About this one…
Information warfare experts are increasingly in demand across the U.S. Navy, and in a move made this month, they’ll now be eligible for sea command.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro amended service regulations to create more command opportunities for information warfare officers. He released a message about the change this month.
Full article, HERE from Navy Times.
I wonder what/how much training they will get before they ‘get’ command. I know aviators can command at sea, but they don’t get a carrier until they’ve been through a version of SWO school, commanded something smaller in the amphibious class ship, and even those are tours with a fully qualified XO who knows ships/ship handling.
I cannot imagine one of the dedicated IW types ‘taking command’ in an emergency, as none of their ‘specialty’ involves actual ship driving or aviation.
But I ‘can’ imagine some of them ‘thinking’ they can… Much like lawyers and doctors that think they are expert pilots because of ‘who’ they are. And manage to kill themselves and others on a pretty regular basis when their alligator ego overrules their peanut skills.
I will be interested to see if/how much pushback there is to this from the actual line officers who ARE in the command pipeline…
Is there some quota for running aground or colliding? Apparently not met yet if there is.
Another example of the doctor/lawyer/pilot analogy is the intelligence analyst (i.e., CONUS-bound desk jockey) that believes he/she can do everything an experienced case officer or ground branch officer can do. That usually gets lots of people killed. A Navy equivalent could take that to a whole new level.
In my army reserve training with Medical Corps, we were told we could command a general regarding medical matters (but shouldn’t with a general) but a private could command us regarding anything to with fighting.
Words to live by.
I don’t know why they would want to leave their IW specialty . I thought it crazy to ponder a JAG Officer (DeSantis) for Sec of Defense , even if he served as , by most accounts, a very good Governor. But they couldn’t be worse than the Ensign DivO I had that played with stuffed animals at his desk all day making them talk to each other . Dude was clueless, and downright dangerous on station .
Before my time , but I’m glad McCain never wore a command at sea pin.
He had stuffed animals at work?!
Yes on a ship , an aircraft carrier to be exact . Ensign , a butter bar , a recent ROTC college grad . An O-1 . Basically you just tell them what you are doing , what they should be doing , keep them out of trouble , and put a “Sir” at the end of everything you say to them. Unless , they treat you as stupid, then you go full on stupid and let them hang themselves. Two way street.
Better to have this particular one at his desk with his toys than out on the deckplates wandering around and asking stupid shit.
A E-8 told me that when the smartest O-1 he served under took command, as it were, he pulled the Chief aside and said “Senior Chief, I’m new at this; please keep me from doing anything stupid.”
The stuffed animals were for practicing his leadership skills.
I met a Chief with a Little Green Man who the Chief would consult with while mulling over a problem before going to sleep. The LGM musta been useful as the Chief appeared to have his act together.
^^ the former “Senator” McCain that is ^^
Good grief
The Navy can’t build enough ships or maintain the ones it has, but SecNav can do this. It speaks volumes about where the Biden Administration priorities are.
Does an aviator still have to complete Nuclear Power School and prototype to command an aircraft carrier?
I have a friends in the Info/intelligence area of the USN.
It burns their collective asses when a surface or aviation officer takes a command in their area. They are not allowed to apply for billets anywhere but in their area of expertise. The boat drivers and airedales are pretty clueless about the job and that makes for pretty piss poor morale in the unit.
Saying that, I could say only one of them could handle a boat, much less a ship and she will age out as an O-6.
All- Thanks for the inputs…I think y’alls opinion is about the same as mine. Rick- You are correct.
With zero navy background I can’t make a good comment on this. As a former general aviation pilot, I agree with your comment on doctor and lawyer pilots. As a hardened instructor once said to us, “If is wasn’t for Bonanzas, we would be up to our asses in doctors”.
Obviously that is too general. As an example, http://shekel.blogspot.com/2024/12/saturday-flyday.html
Lots of very competent brown shoes on the Nimitz , on the bridge,the C.O., Gator and others and down on the deck plates ,all ships company. Had many brown shoe E7,8’s ,with ESWS pins that would do PMS spot checks, interdepartmental to avoid bias, that knew my MRC’s and my equipment equal too or better than me (as an E3,4 at that time). Many had good recommendations , to me as a work center supvsr, to line outs on generic MRC cards regarding tools req’d and steps to take , THEY knew my shit…awesome cross training on their part to take their own time to learn how the ship worked beyond their purview . They earned their ESWS pins . always thought ESWS pins earned on …say a sub tender , oiler would be easier to get , less weapons systems for sure, CIC and TOP for sure, and no gas turbine power plants . Despite feeling like a concierge to the squadrons on a moving military airport, always respected the airedales made friends to go steaming with on liberty ports . Besides , they always had a fridge full of box lunches to avoid 45 minute chow lines , loved the cold fried chicken , white bread and boiled eggs , ham sandwiches and chips etc, . They could hook you up with flight deck boots instead of ankle height boondockers , and we in turn had leather to make them very nice velcro closure little kit bags , FOD Proof , to use on the flight deck. I haven’t lost my faith in the Nav , it was a good place to be for many a driven young man wanting training and adventure and self discipline , even the one tour guys were probably better for having served . Yep…as I sit here , sipping my special Christmas gift Bulleit Rye bourbon , with crossed anchor tattoos on my web of by thumbs , red and green for running lights of course, my Goldfield of San Fran, anchor done by old man Goldfield himself on my left bicep , and my sailor jerry mermaid done in Darwin, yep I can say , with pride, I am a sailor .
I’m jealous. Only did eight years. No tattoos and kinda wish I could’ve gotten my Golden Shellback Card. At least I’m not a wog!
MRCs were the bane and pride of my existence as I busted my butt to do things right while the Officers inspecting my MRC compliance didn’t know anything about the gear and I was reduced to using old t-shirts as air filters. I literally started sleeping with my equipment after BUPERS decided one sailor was enough for a critical 24/7 job; OTOH, it was a secure space and no one could steal my sheets. It helped that a buddy on a working party “found” an officer’s mattress (they’re thicker than the enlisted, y’know.)
Good times. The brown shoe box lunches sound good.
WSF- He’s the exception rather than the rule.
Boats- Agreed, there ARE good ones.
Robert- You also get the bad ones, sorry about that.
The Zampolits are clamoring for commands at sea since their tenure in their current positions may be coming to an end with the arrival of a new CinC
I doubt there will be much if any pushback from qualified officers. Doing so would be career suicide with the current crop of brain dead liberal DEI morons running the Pentagon.