Getting your awards in your OMPF

New guidance concerning entering awards into your OMPF.

Information Professionalism

Everyone likes to speak to buzzwords. Right now, it's cyber. Too many people have visions that they are somehow a cyber expert, despite the fact that most of them don't actually know anything about cyber. This quote from an older defensetech.org article is telling:

An Air Force officer, who asked not to be named, said as he walked out of the speech that he was surprised to hear the Air Force chief of staff plead ignorance.

“Can you imagine if he said something like that about aircraft or weapons or nuclear weapons?” the Air Force major said. “It would never happen. They’d run him out of the Pentagon.”

Slight change to the blog

I'm going to try and use jump breaks now

If you're expecting an apology as a Junior Officer

It will only ever happen on the Duffel Blog.

http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/01/navy-to-apologize-to-junior-officer-for-shitty-first-tour/

Writing your sailors EVALs

If you're a division officer, it's always EVAL writing time for somebody in your division. And, if you have a large division, this can be quite daunting. So, how do you write good EVALs for your sailors and ensure they are fairly ranked?

Leadership school is making a comeback

Bringing back the leadership schools:

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=71592

I personally think this can go either way. I've had some snoozer leadership courses, which normally consisted of 2 hours of sea stories and an early dismissal. However, if someone actually used it as an opportunity to discuss real issues and how to deal with them, then maybe I could buy into it.

Online course for your spouse

Distance learning, designed to teach your spouse about Navy benefits. Located here:

http://learning.zeiders.refineddata.com/course/view.php?id=4502

(advertised in Navy Times as http://www.tinyurl.com/NewSpouseOrientation/)

Crowd-Sourcing a Navy exercise

Well, the Navy is giving crowd-sourcing a try with an upcoming, electromagnetic war game:

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=71607

I went ahead an registered, figured why not give it a try. Hope to see some of y'all there!

Full article:

Norfolk, Va. (NNS) -- To generate ideas from a broad field of participants, the Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC), the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) are partnering to conduct a crowd-sourcing online war game on electromagnetic maneuver (EM2) starting Feb. 4.

Electromagnetic Maneuver Massive Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet - or em2 MMOWGLI - will be played in three one-week phases:

1) Know the EM Environment: Understanding EM Energy, from
February 4, 2013, to February 10, 2013

2) Be Agile: C2 in the EM Environment, from February 18,
2013, to February 24, 2013

3) Change Our Paradigm: Tactical Employment of EM Weapons,
from March 4, 2013, to March 10, 2013

To facilitate global participation, the game will be open 24-hours a day during the game phases. Interested players can request to register at https://mmowgli.nps.edu/em2/signup. After registration, the game can be played on any web browser.

"The electromagnetic spectrum and cyberspace are key differentiators for winning future Navy battles," said Rear Adm. Terry B. Kraft, commander, NWDC. "em2 MMOWGLI is designed to bring together a massive, distributed audience focused on helping the Navy operate in the EM environment."

"Communications, electronics, and sensor systems aboard U.S. naval ships and submarines must operate effectively in order to support the execution of military missions and operations," said Rear Adm. Matthew L. Klunder, chief of naval research. "We're looking to the experts in electromagnetic warfare from across military, government, academia, industry and think tanks to actively participate and make meaningful contributions in the game which could ultimately improve warfighter effectiveness."

Each phase of the game will start by the partners posting 'root' cards which pose questions on the topic for that phase. Players then post 'idea cards' that other players can respond to by either building on, countering, redirecting, or calling for further expertise. Points are earned based on each idea card's influence and perceived value. Individuals contributing to particularly intriguing concepts are invited to collaborate on an "Action Plan" to move that idea forward. Published action plans are awarded further points by all players providing ratings and additional comments. Significant achievements will be recognized.

In addition to the unclassified em2 MMOWGLI game, a blog on NWDC's Navy Center for Innovation classified website at http://fims.nwdc.navy.smil.mil/nci/bloglist.aspx will allow players with SIPRNet access to continue game discussions in a secure environment.

Results from the game will inform Navy innovation concept development and experimentation efforts.

Further details about em2 MMOWGLI can be found at http://portal.mmowgli.nps.edu/em2.

For more news from Navy Warfare Development Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/nwdc/.

A book recommendation for the ship driver

With all the collisions and groundings, maybe we need to hand this out, along with the Naval Officer's Guide.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0870334336/?ie=UTF8&tag=insta0c-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325

Powerpoint is the devil

An old article, but one that is (sadly) still relevant today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html?_r=0

I like Powerpoint for a lot of things, but the phrase "Make a powerpoint brief and bring it to me" is used way too often. If all you need to answer a problem is a powerpoint brief, than maybe the problem is too easy, and you could have just posted the brief on a website to be reviewed without making everyone sit in a room with you.

Tracking your website

The above picture is from my dashboard on Google Analytics. If you run a website, or are thinking about running a website, I highly recommend creating a Google Analytics account and inserting the code into your site. It has been really helpful with my site to figure out all sorts of ways of improving it. The data above is for the last month. I can tell from the dashboard that:

- My number of pageviews (the bottom center graph) is trending upwards. I received a lot of link backs from various sites (including I Like The Cut Of His Jib!! and Connecting the Dots, as well as LinkdIn), which means word is getting out about my blog.

- My bounce rate has plummeted. Bounce rate is when someone comes to your site and leaves from the main page, typically because your site isn't what they were looking for, or because they found no reason to click anywhere else. I made structural changes to the website over Christmas, and the bounce rate (bottom graph on the right) has plummeted.

- I set goals of more interaction (meaning you click on more than 2 pages) and engagement (meaning you spend more than 3 minutes on the site). The upper right graph keeps track of those.

I like Google Analytics because I can get information about my blog and make changes.

- I modified my top 5 most viewed pages to have a suggest link at the bottom, so that when the reader gets through the post, they have incentive to read more on the website. It dramatically increased my website engagement.

- I made sure that the search terms that commonly lead to my site (FITREP, house hunting leave, LES) had pages that were easy to find on the main page. The end result was my bounce rate dropping dramatically.

- I modified the mobile version of the site to load faster, and I noticed more mobile users staying on longer.

In short, if you intend to blog, put Google Analytics on right away and check it once a week. You'll get great feedback that will help you accurately tailor your website to your viewers.

And, if you have recommendations on how to get your website out to everyone, by all means drop a comment below.

What you look for in an O-6

Well, at least what the Navy looks for. The selection board guidance is here:

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/boards/activedutyofficer/06line/Documents/FY-14/AO6L%20Convening%20Order.pdf

The only group that has a detailed list is URL, which lists the following:

1. Financial Resource Management
2. Operational Analysis
3. Joint Experience
4. Acquisition Corps
5. Navy Operational Planner
6. Political Military/Strategists
7. Integrated Air and Missile Defense
8. Naval Special Warfare Experience
9. Shore Installation Management
10. Cyber Operations and Planning
11. Language, Regional Expertise, and Cultural Experience
12. Nuclear Weapons Technical Expertise
13. Education and Training
14. Expeditionary Warfare and Confronting Irregular Challenges
15. Recruiting Leadership
16. Targeting
17. Human Intelligence
18. Space Cadre
19. Astronaut Consideration



I think it's quite telling that two of the top four have nothing to do with warfighting and everything to do with management of money. With tight times ahead, the Navy seems more focused on selecting captains that can manage budgets then ones that can fight wars. Sadly, history is repeating itself here. Before World War II, we selected submarine COs because they were cautious and didn't make too many waves. During  WW2 started, we ended up relieving almost 25% of them because they were not aggressive enough on missions. The statistics speak for themselves: while 725,000 tons of merchant shipping were sunk in 1942 (despite a full year of operations and over 5.8 million tons of Japanese shipping moving around the Pacific), by 1944 submarines sank 2.7 million tons.

The other telling piece of the convening order is that almost all other communities have nothing listed. I think this is rather dangerous territory that leads to group think, because when you give no guidance, your people simply make up their own guidance, and in the case of a selection board, will likely select based on what has worked in the past, not necessarily what will work in the future.

I'll use Information Warfare as an example. If I had to write the guidance, I'd put the following in:

- Cyber Operations
- Cyber Planning
- National/Tactical Integration
- Language, Regional and Cultural Expertise
- Information Technologies Implementation
- Distance Education

To me, this list looks to the future. You want leaders that have Cyber experience, both in making it work (operations) and in the back-end piece to enable it (planning). In a fiscally constrained environment, integrating all of our intelligence pieces together is important. For a community that has a lot of linguists, having LREC experience helps you lead those people in their unique environment.

The last two are constant problems I see. We are terrible at integrating new technology into common processes like workflow, and especially into training. I can't count the number of officers that are unable to setup a VTC, do a database pull, use a Microsoft Outlook calendar, or sometimes even configure a web browser. We don't need those people in Information Warfare. We need leaders that can do all of those, because they will push their people to implement smart solutions.

Why do we still route things in paper folders? Why do we still have printed PQS signature pages? Why do we not embrace the digital age and reap the benefits because of it? Simple. We don't promote officers in the ranks that do that, because we don't look for it on promotion boards. As a CDR that reads this blog is fond of saying, "We promote pieces of paper." If there is no direction for promotion boards to look for desirous traits to change our future, then we will simply get more of the past.

Admin routing

I was reading this article

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2012/08/marine-dakota-meyer-into-the-fire-book-blasts-army-medal-of-honor-082012/

about Dakota Meyer's book, "Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War," when I stumbled across this paragraph:

Army officials acknowledged last year that Swenson’s initial packet was lost and that a second packet had been resubmitted. An investigation ordered by Allen determined that the first nomination packet was lost “due to failures at multiple levels in tracking and processing the award, and that high turnover of personnel and staffs in theater contributed to the problem,” said Army Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman with the International Security Assistance Force, led by Allen.

Huh?

OK, so imagine you're an admin officer. A Medal of Honor package comes across your desk. Only THE highest award in the DoD, awarded by the President himself. Wouldn't you ensure that it somehow makes it through your routing chain?

Apparently not.

What is interesting is what you see NOT happen:

- No one was fired.
- No one was demoted in rank.
- No one was punished, basically, at all.

As I'm fond of telling my sailors, I can't actually make you do anything. I can't physically lift your arms and operate your hands to get you to type something, or force you to study, or make you perform at your job. If you choose to completely blow me off, I can't really stop you.

What I can do as a Naval Officer is punish you when you don't do what I want, and reward you when you do a good job. If you do a great job on an assignment, and I let you leave work 30 minutes early, I'm rewarding you and hopefully making you more likely to do good work in the future. On the same level, if I make you stay later to fix a job you did poorly, or extend your working hours because you didn't finish a project because you slacked off during the day, then I punish you (and hopefully teach you to do better in the future).

Everyone likes to reward people. It's fun to pass out command coins, or pin on awards, or promote people. I love it. I got the pleasure of pinning a new first class petty officer in an EP-3E aircraft while we were returning home from a mission. For lack of a better phrase, it was just plain awesome.

But punishment...lots of people shy away from punishment. It's not fun to strip someone of a stripe. It's not fun to give someone a counseling chit. It's not fun to tell the CO and XO that one of your really good sailors just messed up royally, and your command may get a black eye because of it.

You can't be an effective Naval Officer if you aren't willing to punish people. In the book The Price of Command (Nate Lawton Series), Nate, a young midshipman, witnesses how his captain refuses to punish his sailors when they do wrong, and instead forces the other officers in his wardroom to take the blame for being the bad guy. He's rather devious about it too. At one point, the Captain has a sailor flogged, but has the XO do it, and is conveniently not present during the flogging. He does stop by after to comfort the sailor though, despite the fact that the only person onboard that could order a flogging is the Captain. His wardroom sees through it though, and while I won't give away the ending of the book, the captain gets his in the end.

Avoiding punishment because it is uncomfortable is a form of cowardice. Sailor's lose faith with their chain of command if it doesn't punish those that stray outside the rules. If you don't enforce the rules, then why have them at all? Why bother?

The Army should have fired and disciplined people in the admin routing chain that somehow lost a Medal of Honor package. If people saw that their "failures at multiple levels in tracking and processing" resulted in butt-chewings, EMI, extra duty, and the occasional loss of stripe, perhaps these failures would become less present. By not taking any action, what they told their soldiers is that admin is above the law and will not be held accountable, no matter how messed up they are.

Even if they throw a Medal of Honor in the trash.

Not good enough to sit still

The world will pass you by. From: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/01/the-cost-of-neutral.html

The cost of neutral

If you come to my brainstorming meeting and say nothing, it would have been better if you hadn't come at all.

If you go to work and do what you're told, you're not being negative, certainly, but the lack of initiative you demonstrate (which, alas, you were trained not to demonstrate) costs us all, because you're using a slot that could have been filled by someone who would have added more value.

It's tempting to sit quietly, take notes and comply, rationalizing that at least you're not doing anything negative. But the opportunity cost your newly lean, highly leveraged organization faces is significant.

Not adding value is the same as taking it away.

Maritime Domain Awareness

Once a theory, but with technology like this, it could become a reality.

http://nosint.blogspot.com/2013/01/darpa-wants-to-dot-ocean-floor-with.html

We never stop searching

until everyone comes home.

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2013/01/ap-search-on-missing-wwii-myanmar-011113/

The command that performs this noble task has a website here. I knew a few people assigned there, it's a rather interesting job (one guy spent time in North Korea even!).

http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/

Can you spare your senior chief for two weeks?

The MCPON agrees with me: senior enlisted need to go to a war college. But everyone is so busy! How do you do it?

How about the blended Senior Enlisted Academy? Can you spare your Senior Chief for two weeks?

Details here:

http://www.usnwc.edu/Students/Senior-Enlisted-Academy/Non-Resident-Course.aspx

Fiscal cliff realized

A very scary ALNAV. Located here: http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/messages/Documents/ALNAVS/ALN2013/ALN13006.txt

ALNAV 006/13

MSGID/GENADMIN/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC/-/JAN//

SUBJ/RISK MITIGATION FISCAL PLANNING//

RMKS/1.  THIS IS AN UPDATE ON THE CURRENT FISCAL SITUATION FACING THE NAVY AND 
MARINE CORPS AS CONGRESS CONTINUES TO WORK TOWARD A DEFICIT  REDUCTION PLAN TO 
AVOID THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF SEQUESTRATION AND TO  PASS A BUDGET TO END THE 
EQUALLY DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF THE  CONTINUING RESOLUTION (CR) UNDER WHICH WE 
HAVE OPERATED SINCE THE  FISCAL YEAR BEGAN OCTOBER 1, 2012.

2.  SEQUESTRATION WAS DELAYED FOR TWO MONTHS IN THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER  RELIEF 
ACT (ATRA) PASSED BY CONGRESS ON 1 JANUARY, CREATING MORE  TIME TO AGREE ON 
DEFICIT REDUCTION, BUT GIVING THE DEPARTMENT OF  DEFENSE LESS TIME TO MITIGATE 
SPENDING CUTS IF NO AGREEMENT CAN BE  REACHED.

3.  BUT DON (AND ALL OF DOD) FACE AN EQUAL BUT MORE IMMEDIATE FISCAL  
CHALLENGE BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF AN FY-13 APPROPRIATIONS BILL, WHICH  HAS LEFT 
US OPERATING UNDER THE CR, WHICH LOCKS OUR BUDGET INTO  LOWER FY-12 LEVELS FOR 
OUR OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE ACCOUNTS  DESPITE INCREASING RESPONSIBILITIES 
WHICH DEMAND INCREASED  RESOURCES.

4.  BECAUSE SEQUESTRATION WAS DELAYED, OUR FOCUS MUST NOW SHIFT TO THE IMPACTS 
OF THE CR, WHICH CREATES SIGNIFICANT SHORTFALLS IN OPERATION & MAINTENANCE, 
NAVY (OMN) AND MARINE CORPS (OMMC) ACCOUNTS AND THE RESULTANT STEPS WE MUST 
TAKE TO MAINTAIN A MINIMUM LEVEL OF PRESENCE.  UNLESS A SPENDING BILL IS 
PASSED QUICKLY BY THE NEW CONGRESS, WE MAY BE FORCED TO OPERATE UNDER THE SAME 
CR THAT HAS BEEN SUSTAINING US SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS FISCAL YEAR.  THIS 
CR IS SET TO EXPIRE AT THE END OF MARCH. SHOULD CONGRESS DECIDE TO EXTEND THE 
CR THROUGH THE END OF FY-13, THE NAVY AND MARINE CORPS WOULD NOT HAVE ENOUGH 
MONEY TO MEET FY-13 REQUIREMENTS IN THESE ACCOUNTS.

5.  WE EXPECT TO RECEIVE FY-13 OVERSEAS CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS (OCO) FUNDING; 
HOWEVER, THOSE FUNDS ARE EARMARKED FOR SUPPORT OF CRITICAL WARFIGHTING 
REQUIREMENTS AND WOULD NOT PROVIDE ANY SIGNIFICANT RELIEF TO OUR BASELINE 
OPERATING ACCOUNTS.  WE PROJECT A SHORTFALL OF OVER $4 BILLION IN OUR BASE O&M 
ACCOUNTS WHICH FUNDS NAVY AND MARINE CORPS READINESS.

6.  GIVEN THE GREAT UNCERTAINTY WE FACE, WE MUST ENACT PRUDENT, BUT  STRINGENT 
BELT-TIGHTENING MEASURES NOW THAT WILL PERMIT US TO  OPERATE THE NAVY AND 
MARINE CORPS THROUGH THE REST OF THIS FISCAL  YEAR IF THE CR IS EXTENDED.  
EACH OF THESE STEPS ARE DESIGNED TO BE REVERSIBLE, AT LEAST TO SOME EXTENT, 
SHOULD CONGRESS PASS AN FY-13 BUDGET.  ACCORDINGLY, NAVY AND MARINE CORPS 
LEADERSHIP HAS ADVISED  THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THAT THEY ARE CONSIDERING A 
SERIES OF  ACTIONS, EACH SUBJECT TO EXCEPTIONS FOR MISSION-CRITICAL 
ACTIVITIES.
  ACTIONS INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:
- CURTAIL ADMINISTRATIVE CONTRACTING SUPPORT SERVICES
- REDUCE TRAVEL
- DELAY ALL DECOMMISSIONINGS AND ANY DISPOSALS OR LAY-UPS
- REDUCE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ADMINISTRATIVE BUDGETS
- CURTAIL REMAINING FACILITY SUSTAINMENT RESTORATION AND MODERNIZATION 
PROGRAMS
- CUT FACILITIES SUSTAINMENT, EXCEPT FOR SAFETY OF LIFE
- REDUCE SPENDING ON BASE OPERATING SUPPORT
- CANCEL ANY PLANNED FACILITIES DEMOLITION
- TERMINATE TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES, EXCEPT THOSE SUPPORTING MISSION-CRITICAL 
ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING THE WARFIGHTER
- IMPLEMENT A CIVILIAN HIRING FREEZE

7.  THESE STEPS WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM COMPLETELY.  WE WILL ONLY BE ABLE 
TO SUSTAIN CURRENT FLEET OPERATIONS.  WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SUFFICIENTLY 
MAINTAIN AND RESET OUR FORCES FOR FUTURE OPERATIONS.

8.  WITH A YEARLONG CR, THE POTENTIAL FOR CIVILIAN FURLOUGHS EXISTS, BUT ALL 
DECISIONS IN THAT REGARD WILL BE MADE AT THE DOD LEVEL.  WE WILL FOLLOW 
WHATEVER GUIDANCE WE RECEIVE.

9.  THIS GUIDANCE IS PROVIDED FOR YOUR INFORMATION.  SHORTLY, YOU WILL BE 
HEARING SPECIFICS FROM SERVICE LEADERSHIP ABOUT THEIR PLANS FOR THE AMOUNT OF 
THESE ADJUSTMENTS AND WHAT ACTIONS ARE BEING TAKEN TO LIMIT THE IMPACT ON OUR 
MILITARY PERSONNEL, CIVILIANS, AND FAMILIES.

10.  RELEASED BY RAY MABUS, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.//

Navy FITREP gouge

It's FITREP time, for O-3 and O-2! So, if you're working on your FITREP, here's some advice:

1. Review your electronic record at the same time. Go here and download the electronic record review:

http://navygrade36bureaucrat.blogspot.com/p/review-your-electronic-record.html

2. Read the Navy's instruction. Pay particular attention to limits on EP/MP and reporting periods.

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/instructions/BUPERSInstructions/Documents/1610.10C.pdf

3. Print out your last FITREP. Go to BUPERS, then your OMPF, click on your last FITREP and print it.

4. Sit down and write out everything you've done over the reporting period. Be sure to include:

- Qualifications (watches, warfare devices, PMS, equipment, etc.)
- Schooling (Navy schools, classes for your degree, online classes from DoD schools like DAU.mil, etc.)
- Personal performance (Did you blow away your department exams? Were you the best OOD on watch? Did you respond best during EOOW drills?)
- Division performance (Did your division produce the sailor of the quarter? Did you reduce waste in spending? Was your division the best on the waterfront for PMS inspections?)
- Command collaterals (Were you the Voting Assistance Officer? What about a Command Casualty Assistance Calls Officer?)
- Grab bag (Did you get nominated for an award by an outside agency? Did you learn a foreign language? Were you selected to host a VIP visit? Did a visiting Admiral personally comment on your awesomeness?)

Write down everything, even if it seems silly.

5. Now, go through your list and quantify the results:

- If you were the Voting Assistance Officer, what percentage of sailors at the command were registered to vote?
- If you were the training officer, how many people got their SWO pins during the reporting period?
- If you were a 3M DIVO, were your maintenance spot checks completed on time, and reveal no significant problems?

6. Now, prioritize. The top priority should be mission related bullets with quantifiable results. Those are your best bullets, because if they are read out loud at a selection board, they answer the five Ws and stand on their own.

7. Decide on an opening and closing statement. Statements should be tailored to reality. For example, if you've been at the command a bit as an ensign, then this statement:

NUMBER 2 of 12 ENSIGNS. READY FOR MORE RESPONSIBILITY!

is a good statement, but if you just showed up, it should read more like this:

GREAT INITIATIVE...A SELF STARTER! CONTINUING TO EXCEL IN HIS NEW COMMAND

Some thoughts:
- Don't waste space with "Promote to LT right now!" You'll get promoted at the 2 and 4 year points for LTJG and LT. Meritorious promotion is not going to happen.
- Rankings mean a lot. If you're in the EP or MP realm, you'll want something along the lines of "#2 of 20 LTs at my command!"
- Don't make ridiculous claims. "Ready to be the CNO!" is absurd unless you happen to be a flag officer.

Closing statements are along the same lines. Don't waste space summarizing your previous statements. State why you deserve an MP or EP in one-two sentences.

8. Now, with everything typed up in a word document, run spell check. Then, open Navfit98a.

- Fill out your name, rank, etc. in block 1-5.
- Fill out the UIC and station information.
- Fill out your COs information (now it's helpful to have that previous FITREP printed).

- Block 28 is controlled by the command. Contact your YN or XO to find out what they want for the block 28. Try to get all major exercises (VALIANT SHIELD, INTERNAL LOOK, etc.) listed here, plus any command awards and certifications.

- For Block 29, put your primary duty in the box. The list "PRI:" and every primary job you did, with a dash and the number of months you did them. For example: PRI: Electrical Officer-6, Reactor Controls Assistant-2. Then, do something similar for collateral (COLL), watches (WATCH), and secondary duties (SEC). If you took significant leave, list it here (it helps explain a lack of accomplishments).

- Ensure Block 30/31 are filled out. If your command sucks at performing midterm counselings...make it a point to ask for one.

- Don't bother with grades. Honestly, they don't mean anything. Let the group doing the FITREPs fill them in. The only pieces that matter are whether you are above the CO's reporting average and the Summary Group average. See: http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ehaagr/Navy_Evaluations_NAVSEA.ppt

- Put something useful in Block 40. I specifically won't sign a FITREP if my Block 40 is changed (some YNs try to do this...be warned!). It should be realistic. For example, an ENS or LTJG could have PG SCHOOL listed, but LCDR OIC doesn't make any sense. Don't forget special programs like Executive Fellowship, Pol-Mil degree, or White House Fellow.

- Fill in block 41. With all your pre-work, it should be merely a formatting challenge at this point. I recommend one space between your opening statement and one space before your closing statement. Otherwise, you want to minimize the amount of white space.

Hopefully this helps minimize the pain of filling out a FITREP. Some other comments:

- You can whine about writing your own FITREP...and guess what? No one is going to do it for you. Use it as an opportunity to show your CoC what you did while they weren't watching.

- FITREPs are useful for more than just boards. You send FITREPs to get joint discretionary credit (http://www.public.navy.mil/BUPERS-NPC/OFFICER/DETAILING/JOINTOFFICER/Pages/JQSE-JDADiscretionaryPoints.aspx), get reviewed for special programs, and when you leave the Navy, get hired for a civilian job. Keep that in mind while filling them out.

Mobile users, please respond

I've made changes to the mobile template. Please let me know in the comments if you are happy/not happy/have suggestions.

Changes to the NOOCS manual

New NOOCS manual is out! Changes are:

- Added 1860 designation for IDC Flag Officers
- Added the 3A1 AQD for being a CVW targeting officer
- Added 60H AQD for Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief for spending 90 days in response to a HA/DR event
- Added Supply Corp AQDs for completing a shore command and major shore command
- Deleted the 6204 SSP
- Added two schools to the university list

Most of the changes were in the Volume I. Check it out here:

http://www.public.navy.mil/BUPERS-NPC/REFERENCE/NOC/NOOCSVOL1/Pages/default.aspx

Who goes first? A Naval Officer!

A telling article here:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/01/most-people-dont-believe-they-are-capable-of-initiative.html

You'll find that your job as a Naval Officer will often involve going first. Whenever you watch an old movie set in a time when ships were made of wood and men were made of steel, you see a young midshipman jumping across first to board a ship, sword drawn. Naval Officers were expected to go first, to be the first ones in the line of fire.

You can't lead your sailors from behind. You must be in front. You must be the first to implement ideas. You won't always have the best ideas, but you need to be the first to champion the ideas of your sailors. Once you get out in front, you'll be surprised how many will follow you.

Full article repeated below.

Who goes first?

Initiating a project, a blog, a wikipedia article, a family journey--these are things that don't come naturally to many people. The challenge is in initiating something even when you're not putatively in charge. Not enough people believe they are capable of productive initiative.

At the same time, almost all people believe they are capable of editing, giving feedback or merely criticizing.

So finding people to fix your typos is easy.

I don't think the shortage of artists has much to do with the innate ability to create or initiate. I think it has to do with believing that it's possible and acceptable for you to do it. We've only had these particular doors open wide for a decade or so, and most people have been brainwashed into believing that their job is to copyedit the world, not to design it.

That used to be your job. It's not, not anymore. You go first.

And yet how many senior officers don't?

What do you make?

Decisions.

You don't run a punch press or haul iron ore. Your job is to make decisions.

The thing is, the farmer who grows corn has no illusions about what his job is. He doesn't avoid planting corn or dissemble or procrastinate about harvesting corn. And he certainly doesn't try to get his neighbor to grow his corn for him.

Make more decisions. That's the only way to get better at it.

From http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/01/what-do-you-make.html

JPME Phase 1 via distance education

Are you a LT or a Major? The Naval War College offers JPME Phase 1 via distance education. You can pursue one of two options:

- If you have good internet access, sign up for the web-enabled class here:

https://www.usnwc.edu/Academics/College-of-Distance-Education/Web-Enabled-Program.aspx

- If you are at a remote location, or deploy a lot, go with the CD-enabled course:

http://www.usnwc.edu/Students/College-of-Distance-Education/CD-ROM--Program.aspx

I did the CD course, and it was great. The NWC was very flexible with my schedule, and I deployed twice for three months each time. All of the readings came in on both a DVD and printed, which if you work in a SCIF makes it easy to study at work, which I would do while my programs were compiling. The NWC also takes care of getting the class into your record, so you'll get credit quickly for your work.

Check your resources well!

Some people have so much time on their hands, they decide to create fake wikipedia articles:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/war-over-imaginary-bicholim-conflict-page-removed-wikipedia-234717353.html

No one in the military should be surprised though, because this is quite similar to how much bad gouge floats around in the Navy.

Recently, I was told that we needed to schedule some of our people for a High Risk of Isolation brief. I was familiar with this because I had been to one before, scheduled by the command a year ago. We were told that we had to pay for the briefer to come to the command, so I non-nonchalantly asked one of my petty officers to locate the reference saying we had to have the brief, so that I could justify the expenditure to the command.

Well, he looked, and couldn't find it. So I started making phone calls. Funny enough, no one but CENTCOM required the brief...and since they did the brief regularly in theater, we had no reason to pay for someone to come visit. The briefer was a bit miffed, and said it was a good idea to have it...which doesn't fly in the face of tightening budgets. The brief was canceled, and we went on our merry way.

Not checking the real references and relying on gouge nearly cost us a few hundred dollars in travel money. Check your resources often, you might be surprised to find that you do things that aren't needed. 

Building a blog

So it's been one year since I built this blog! Crazy! It seems to have gone by so fast. Honestly, I'm surprised the blog has lasted through an extended deployment, three FITREPs, two jobs, a new child, and all the craziness daily life has to offer.

For anyone thinking that the magic day will arrive when they have enough time to start a blog, or a hobby, or a whatever, I recommend this article:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/12/writers-block-and-the-drip.html

You probably won't ever have the right amount of time to do anything. I decided to take on JPME Phase I and learning Indonesian (which I managed to get a 1/1+ on a DLPT V!) while in Bahrain on a 3 month TDY. It wasn't the right time, but I figured I'd never have the right time...and I'm glad I got it done. I had plenty of excuses to not start this blog...but I figured I'd tackled it a bit at a time, and I'm glad I did.

Don't wait for the perfect moment...make now the perfect moment.

Does anyone reading this blog work at NPC?

If so, can you get the webmaster to remove Second Fleet as a link under the Major Staff Placement section?

http://www.public.navy.mil/BUPERS-NPC/OFFICER/DETAILING/MAJORSTAFF/Pages/default.aspx

EVALs and FITREPs...get familiar now

Since it's O-3, O-2 and E-5 EVAL/FITREP time, might as well start reading the instruction again:

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/instructions/BUPERSInstructions/Documents/1610.10C.pdf

For the officer FITREPs, it's a good idea to read the O-4 convening order to get an idea of what sorts of things you should put in your FITREP:

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/boards/activedutyofficer/04line/Documents/FY13/FY-13%20AO4L%20CONVENING%20ORDER.pdf

For the E-5s, I recommend reading the Chief's board precepts:

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/boards/activedutyenlisted/Documents/FY13%20E7%20BOARD/FY13%20SEN%20ENL%20PRECEPT.PDF

Can you get frocked?

Can you get frocked as an officer? Yes you can, if:

- You work for an admiral
- You are in a CO or XO job
- You're in a JDAL billet

Full instruction here:

http://doni.daps.dla.mil/Directives/01000%20Military%20Personnel%20Support/01-400%20Promotion%20and%20Advancement%20Programs/1420.2A.pdf

Pretty selective, but it is possible.

If you had to pick a crappy country we'll see more of in the news...

I'd pick Mali.

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2012/12/ap-al-qaida-carves-out-own-country-in-mali-123112/

And it doesn't look like a great vacation spot, according to the State Department:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_962.html

Focused on the wrong things

Older article about enforcing weight standards at the US Army's PME courses:

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20121015.aspx

The article goes on to talk about how the Army will now shift back to more focus on looking good and potentially less on combat skills...although you would think we would have learned our lesson after 10+ years of war.

Sadly, the Navy isn't doing much better.

Note that I'm not saying enforcing weight standards is a bad thing. Enforcing standards is one thing. Setting standards that don't create an effective fighting force (by say, making the weight restriction really hard, or focusing on skills that don't matter in combat) doesn't make any sense.

Attacking the root of a problem

Interesting article about the information warfare going on between Israeli and Palestinian forces:

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20121229.aspx

The key point isn't the technology here...rather, it's the approach. Israel is good at killing people. They have the technology, weapons, people and know-how to kill any number of Palestinians. But the reality is that they won't win their war by killing Palestinians alone. They have to get the population to quit fighting them, and get enough international pressure on the Palestinians to stop fighting...a pretty hard task, considering how biased most of Israel's neighbors are against it's existence.

The approach they are taking is unique. Rather than continue to simply kill Palestinians, they seek to undermine their willpower by breaking down their arguments of mistreatment, and using the internet and social media to quickly disburse the results.

The takeaway here is that they are going after the real problem. We often get told to solve the superficial problems, and forget to target what is really wrong. Take morale, for example. I've heard the complaint that morale was low at my command when I first showed up, but what surprised me the most was that the complaints mainly came from divisions that never deployed...meaning the folks working a 9-5 job were less happy than the 70% OPTEMPO deployers leaving their families. How can this be?

From the questions we had to answer on a site survey (such as: do you trust your chain of command?) you'd never find the answer. I simply sat down with a lot of sailors and just asked the question: what at this command makes you unhappy?

The number one answer: I feel my job is meaningless.

Now it all makes sense. The deploying sailors feel they have meaningful jobs (since they see up close the effects), so they are happy at work, while the desk-bound sailors on their first tour hate everything, because they don't see where all their efforts go.

Knowing this, dumping money into MWR and taking more days off doesn't solve the problem. Engagement by mid-grade leadership (chiefs and division officers) and explaining to sailors why their efforts matter make all the difference...and is a far cheaper solution.

Are you fixing the right problems at work, or are you just fixing the symptoms?

Analysis paralysis

I stumbled on this article:

http://rationalconspiracy.com/2012/07/08/the-fallacy-of-complexity/

During one of my JPME Phase I lecture, General Zinni talked about the JOPES process, and how if he had to move a tank from the east coast of the US to Kuwait, you could use JOPES to make that move happen. He then said that if you did that, you'd be a lance corporal and not an officer. His point was that any problem thrown your way would likely be a complicated problem, where there wouldn't be a straightforward answer.

Like the above article suggests, the best way to tackle these complicate problems is to go after the obvious pieces first. And yet, when we try to fix something at our command (say, training), how often do we immediately get wrapped up in the tiny details and miss the big picture? How often do we simply keep doing the same thing we did before because we can't get the 100% new solution?

I say settle for 90% correct, and refine the missing ten percent as you go along.

I have more than a few khaki (officers and chiefs alike) that have complained to me about something being wrong at our command. They tell me that everything from the training department to the Navy Day Ball is screwed up. Which, to be fair, is sometimes the case. My first question is always "What have you done to fix it."

Crickets. Then maybe a plethora of complaints, and something along the lines that the CO or XO should roll out some grand plan that fixes everything right in one fell swoop.

Guess what? That's never going to happen.

While the CO and XO are smart guys, they don't have the 100% solution right away in most cases. They'll probably be happy to get it 90% right in the first attempt. They don't need perfection right away. They know that the situation is complicated, and that it may take a while to get all the complicated pieces into play. But they want someone to start chopping away at the big, obvious problems now to get the situation under control.

Our IDWO qualification program is a classic example. I took it over and began making changes to the glaring mistakes we had, which was scheduling boards (it would take weeks to do it in the past, now it's done on a weekly basis), lack of training materials (I put all IDWO references on an Intellipedia wiki that is easy to use), and weekly training (now scheduled in advance, via a shared calendar). I don't have the full answer, and I know that the problem is complicated. Our program is still changing. I know that all my steps taken above won't completely fix the issues.

But I won't wait until I have all the answers to start correcting mistakes. I want progress now, not later. Why wait? It's not like any of this gets better with age.

Start fixing your problems now. Be 50% right now. Let 100% come in the future.

Small updates

Made some changes to the Reading List and Daily Reading links. I'm still keeping the CNO's blog up there, but honestly the lack of updates is kinda sad :( If you have any suggestions for other links to follow, let me know.