How does Honor know so much?

cthia wrote:Here's the thing. Textev talks about a tactical track if you have aspirations of being a CO. Saganami course study would concentrate studies geared to a tactical track. It is like my course studies in High School we're centered around getting into college on an academic career track as opposed to a General or Business diploma. In college my career track was Civil Engineering. There are some courses that overlap, but I would not have had time to learn near as much about accounting as an accountant, or about electrical engineering or about aeronautical engineering, or mechanical engineering as the students in those disciplines.

I would imagine a tactical track has its own very demanding courses. I am open to Honor getting a little cross, interdisciplinary training in engineering, but I never would have thought it could be as in-depth as a formal engineering course study.

It appears I was in error. I looked this up on military.com. There appears to be extensive engineering study in several career tracks.

The West Point Academy (and I am sure the others do too) also combines engineering and leadership skills. This is what they had to say for themselves.

West Point's Academic Program includes an excellent, broadly structured undergraduate curriculum that balances the physical sciences and engineering with the behavioral and social sciences. The goal is for every graduate to be able to think creatively and clearly express original ideas on both technological and interpersonal issues. In addition, the Academy seeks to instill in cadets a commitment to progressive and continued education development.

With regard to that last statement, the Army (and probably the other services) makes getting a Masters a prerequisite to the highest rank.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:My argument is that a competent flag officer might, you know, want to get a competent flag lieutenant. As Helen's musings showed, that flag lieutenant made the officer's life workable, as opposed to drowning in paperwork (or just being incompetent).

You have no idea who is really competent or not when someone has been commissioned for maybe four years at most and held junior officer position where they are probably fairly closely supervised when they get selected for the slot. You will know if they are incompetent, but not if they are any more competent than the guy next to them. In the RMN, you will know who their father or mother is.

In the modern US Navy, aide positions are extremely competitive and are typically O3 slots, and I suspect you'd get assigned as your first shore duty, at about the 5 year mark. It's

Navy stuff from the US Navy web site:
Flag Aide

Ever wondered what an Admiral does for a living? Want to learn an organization from the TOP DOWN? Flag aide jobs are a fantastic way to gain experience and insight on how the Navy operates. As an Aide, you get to handle many of the Admiral’s personal and administrative matters. It is challenging but highly rewarding duty for Junior Officers with strong demonstrated performance in their DIVO tours.

If you are interested in being nominated for a flag aide position, contact your detailer. If it is not in your record, you will be asked to provide a current official photo. To expedite the nomination process, you can scan the photo and send it to your detailer via e-mail. You will also need to provide a brief biography explaining your background, previous assignments, and other pertinent personal information. Additionally, it is recommended that you request a letter of recommendation (endorsement letter) from your CO that includes any information on your performance that would not already be included in your record as well as any other remarks the CO chooses to address. There is no requisite format for the letter other than it must be on command letterhead, addressed to the Flag Aide nomination board, and include your name in the subject line. If you are interested in applying for more than one billet, is it recommended that the letter be generic so that you need only submit one.

https://www.nsw.navy.mil/Portals/27/Fla ... 009%29.pdf

tlb wrote:

cthia wrote:Here's the thing. Textev talks about a tactical track if you have aspirations of being a CO. Saganami course study would concentrate studies geared to a tactical track. It is like my course studies in High School we're centered around getting into college on an academic career track as opposed to a General or Business diploma. In college my career track was Civil Engineering. There are some courses that overlap, but I would not have had time to learn near as much about accounting as an accountant, or about electrical engineering or about aeronautical engineering, or mechanical engineering as the students in those disciplines.

I would imagine a tactical track has its own very demanding courses. I am open to Honor getting a little cross, interdisciplinary training in engineering, but I never would have thought it could be as in-depth as a formal engineering course study.

It appears I was in error. I looked this up on military.com. There appears to be extensive engineering study in several career tracks.

The West Point Academy (and I am sure the others do too) also combines engineering and leadership skills. This is what they had to say for themselves.

West Point's Academic Program includes an excellent, broadly structured undergraduate curriculum that balances the physical sciences and engineering with the behavioral and social sciences. The goal is for every graduate to be able to think creatively and clearly express original ideas on both technological and interpersonal issues. In addition, the Academy seeks to instill in cadets a commitment to progressive and continued education development.

With regard to that last statement, the Army (and probably the other services) makes getting a Masters a prerequisite to the highest rank.

Interesting. What is the equivalent degree after Saganami? I wouldn't think a Masters. But you bring up a good point. A Captain has a lot of time on her hands with a good XO running the ship. And someone like Honor could continue her studies aboard ship. An online degree should be a piece of cake for an Alpha. A Masters generally only takes 18 to 24 months. Honor can probably do it in six.

Online as in totally ship contained lessons in the ships computers.

Interesting Discussion,

Brings up the point that most navies require Officers to so some "General Duties" and Staff postings before they get promoted above certain levels in Command Track.

Looking at Honour's Career she has one as "Sailing Master" which I would have expected to be part of the Astrogator's track not "Gunnery" which is what she clearly followed.

Her postings to the Academe and BuWeps probably rate as "Staff" postings.

Clearly and Active war displaces these ideals a fair bit - promoted in combat patches over these kinds of requirements but we are now looking at a period of relative peace.

So does anyone have any txteve for other such postings in our officers career's paths ?

So does anyone have any txteve for other such postings in our officers carea paths ?

It seems to be divided into more of a command track and an engineering track, along with some technical specialties like intel and supply. I suspect that you can get pushed off the command track and end up in support and staff postings if you don’t show talent when given a command.

But it’s not clear and there are multiple ways to organize officer career tracks. I know to RN doesn’t do it the same as the USN.

kzt wrote:You have no idea who is really competent or not when someone has been commissioned for maybe four years at most and held junior officer position where they are probably fairly closely supervised when they get selected for the slot. You will know if they are incompetent, but not if they are any more competent than the guy next to them. In the RMN, you will know who their father or mother is.

Fair point. With just four years of duty and four years at the Island to draw upon, it may not be possible to determine who's going to be a competent officer. So indeed I'd expect even competent flag officers to take chances on someone's nephew.

But I also think they'd try to avoid that. If those flag officers want to actually do work, they need a competent flag aide. An incompetent nephew would hinder that, causing this flag officer to have (at best) to reassign, but it might also include putting some derogatory marks in the file, which could sour the relationship with the uncle or aunt who'd recommended them. So I'd expect the flag officer to instead take recommendations from instructors and COs for possible candidates who've shown skill. Whatever limited amount thereof there may have been in the time available.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:If those flag officers want to actually do work, they need a competent flag aide. An incompetent nephew would hinder that, causing this flag officer to have (at best) to reassign, but it might also include putting some derogatory marks in the file, which could sour the relationship with the uncle or aunt who'd recommended them. So I'd expect the flag officer to instead take recommendations from instructors and COs for possible candidates who've shown skill. Whatever limited amount thereof there may have been in the time available.

But can you trust the evals and letters of recommendations from officers for the prince? Would they be willing to write a truthful but not great one for the prince?

In the modern US military, the most important rating you get is the one from your bosses boss. So while the O3 a young LT works for is important, the O5/O6 CO is the critical rater as a O1-O2. And this is not a secret thing, the rated officer gets that eval. And the prince's dad gets that eval handed to him by the prince...

Who determines whether that O6 becomes a general or admiral?

What you know does include a whole bunch of what happens with your experience and next, how flexible you are. One of my classmates in college graduated (1972) with a degree in Physics, went into the Navy and retired as a Captain -who's career included commanding a Ballistic Missile Submarine. Another graduated with a degree in Math and went into the Air Force, he was looking to be a pilot. He did not graduate the pilot program but became a Navigator and eventually retired as a Col., and did a lot of interesting and important stuff. They were flexible and moved to strengths as they showed as they advanced in their careers. I sort of didn't follow my major (History) but analysts and research are skills that have lots of applications so Banking for work but pleasure for more than 45 years doing 18th century Living History. There is a practice basis for my user name here.

kzt wrote:But can you trust the evals and letters of recommendations from officers for the prince? Would they be willing to write a truthful but not great one for the prince?

Why are we now talking about a prince?

ThinksMarkedly wrote:
Why are we now talking about a prince?

Because that's what these are. We are talking about someone whose actions and the actions of the state showed he was above the law. If you make an enemy of the person who has great influence on your career, like say the head of the conservative party who is know to keep grudges, what do expect will happen to your career?