Wondering if anyone can comment on the nature of assignments to the Pentagon for junior officers on a shore tour. I know many senior officers find themselves stationed there, but is it common for unrestricted line O-3s to be stationed at the Pentagon after their Div-O tour? What would billets would they typically hold? All I could think of is flag aide and other administrative assistants. Are these billets considered career-enhancing? And in general, what considerations should go into picking where to do a shore tour whether one wants to stay in or get out afterwards?
Obviously all the JOs on the Yard are currently on their post-Div-O shore tour, and I have no plans to knock on the Commandant’s door to ask him about his experience. So does anyone here have any first or second hand knowledge of what it’s like?
Here’s what I do know. Largest single officespace in the world, huge bureaucracy. Unlike how it’s portrayed in Hollywood, it’s all pretty boring admin work like procurement, answering to Congress, and setting regulations, right? That’s all I know.
Love to see you thinking ahead.
Let me set the scale for you at the Pentagon: one-star admirals are slide-flippers. Senior captains just out of major command (like the Dant) stand at the back of the briefing room for hours as a ready resource while the senior flags and very senior civilians sit at the table. URL O-3s are usually flag aides and seldom seen otherwise, unless they are a junior watchstander at a place like the White House Communications Agency or a RL type doing something normal for their career path. You occasionally see stellar JOs hand-plucked for something special, such as Protocol Aide to CNO or a junior speechwriter for CNO. That happened to two of our sponsor alumni family; both have gone on to command.
Staffs at the Pentagon are focused on the vision, mission, policy, resources, strategy, planning, programming, budgeting, for their services and forces. A lot of analysis, a lot of thinking 20-50 years ahead, a lot of fighting over priorities and funds - the other end of the spectrum from the operational pointy end of the spear, but necessary.
Flag aides at all levels (“loopers”) can be very good jobs, because of the exposure to how the Navy works at high levels, meeting potential mentors, having a flag officer sign your fitrep (if you’re a screw-up, it will sink you if bad paper), the eye-popping things you will hear and see, the professional growth demanded by the pressure to be a skilled trouble-shooter, politically astute, logistics ace, etc. The down sides are: much will depend if your flag is a great person, your leave time is at the discretion of the flag and their schedule, long hours, lots of travel, extremely difficult to get your Master’s during this period, which is the classic window to get it. I was a Flag Sec as a LCDR - huge career boost - later an EA to a 3-star. There is a special desk at BUPERS that handles flag aide assignments. It’s definitely competitive and highly selective. All three of our sponsor family who are now captains had flag aide tours. If you are already a stand-out performer as a JO, it’s a career accelerant. If you run into CAPT Beth Regoli ‘99 at the Yard, former BattO and now the SAPR (or current term) program officer, ask her about her time as aide to VP Biden. You have a huge range of shore tour officers of various communities to ask this question of - that is one of their roles, to help show the way to the next generation. Pick your time and place, and ask! Most of us like to talk about our careers.
Your warfare community has web pages devoted to career paths. You will talk to senior officers in your designator about possible shore tours while you are in tour sea tours. DC staff/Pentagon duty is atypical.
Typical choices, and there are MANY more:
- full-time student at Naval Post-graduate School. Or even AFIT!
- instructor duty - USNA company officer or ProDev or faculty, instructor pilot in aviation pipeline, instructor at SOBC at Groton, etc.
- smaller shore-based staff in a major homeport, say, Schedules Officer in Operations at COMNAVSURFGRUMIDPAC in Pearl Harbor, nice if you roll off a ship tour there as a SWO.
- disassociated duty - aviators often go to officer recruiting duty. (Two aviators in their summer whites at a table outside my university post office found me, but that’s another sea story).
- a billet at a larger staff such as AIRPAC or SURFLANT or a joint staff where you start to build your skills in your sub-specialty. Your sub-specialty is a set of skills, separate from your warfare specialty, that you build with a related Master’s. designated shore tours, etc. My DH got his MS in Ops Research/Analysis (name changes) at NPS, then later shore tours built on that skill.
There are many options. Some of the best advice I got was the minute you arrive at a new duty station, start planning for what should come next. Ideally, that first shore tour should give you some opportunity to get your Master’s, either full-time or after-hours at a local school or on-base extension or remote. If you use the Navy dime or time, though, you incur ADSO. You don’t have to use it, though. One of our sponsor daughters knew she wanted to get out, so she got her MS in Engineering Management at ODU in Norfolk after hours but didn’t use Navy Tuition Assistance.
A good leader always takes time to do career counseling with their officers. I was blessed to have department heads, COs and XOs who had those sessions with me, made calls, helped me think it through. I tried to do the same for the officers who worked for me.
Lastly, do some digging for “official Navy bios for (name).” A lot of career background is out there in plain view.
Captain Walter H. Allman III, USN page for Commandant of Midshipmen at USNA.edu. Updated Tue Apr 15 10:37:43 EDT 2025.
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