Invest Now or Pay Later: Overcoming the Navy's Information Professional Community's Unwillingness to Formally Train its Officers
Abstract
The United States Navy's information professional (IP) community claims to be a proponent of training, yet when pressed to provide a 6- to 9-month course, much of the community's leadership and many of its members balk at the idea. Instead, the community supports training that occurs in 2-week courses, as on-the-job training (OJT), and as off-duty education. Only by investing in its human capital will the IP community ensure its members' continued success in the fleet. To preserve credibility and to provide timely, relevant, and accurate information to the commander, the IP community needs to provide its members with formal training in communications and information systems at both the basic and intermediate levels. In July 2001 the information professional community was officially established and was initially manned by laterally transferring those officers from the fleet support community who possessed operational experience or education in the disciplines of communications, information systems, or space and electronic warfare. The purpose of the community is to provide the Navy with a corps of restricted line officers whose expertise in communications and information systems makes them subject matter experts in command, control, communications and computers (C4). The community currently consists of 530 restricted line officers, 229 limited duty officers, and 104 chief warrant officers with a billet base of 943 billets. Twenty-seven percent of those billets are rated as sea-duty -- either ship's company or afloat staff officers. At present, the community is accepting only lateral transfers of warfare qualified officers from the unrestricted line. This policy of laterally transferring only warfare qualified officers has greatly contributed to the rapid development of the IP community's credibility within the surface, air, and submarine warfare communities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 07, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA503999
Entities
People
- Steven M. Wendelin
Organizations
- Marine Corps University