commissioning program. It is managed by PERS-43, not NSTC N9. As such, all applications must be sent directly to PERS-43. PERS-43 will coordinate with NPS to ensure each the applicant meets program academic requirements. Students should not personally contact NPS about their application.

4. The following graduate programs will be offered:

a. Systems Engineering and Analysis (308)

b. Undersea Warfare (525)

c. Combat Systems (533)

d. Requirements Management (816)

e. Financial Management (837)

f. Shoemaker Scholarship (Graduate degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering)

5. Eligibility: Prospective Naval Aviators, with a minimum 3.4 GPA and a B or better in military performance / conduct, who can meet a 26 June 2023 class start date.

6. Applicants must:

a. Complete an application package via his/her Commanding Officer containing:

i. Application Letter including Date of Graduation, GPA, Military Aptitude Score and Class Standing

ii. CO's Endorsement

iii. Additional Faculty Letters of Endorsement (desired, not required)

b. Submit application package via Commanding Officer to PERS-43 NLT 19 April 2023. Preferred method of submission is electronic e-mail.

c. To upload undergraduate transcripts through DOD SAFE (https://safe.apps.mil) e-mail LCDR Kira Devers-Jones (kira.l.deversjones.mil@us.navy.mil) to request a download link. Applicants must submit their transcripts via DOD SAFE (encrypted) and then send a separate email with the encryption passphrase.

d. Upon program selection, the primary selectees have seven working days to accept or decline participation in the program. A non-response will be treated as a decline for participation.

7. Those who successfully complete their graduate education program will receive priority handling when reporting to NIFE in Pensacola, Florida.

 

[A1Janitor]

My son just called me walking to the gym.

Told me normally USNA sends around 7 aviators to grad school out of USNA. This year they are sending 20 because of the flight school backlog.

My son said all of his aero friends are going to be getting their master’s degree together.

 

[Ivy22]

NIFE is so backed up down here right now, that this probably won't set an ensign back too much behind their peers with regards to starting flight school. I'd recommend looking into it for sure if you are about to commission as an SNA. We've heard they are probably going to make all c/o 2023 SNAs who report to Pensacola this summer/fall take 4-6 months of graduate school courses at a local state college and then do a 3-month JO course before they will be allowed to class up for NIFE anyways. And that would be on top of already existing NIFE prereqs like NAMI, Water Survival, APIT, etc.

 

[GWU PNS (emeritus)]

They're stacking butter bars like cord wood down there. One of my former mids told me he's become tired of hanging out in Saville Quarter every night. That is heresy for aviators.

 

[Ivy22]

They're stacking butter bars like cord wood down there. One of my former mids told me he's become tired of hanging out in Saville Quarter every night. That is heresy for aviators.

Haha there are soooo many of us at NASC. At one point, I think the ensigns were basically running the base because almost every command had a couple stashed ensigns to help them out. Now, there's like 20 ensigns with stash jobs and the rest are taking the JO course.

 

[justdoit19]

How does this actually help the stalled pipeline? Won’t all these hit training at the same time? Causing the same bottleneck?

Or, will the pipeline be able to slowly absorb the influx?

I wonder how long it’s thought until things are ‘back to normal.

My ‘22 SWO has aviation friends still stashed away on the west coast. They don’t even have orders to report to PNS yet.

So, no stashing with ‘23. Instead, they go to school to get their Masters?

 

[Ivy22]

How does this actually help the stalled pipeline? Won’t all these hit training at the same time? Causing the same bottleneck?

Or, will the pipeline be able to slowly absorb the influx?

I wonder how long it’s thought until things are ‘back to normal.

My ‘22 SWO has aviation friends still stashed away on the west coast. They don’t even have orders to report to PNS yet.

So, no stashing with ‘23. Instead, they go to school to get their Masters.

Only a couple of the 500ish '23 aviation selectees are going to NPS for a year it sounds like. The rest of the batch will come to Pensacola over the summer and fall months for their 9-12 month NIFE wait, maybe even longer. However, they won't be doing what my class did while waiting. Instead, they'll be taking those local grad courses and the JO course (called SNAJOC) during their many months wait.

The pipeline will still be backed up for a while. That won't change for '23, but '24 might be slightly less backed up because the plan is to select less people for aviation from USNA and NROTC for '24 and beyond. Good news is now the wait between NIFE and primary has decreased substantially at both Milton and Corpus Christi. It's only around 2 or 3 months last I heard.

The rest of '22 that were cut off from Pensacola and sent elsewhere in the fall are coming now. I've seen probably several hundred new check-ins to NASC over the past month and a half!

 

[Herman_Snerd]

How does this actually help the stalled pipeline? //

I wonder how long it’s thought until things are ‘back to normal.

My ‘22 SWO has aviation friends still stashed away on the west coast. They don’t even have orders to report to PNS yet.

So, no stashing with ‘23. Instead, they go to school to get their Masters?

If it helps, it's my understanding that the SNFO and SNA service selectees of the class of 2022 were quite vocal about spending in some cases more than a year stashed somewhere, not thriving/ learning, some in Pensacola, some with their or a ROTC unit, and to Big Navy's credit, they listened/ observed/ are aware and are making changes for the aviators of the commissioning class of 2023 and beyond to use their time more constructively - until perhaps the delay gap to start NIFE is shortened (repeating some info already posted):
1. In lieu of most spending the summer back at home or lingering near their alma mater, have soon to be commissioning aviators utilized quickly over their first summer as an Ensign by supporting Cortramid or NSI.
2. Getting boots on ground, located in the Pensacola area in two waves starting this summer or late summer, and as others nicely noted participating in coursework from a local university then JO course. If a slot opens in NIFE that will take priority over the JO course, I believe.
3. Increasing the opportunity slots for those who may wish to attend 1 year grad program at Naval Post Graduate School - per the OP's post.

So, percentage-wise, few will go on to get their masters of this group in the next year. Most will get a graduate certificate via distance education, then complete a junior officer course. It may be smoke but I am hearing the time delay to start NIFE from day of commissioning is shrinking (getting better, not worse) - as one poster above stated some from the class of 2022 have not yet received orders to report and are facing a clear more than 1 year delay to starting NIFE and subsequent training. I believe there is some hope that, perhaps for some, the time to start NIFE will be less for the class of 2023 -maybe 9-12 months for *some. At least that seems to be the measured dose of the "hopium" being prescribed to this cohort as expectations are being set with them. I am not hearing of a longer, but rather potentially a shorter delay for '23. Of course "weathered" and "down for maintenance" could change all that regardless of plans.

I think those who wish to be naval aviators will walk across Asia for the opportunity to live this dream. I've asked my DS and buddies who are going this route and most seem unbothered about the delay - they are charmed by stories of this new Ensign life of a morning gym workout, not-too-hard scutwork or grad cert studies for a few hours, to the golf course my late afternoon, followed by some imbibing at the aforementioned local watering hole (queue TopGun bar scene perhaps without the sunglasses at night - that just seems odd to me - haha) for those who partake - lather, rinse, repeating.

 

[Ivy22]

If it helps, it's my understanding that the SNFO and SNA service selectees of the class of 2022 were quite vocal about spending in some cases more than a year stashed somewhere, not thriving/ learning, some in Pensacola, some with their or a ROTC unit, and to Big Navy's credit, they listened/ observed/ are aware and are making changes for the aviators of the commissioning class of 2023 and beyond to use their time more constructively - until perhaps the delay gap to start NIFE is shortened (repeating some info already posted):
1. In lieu of most spending the summer back at home or lingering near their alma mater, have soon to be commissioning aviators utilized quickly over their first summer as an Ensign by supporting Cortramid or NSI.
2. Getting boots on ground, located in the Pensacola area in two waves starting this summer or late summer, and as others nicely noted participating in coursework from a local university then JO course. If a slot opens in NIFE that will take priority over the JO course, I believe.
3. Increasing the opportunity slots for those who may wish to attend 1 year grad program at Naval Post Graduate School - per the OP's post.

So, percentage-wise, few will go on to get their masters of this group in the next year. Most will get a graduate certificate via distance education, then complete a junior officer course. It may be smoke but I am hearing the time delay to start NIFE from day of commissioning is shrinking (getting better, not worse) - as one poster above stated some from the class of 2022 have not yet received orders to report and are facing a clear more than 1 year delay to starting NIFE and subsequent training. I believe there is some hope that, perhaps for some, the time to start NIFE will be less for the class of 2023 -maybe 9-12 months for *some. At least that seems to be the measured dose of the "hopium" being prescribed to this cohort as expectations are being set with them. I am not hearing of a longer, but rather potentially a shorter delay for '23. Of course "weathered" and "down for maintenance" could change all that regardless of plans.

I think those who wish to be naval aviators will walk across Asia for the opportunity to live this dream. I've asked my DS and buddies who are going this route and most seem unbothered about the delay - they are charmed by stories of this new Ensign life of a morning gym workout, not-too-hard scutwork or grad cert studies for a few hours, to the golf course my late afternoon, followed by some imbibing at the aforementioned local watering hole (queue TopGun bar scene perhaps without the sunglasses at night - that just seems odd to me - haha) for those who partake - lather, rinse, repeating.

I think that the JO course is actually going to become a prereq for SNAs to be done in its entirety before classing up for NIFE academics (not like how it is for class of 2022) and will be a permanent thing for future classes, starting with '23 and beyond. They supposedly already have the funding for a couple years and everything. They will probably tweak it some between now and when '23 takes it because they just did the first test round and received feedback

 

[Herman_Snerd]

I think that the JO course is actually going to become a prereq for SNAs to be done in its entirety before classing up for NIFE academics (not like how it is for class of 2022) and will be a permanent thing for future classes, starting with '23 and beyond. They supposedly already have the funding for a couple years and everything. They will probably tweak it some between now and when '23 takes it because they just did the first test round and received feedback

Appreciate your posts -great info and guidance. What you shared about JOC becoming a prerequisite for NIFE may become SOP as you noted, but for now, classing up for NIFE is the main priority for NASC. It was expressly communicated that they will not leave a seat empty in NIFE because someone is in the middle of SNAJOC for example. Please continue to keep the board informed as you hear and learn more as this is evolving and the info you share is very helpful

 

[Ivy22]

Appreciate your posts -great info and guidance. What you shared about JOC becoming a prerequisite for NIFE may become SOP as you noted, but for now, classing up for NIFE is the main priority for NASC. It was expressly communicated that they will not leave a seat empty in NIFE because someone is in the middle of SNAJOC for example. Please continue to keep the board informed as you hear and learn more as this is evolving and the info you share is very helpful

Oh there definitely won't be any empty seats in NIFE, there are enough ensigns down here that people will get through all of the JO course and then still have a couple months at least wait left before NIFE if they are SNA

 

[Ivy22]

Appreciate your posts -great info and guidance. What you shared about JOC becoming a prerequisite for NIFE may become SOP as you noted, but for now, classing up for NIFE is the main priority for NASC. It was expressly communicated that they will not leave a seat empty in NIFE because someone is in the middle of SNAJOC for example. Please continue to keep the board informed as you hear and learn more as this is evolving and the info you share is very helpful

Current situation: in the pool right now, I'd estimate there's probably around 250 SNAs from 2022 waiting for NIFE. They have to get through all of them before starting on 2023 SNAs (of which OCS check-ins from October 2022 and on will go first based on check-in date). I'm not sure if all of 2022 has checked in yet either because of the holding from September

 

[navyfamilyof4]

why dont they fox the backlog pro0blem? is it a lack ot teachers? lack of planes? lack of a place to put everyone? seems like the wait is what needs fixing, not the opportunities while you wait (although i get it that this year might be too late for the 2023 recent grads)