At first blush, I would assume that most normal junior officers if faced with a 325-page RAND study titled, “Raising the Flag Implications of U.S. Military Approaches to General and Flag Officer Development” would give it a pass.
Let’s be clear, except for the most obsessively career-competitive minded young men and women on their first tour, what it takes to be a Flag Officer is just not in their scan. Of course there is the scattering of people – we all served with them – who started plotting that path as MIDN. They’ve already read and highlighted the report, so this post isn’t for them. This is for everyone else; read at least the Navy part.
You might be a late bloomer who decides you might want to stay a few decades as opposed to punching out as soon as possible. It, ahem, happens. Leave yourself some flexibility. The advice here doesn’t just work for Flag … but for all promotions.
There isn’t anything shockingly new here, which was in a way comforting to see. 90% of this is fully in line with what I would have been briefed as a MIDN over three decades ago. That doesn’t mean I like what I derisively call “The Millington Diktat,” but like a shark in the ocean, you need to acknowledge it’s there and respect it.
Let me grab a few pull-quoted for you to show you in part what is there that is worth your time.
To start with, I’m a NROTC guy, not suspicious by nature, and not prone to giving much credence to conspiracy theories. From early on people would talk about the career advantage of USNA grads. I didn’t see that, especially in early tours where all a CO wanted was a JO who was smart, reliable, useful, and minimized administrative burden from him or the Sailors he was responsible for.
As I moved along, I did start to notice something my father, a lifetime salesman, always reminded me of – life is a people business. You have to build and maintain a network of people in your business. No one likes a kissass, no one likes being used or taken for granted – and no one likes to feel they are indebted to anyone – but people do like to have a group of trusted or at least reachable with a common experience they know and keep in touch with for years. As R.E.M. sung, “A perfect circle of acquaintances and friends.”
Along those lines, RAND has done the math … but there isn’t a grand conspiracy … there is just that very human thing known as a network. Even NROTC and OCS people can have one too, you just have to play catch up with those of all sources you serve with.
USNA graduates have a built-in network of officers with shared undergraduate experience that lasts throughout the entirety of their Navy careers. This is much less the case for officers commissioning through NROTC or even OCS. One interviewee estimated that out of a total of 400 fellow OCS graduates, only ten made it to O-6, and only one served 30 years in the Navy.278
This phenomena is borne out in our analysis of personnel data, as shown by the shrinking proportion of OCS officers at the higher grades in Figure 5.4. The built-in network for NROTC graduates is even smaller, as there might be just a dozen officers entering the Navy from even a relatively large university, only one of which might make O-6.279 In contrast, a USNA graduate enters the Navy with more than 780 fellow academy alumni, of which an average of 110 will make O-6 and 13 will make O-7.280 The size of this network, and the strength of personal connections made prior to commissioning, might contribute to the overrepresentation of academy graduates in the FO corps, particularly at the highest ranks of O-9 and O-10
This rings true, and is an example of a lot of what you will find in the RAND report; numbers to back up long held assumptions. A reinforcement of reality.
The next example is something you just need to hoist onboard. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to agree with it. You don’t have to think it is in the best service to our Navy … but you have to accept it.
With rare exceptions, the below is an almost iron law. Don’t fault it if you violate it. For reasons of family, interest, or boredom – people will make a decision to violate this iron law. There is a cost – just know that going in.
Broadening experiences, such as assignments to interagency organizations or North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) staff, are considered to be of limited value for promotion, and can even be “career-killers” if they take the place of a standard assignment along the expected community career path.296 In general, time spent in the Navy, and specifically in assignments directly related to one’s own career field, are most prized, and broadening assignments are viewed as unnecessary distractions.
Relatedly, joint experience and experience in interagency and multinational organizations in particular are usually valued less in promotion selection.297 Joint assignments are generally viewed as simply a “box to check” in order to meet the statutory joint qualification requirements for FOs, rather than as an important broadening experience in its own right.298
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Whether an officer pursues the standard, competitive career path in their own community can also affect FITREP evaluation scores. High-performing officers who are seen as taking themselves off of the standard career track—by pursuing a nonstandard assignment or deciding to retire from service, for example—also might receive poor FITREP trait grades, as their reporting senior will often choose to save higher grades for others who are still perceived to be competitive for future promotions.328 The extent to which this occurs in any given peer group can affect both its members’ absolute and relative evaluation scores.329
Do yourself and your friends a favor, at least read the Navy section from page 81 to 114. Even if you think you know the system, give it a read just to reinforce from a quasi-outside entity what you’ve been told internally.
If you want to better understand different services’ cultures, then read the other sections too.
