It was shown in Part I that any promotion system must be founded on a triumvirate of (1) magnitude of each level or step in the organization’s command pyramid, (2) the time span in which the progression from lowest to highest level must be transited, and (3) the amount of wastage which must occur because of the reduced requirements at the higher echelons.
These three factors were abbreviated, (1) grade distribution (2) flow rate (3) attrition.
The Officer Personnel Act of 1947 as amended is constructed around these three features and the provisions of this Act together with the practices by which it is administered constitute the present promotion system. The purpose of part II of this paper is to outline the operation of the present promotion system.
The Military Grades
The steps of the naval command pyramid are called “grades.” These are offices held under the Constitution of the United States and are titled to show the chain of responsibility and authority from lowest to highest and the service in which such responsibility and authority is exercised, as
Ensign
Lieutenant (Junior grade)
Lieutenant
Lieutenant Commander
Commander
Captain
Rear Admiral
Vice Admiral
Admiral
Fleet Admiral
(Rank is the relation of one such grade to another, and within a grade the relation of one individual to another, with respect to seniority.)
The chain of military authority and responsibility is readily determined for officers whose every-day duties involve the exercise of command and the acceptance of military responsibility. This is not so apparent with respect to the staff corps officers and the engineer and specialist officers whose responsibility is in their respective professional fields. Until 1947 members of the Staff Corps did not hold military grade but held professional grades in their own corps such as Medical Inspector, Pay Director, Assistant Chaplain. For pay and convenience, messing, and berthing, Staff Corps officers were given equivalent rank and wore stripes on their sleeves corresponding to this equivalent rank. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels during World War I directed that Staff Corps officers should be addressed by their equivalent rank. With the passage of time and especially after the tremendous expansion of World War II when thousands of officers served on active duty who never heard of a “passed assistant surgeon with the rank of Lieutenant Commander,” the professional grades were abolished and all commissioned officers, including nurses, were given military title and “office” in the Constitutional sense.
Categories of Naval Officers
The Officer Personnel Act of 1947 recognizes the following categories of officers in the regular Navy and provides for their promotion and separation. (The promotion and separation of WAVE officers is governed by Public Law 625 of the 80th Congress.)
I. LINE OFFICERS
A. Line officers not restricted in the performance of duty.
B. Line officers restricted in the performance of duty.
1. Engineering duty officers
2. Aeronautical engineering duty officers
3. Special duty officers in sub-categories of
(a) Communications
(b) Law
(c) Intelligence
(d) Photography
(e) Public Relations
(f) Hydrography
(g) Other specialty should a need arise.
4. Limited duty officers (in 10 administratively determined technical fields)
II. STAFF CORPS OFFICERS
A. Medical Corps officers not restricted in the performance of duty.
B. Supply Corps officers not restricted in the performance of duty.
1. Supply Corps officers restricted in the performance of duty (limited duty officers).
C. Civil Engineering Corps officers not restricted in the performance of duty.
1. Civil Engineering Corps officers restructed in the performance of duty (limited duty officers).
D. Chaplain Corps officers not restricted in the performance of duty.
E. Dental Corps officers not restricted in the performance of duty.
F. Nurse Corps officers not restricted in the performance of duty.
G. Medical Service Corps officers restricted to duty in one of several fields.
When our Navy was first organized the only officers were persons involved in the maneuvering and fighting of the ships. Following the British custom the physician and the purser, forerunners of our modern staff corps officers, were civilians under contract. All officers were then relatively inter-changeable, subject to experience. They were called “line” officers as an abbreviation of line-of- battle officers. This was the command group and continues today in relatively the same fashion as 150 years ago.
In addition to the command group (unrestricted line officers) and the officers of the staff corps, certain engineer and specialist officers are provided for by law in the Regular Navy but not in the Naval Reserve. These officers are classed as of the line. They are naval officers with sea-going experience whose function is to interpret the needs of the Navy in the field of their specialty to the civilian engineers and construction or production firms, to interpret the Navy’s functions and performance to the press, and as engineers or specialists to advise the officers in the command chain of new developments, of new inventions, of new applications of weapons and material, or of specific information in communication, intelligence, or law.
In order that these naval officers may have the time and opportunity to perfect themselves in their specialty, they are protected from the necessity of perfecting themselves in seamanship, strategy, tactics, and command at sea. Military grade requirements for these officers are not readily determinable. Permanent restricted line officers, except limited duty officers, advance with the next junior unrestricted line officer.
Enlisted men and warrant officers with ten or more years service may be appointed limited duty officers. For their protection the law says that their assignment must be in the field indicated by their former warrant or rating. That is, a former gunners mate may become a limited duty officer in gunnery and will continue to perform ordnance work, but with greater responsibility assigned. LDO’s perform the duties of line or staff corps officers, within the limit of former experience. Authority had long existed to permit enlisted men to become officers, but generally the former enlisted man felt at a disadvantage. He was usually older than his competitor in the same officer grade and in most cases at an educational disadvantage. Limited duty officers compete for promotion among themselves. They serve approximately the same period of service in grade as other categories.
The Staff Corps is comprised of officers who practice, in the Navy, certain of the professions that are required in the everyday life of all citizens. The blue jacket is heir to all the ills of the flesh and the soul (some say more of the latter) that his country cousin and his uncle in the city suffer. In order to recognize the professional position of these men in a fighting force, they are commissioned. This makes clear their status in case, for example, they should be captured by an enemy in time of war.
Officers in the various categories compete for promotion only with officers of the same category. That is the Engineering Duty Officer competes only with other Engineering Duty Officers, not with the unrestricted line nor Aeronautical Engineering Duty Officers. The Supply Corps Limited Duty Officer competes within his own group. There are two exceptions to this general rule. The various sub-categories of Special Duty officers do compete with each other and similarly the Line Limited Duty officers are considered together for promotions in the Limited Duty group.
Distribution of Officers of the Regular Navy
Grade distribution refers to the proportion of officers that may serve in each of the several military grades, from ensign to admiral.
The unrestricted line of the regular Navy, which is the promotion control group, is apportioned into the several grades from ensign to admiral in accord with the distribution percentages of the Act, which are:
Ensign and Lieutenant (jg) combined 38½%
Lieutenant 24¾%
Lieutenant Commander 18%
Commander 12%
Captain 6%
Rear Admiral 0¾%
These percentages are multiplied for purposes of permanent promotion by the actual number of regular, permanent, unrestricted line officers on the active list as determined by a census conducted under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy each first of January. The number computed for each grade by applying these percentages must be filled (provided that there are officers eligible). It is a “vacancy” system, and promotion to fill vacancies is mandatory. No discretion is left any official to determine a “less number” in any grade.
As a special control a numerical limit of 150 permanent unrestricted line rear admirals is provided. Should the regular unrestricted line strength exceed 20,000, the numerical limit of 150 governs.
The Officer Personnel Act establishes an upper limit for the number of engineering duty officers of 4½% of the total line officers. The number of aeronautical engineering duty officers is limited by the law to not more than 2½% of the total line officers. The special duty officer is a new category which provides for the assignment of officers to special duty in the fields of communication, law, naval intelligence, photography, hydrography, and certain other specialties. There is an upper limit on the total number of special duty officers of 2½% of the total line officers.
The law places a ceiling on the total number of restricted line officers in the combined grades of captain, commander, and lieutenant commander as 9% (ED), 5% (AED) and 5% (SD) of the total number of unrestricted line officers in the corresponding three grades. The number of rear admirals of the restricted line is limited to not more than 13% of the number of rear admirals of the unrestricted line. The proportion of ED, AED and SD rear admirals within the 13% is established by the Secretary of the Navy.
The act sets a percentile limitation of the officers in the grades of commander and below that may be limited duty officers. (The term is ambiguous and might better be “Technical Duty Officer.”)
Regular, permanent, staff corps officers are not “distributed” in fixed proportion by law except in the top grade. There is no fixed requirement for a certain proportion of staff corps officers to be in any of the grades below rear admiral. All the officers in a corps could be lieutenants, or all could be captains so far as the Act is concerned. The only control is input at the bottom.
Each staff corps officer is assigned a “running mate” who is the officer in the unrestricted line, the “Control Group,” with the same or nearest date of rank and who determines the time the staff corps officer will be considered for selection and for promotion to a higher grade. The staff corps officers flow with their unrestricted line “running mate.”
In order to provide sufficient elimination in the various staff corps to insure vitality through new annual input and further to assure that the various corps offer about equal opportunities for a career, the law provides that promotion groups for all grades in the Supply and Civil Engineer Corps and promotion groups to the grades of commander and captain in the Medical, Dental and Chaplain Corps and to commander in the Medical Service Corps shall be assured the same promotional attrition actually taken by the corresponding unrestricted line board in the same year. All fully qualified officers in the promotion zone to lieutenant commander and lieutenant may be selected in the Medical, Dental, Chaplain and Medical Service Corps and to lieutenant in the Nurse Corps. As the grades of captain Medical Service Corps and commander and lieutenant commander Nurse Corps are limited, selection to those grades is quite limited by scarce vacancies.
Staff corps officers generally have some civilian counterpart of their profession in which they may gain experience for which they are given precedence credit when they come into the Navy and are initially assigned a running mate. Medical officers appointed in the regular Navy are given four years credit, dentists three years.
No other attempt is made to govern the grade distribution of staff corps officers except the rate of input at the bottom. It therefore takes a long time to make any appreciable change in the situation. When the line “running mate” qualifies and is promoted, the staff corps officer, if he qualifies, is promoted also.
Staff corps rear admirals are limited to one-half of 1% multiplied by the total number of regular officers in the corps plus one additional when the corps concerned has a Chief of Bureau. The Nurse Corps and the Medical Service Corps do not have admirals but have a percentage limitation on their top officer grades. Similar to the line there are finite limits for rear admirals of the Supply Corps, Civil Engineer Corps, Medical Corps, Chaplain Corps, and Dental Corps that cannot be exceeded, even though applying the percentage would give more.
By these methods the DISTRIBUTION of the regular establishment is determined, and promotion to fill the resultant grade structure provides for the premanent grade of the officers of the regular Navy.
Distribution of All Officers on Active Duty
There are on active duty in the Navy, in addition to the career officers treated above, officers of the Naval Reserve, and officers serving under revocable commission whose permanent status is enlisted or warrant (temporary officers). Most of the categories of officers of the regular Navy recognized by the Act have a corresponding Naval Reserve category, and some a corresponding USN(T) category. There are no ED, AED, SD, line LDO, supply corps LDO, nor civil engineer corps LDO officers in the Naval Reserve (though Naval Reserve line officers perform the same duties in many instances and have the mistaken impression that they are restricted line officers). USN(T) officers are presently serving in the unrestricted line, supply corps, civil engineer corps, and medical service corps.
A distribution of all officers on active duty, regardless of status as USN, USN(T), or USNR, is provided by the ACT. This distribution effects the “temporary” grade structure. It is pertinent to the promotion of career officers since it is this distribution which produces temporary promotion.
When the January census of regular career officers of the unrestricted line is conducted to determine the basis of permanent promotion of regular officers, a census of all unrestricted line officers on active duty, USN, USN(T), and USNR is also conducted to determine the basis of temporary promotion.
Title III of the Officer Personnel Act of 1947 as amended, contains a table which regulates the number of officers of the unrestricted line on active duty who may serve in each of the grades above lieutenant. It places a ceiling on temporary promotion. The table provides decreasing percentages of officers in the senior grades in comparison to total strength, as total strength increases. The table is given on the facing page.
This table was inserted in the Act by the Officer Grade Limitation Act of 1954, Public Law 349, 83rd Congress, signed by the President on May 5th this year. This law also repealed the Appropriation Act restriction on voluntary retirement, and the restriction on numbers of officers in grade referred to as the Davis Amendment. The table is entered with the total of unrestricted line officers on active duty as shown by the census.
The finite number in each grade above lieutenant which results is not mandatory for temporary grade distribution as it is for permanent distribution, but represents a ceiling. The Act requires the Secretary of the Navy to examine the resulting numbers for each grade and to determine lesser numbers in the grades when the needs of the service do not require the computed numbers. (Numbers not used in one grade may be “carried down” to any grade junior.) This determination is made bearing in mind two factors; (1) the manning requirements of the Navy, (2) a reasonable flow of promotion.
Once this determination is made, and assuming that it is found that instead of 221 in the case of admirals only 204 are needed to meet requirements, and in the case of captains only two thirds of the maximum, the Secretary approves and establishes those lesser numbers by putting his name to them. They then become the authorized numbers in those grades to be filled by temporary promotion. These authorized numbers (like the permanent distribution) must be filled. If someone retires or dies in a grade, this creates a vacancy and the senior officer on the promotion list moves up. Once the numbers for each grade are set, they cannot be changed without a completely new census and computation.
Regular officers of the staff corps and regular restricted line officers flow in temporary promotion at the same rate as their unrestricted line contemporaries. (“Running mate” in the case of a staff corps officer, next junior unrestricted line officer in the case of a restricted line officer.)
For a regular officer permanent promotion eventually overtakes temporary promotion and he is absorbed into the next higher grade in the permanent structure without further selection. He simply receives a permanent commission in the mail. Reserve officers on active duty receive permanent promotions when the regular officer next junior to them is permanently promoted.
Were all reserve officers to be placed on inactive duty and all revocable commission officers reverted to their permanent enlisted or warrant status, the “active duty” pyramid would shrink and become identical with the regular Navy pyramid. Temporary promotion would then vanish.
|
UNRESTRICTED |
LINE |
|
|
Total line officers, carried by law as of fleet admirals exclusive of officers extra numbers and |
Rear admiral and above |
Captain |
Commander |
Lieutenant commander |
32,000 |
.................. 215 |
1,920 |
3,840 |
5,760 |
40,000 |
.................. 222 |
2,320 |
4,498 |
7,080 |
50,000 |
.................. 228 |
2,758 |
5,235 |
8,650 |
60,000 |
.................. 237 |
3,140 |
5,851 |
10,148 |
70,000 |
.................. 244 |
3,479 |
6,374 |
11,487 |
80,000 |
.................. 252 |
3,782 |
6,821 |
12,752 |
90,000 |
.................. 259 |
4,053 |
7,205 |
13,914 |
100,000 |
.................. 262 |
4,295 |
7,538 |
15,030 |
125,000 |
.................. 291 |
4,792 |
8,201 |
17,500 |
150,000 |
.................. 305 |
5,165 |
8,683 |
19,500 |
175,000 |
.................. 323 |
5,441 |
9,017 |
21,175 |
200,000 |
.................. 342 |
5,640 |
9,244 |
22,560 |
250,000 |
.................. 379 |
5,854 |
9,504 |
24,600 |
|
Promotion Flow Rate
Experience in World War II showed that 52 or 53 years of age was about the best average age for officers to enter the grade of rear admiral considering physical demands, wastage of trained manpower, and time to acquire sufficient experience to perform the duties of that grade. Subtracting an entering (commissioning) age of about 23 years gives a span of thirty years to pass through the grades. With ensign and lieutenant (jg) at three years each, 24 years is left to be served in the other four grades, or about six years in each.
The Act prescribes minimums in grade, normal periods in grade, and normal periods of total commissioned service prior to promotion. These are:
FLOW RATE |
|||
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
MINIMUM NORMAL |
TOTAL |
|
|
IN |
IN |
LEAVING |
|
GRADE |
GRADE |
GRADE |
ENS |
NONE |
3 |
3 |
LTJG |
2 |
3 |
6 |
LT |
4 |
6 |
12 |
LCDR |
4 |
6 |
18 |
CDR |
5 |
7 |
25 |
CAPT |
3 |
S |
30 |
The table reveals the following requirements of “Flow,” applying to both permanent and temporary promotion.
Column 1, MINIMUM IN GRADE. These periods insure the requisite minimum experience for qualification for the duties of the next higher grade. It is obvious that officers usually serve much longer periods than these in grade. The periods would have effect only in times of rapid expansion of the officer corps.
Column 2, NORMAL IN GRADE. These periods are designed to insure vitality by bringing officers to the senior grades at an age consistent with their duties at sea.
Column 3, TOTAL LEAVING GRADE. These periods are the normal periods of total commissioned service for officers being promoted from the grades indicated. They are seen to be aggregates of the periods of NORMAL SERVICE IN GRADE. The law is so worded and designed that these are also maximum periods of total service prior to promotion (except that promotion can fall one year behind schedule one time thus bringing the total to 31 years). This insures the vitality necessary in a military promotion system. It prevents stagnation by requiring that officers be brought up for promotion not later than the periods of total commissioned service indicated, even though severe promotional attrition must be exacted. It keeps the officer corps at ages in grade consistent with requirements of that grade at sea in war.
Promotion by Selection
Under the Act, the determination of who will be promoted from among those eligible is determined by “selection.”
The principle of selection of the best fitted has proved itself over a period of more than a generation. Only our most senior naval officers were commissioned prior to its introduction. It is important to note that the selection of an officer for promotion is not a reward for past performance. It is a prediction that the officer selected is among the best fitted to perform the duties and assume the increased responsibilities of the next higher grade.
The efficiency of the naval service is dependent upon a system which provides impartial consideration of all, with the most capable advancing to positions of higher responsibility. Promotion by seniority was impartial, but it lacked the feature of restricting promotion to the most capable. Selection of the “best fitted” combines impartiality and advancement of the most capable. It is apparent, however, that it must be carefully regulated by both statute and administration to safeguard the feature of impartiality.
This has been meticulously done. The selection system is central. Boards are convened in the Navy Department. They are composed of senior officers, experienced and mature. No officer may be a member of successive boards considering the same persons. The proceedings are confidential. The report of the board with the names of the officers recommended is submitted in writing attested by all members. Records of deliberations are destroyed, for to retain them would be to invite pressure and constant appeal. Every safeguard is given by law and administration to insure that the board is free to arrive at an honest conclusion free of external influence.
A Navy selection board faces a most difficult task. The officer corps of the Navy is homogeneous. Officers are of uniformly high caliber. Their educational attainments, experience, and ability vary but little. With rare exception they are all qualified for promotion when they enter the promotion zone. Their fitness reports differ only slightly. From amongst these officers the board must fill the numbers with the “best fitted.”
The board members take an oath to consider all officers without partiality and to recommend from among the names before them the “best fitted” in numbers not to exceed those provided in the precept. Like a jury, they are required to bring forth only their findings, not the reasons therefor. Selection boards are not infallible in their choice—the members are human. But while officers at times disagree with a board’s choice, they cannot question that that choice was made in honesty and sincerity.
After selection, promotions must be made as vacancies occur and in the order in which the names appear upon the approved list.
Selection Opportunity
You will recall from Part I that the three elements of promotion are dependent, and that since distribution and flow were fixed by the Act, attrition had to be the variable.
There is considerable argument throughout the service as to the value of forced attrition on the quality of the officer corps but since distribution and flow rate are the desired results, the Navy Department told the Congress in 1947 that the Navy did not desire attrition for attrition’s sake.
With distribution and flow rate established and fixed, the wastage, or elimination, or attrition, call it what you will, must vary in proportion to the relation between grades. For example, if the proportion of captains to commanders is as one to two or say 6% to 12%, then one-half of the commanders cannot become captains, one-half must be eliminated by normal losses, retirements, deaths, resignations, supplemented as necessary by forced (promotional) attrition. It is the same with each grade above lieutenant (junior grade).
Consider the promotional prospects of the brand new ensign. Applying the rate of promotion prescribed against the grade distribution of the Act, and employing actuarial statistics (death, resignations, retirements, etc.) to ascertain normal attrition, presently indicates that the Officer Personnel Act is designed in theory to impose the following over-all attrition:
Of each 100 officers commissioned in the line, regular Navy, as ensigns,
91 will reach the grade of lieutenant (junior grade)
63 will reach the grade of lieutenant
42 will reach the grade of lieutenant commander
26 will reach the grade of commander
17 will reach the grade of captain
1.6 will reach the grade of rear admiral
Selection to rear admiral constitutes the attainment of the peak of the profession. It is popular to say that making this grade is “frosting on the cake,” that “making captain is par for the course,” that “the grade of rear admiral exists to meet the needs of the service, and is so limited in number that it is outside the career pattern.”
However, so long as there remains one rear admiral in the Navy, officers will aspire to that office, and rightly so.
Captain may be said to be “par for the course” only in the golfing sense that par is a goal not often attained.
Officers of the Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Chaplain Corps, and Medical Service Corps are not subjected to forced attrition by the Act until they reach the promotion point to commander. At the present time the Officer Personnel Act is designed in theory to impose the following attrition on officers of these corps.
Of each 100 Medical, Dental, Chaplain Corps and Medical Service Corps officers who enter the service as lieutenants (junior grade)
94 will reach the grade of lieutenant
85 will reach the grade of lieutenant commander
53 will reach the grade of commander
34 will reach the grade of captain
1.7 will reach the grade of rear admiral (except Medical Service Corps which has no rear admirals)
The figures presented on career mortality apply to a Navy officered by career personnel only. Since 1938 the service has not experienced this. Expansion of the regular establishment has traded enlargement for attrition. But this table represents the facts of the Officer Personnel Act in stable conditions. As the active duty strength of the Navy decreases it will be approached.
The Promotion Zone
One of the primary features of the Act is the assurance of equality of opportunity for promotion to successive year groups. This is accomplished by the use of the “promotion zone” and the five-year study.
The promotion zone is the heart of promotion planning. The Act defines it:
“A promotion zone is that number of the most senior officers of the grade under consideration, who are eligible for selection for promotion to the next higher grade and who have not previously failed of selection, which must be either selected for temporary promotion by the board or be considered as having failed of such selection, in order to maintain a flow of promotion consistent with the terms of service, and to best insure to individuals in succeeding year groups equality of opportunity for promotion.”
This is the provision that assures a continual flow of promotion, and requires that officers be brought up for selection even when severe attrition must be assessed rather than permit the officers to stagnate in grade. It combines with the normal periods of service and the retirement and discharge provisions of the Act to assure junior officers that they will be considered for promotion at periods of attained total commissioned service not greater by more than one year than the periods of total service listed as normal by the Act. It is also the provision that assures officers that their promotional opportunity at each promotion point will be about the same as that afforded adjacent year groups. The word adjacent is stressed for the Act does not guarantee an admiral and an ensign the same opportunity.
A “year group” is built around the Naval Academy class in a particular fiscal year. It starts with the regular officer commissioned from other than the Naval Academy or NROTC (Regular) who is next junior to the last officer from the Naval Academy class of one fiscal year and runs lineally through the last man of the Naval Academy class of the following fiscal year to the next such regular officer.
The Act goes on to direct that in order to assure succeeding year groups equality of opportunity for promotion, a five-year study be made of the number of vacancies expected to occur and of the number of officers expected to complete normal periods of service in order to determine the promotion zone. (“Equality of opportunity” is sometimes misinterpreted to mean that Lieutenant Gish will have the same selection opportunity as Captain W. T. Door has had. This of course is impossible when attrition is the variable element.) In this usage equality of opportunity refers to the proportion of the group that will be promoted after the attrition is applied.
The mechanics of a five-year study are illustrated by a sample study for promotion of captains unrestricted line, to rear admiral, where the small number of vacancies in the higher grade makes the question of equality of opportunity of successive year groups a live topic.
At the end of World War II, captains were being selected for promotion to the grade of rear admiral after about 25 years’ service. A gradual retardation of promotion time was planned and has been closely maintained toward the day when selection will occur in the 29th and 30th year as the Act envisions.
In addition to the normal attrition in the grade of rear admiral, the Congress requested that 10% of the unrestricted line rear admirals list be renewed annually and to assure this provided for selection among admirals who have completed five years as a rear admiral and35 years of commissioned service. At this point forced attrition was limited to not less than 25% nor more than 50% as needed to combine with other losses to equal 10% of the total authorized number in grade of rear admiral.
The present number of temporary rear admirals of the unrestricted line as set by the Secretary of the Navy is 204. In order to prepare a sample five-year study, let us assume that over the next five years this number will remain constant.
A five-year “equal opportunity study” of the selections of captains to rear admiral would show something like the following tabulation on the facing page.
Fiscal Year of Selection |
Auth. Number Admirals |
Yr. Grp. Legal Promotion Zone (29th Year) |
Most Selections from Yr. Grp. |
Pres. No. Capts. in Yr. Grp. of Most Selections |
Est. No. Remain, at Time of Sel * |
Est.† Vac. |
1954 |
202 |
1925 |
1926 |
149‡ |
149‡ |
21 § |
1955 |
204 |
1926 |
1927-1 |
121 |
120 |
20 |
1956 |
204 |
1927 |
1927-2 |
123 |
121 |
20 |
1957 |
204 |
1928 |
1928&29 |
152 |
146 |
20 |
1958 |
204 |
1929 |
1930-1 |
123 |
101 |
21 |
1959 |
204 |
1930 |
1930-2 |
124 |
101 |
21 |
|
|
|
|
|
738 |
123 |
Opportunity 1954-59= 123/7388 =16.7%.
* Present number less expected normal attrition.
† Considering age retirements, 3.5% normal attrition and 62½% continuation of admirals completing 5/35 years.
‡ At time of first selection.
§ Selected July 1953.
Year Group of Most Selections |
Est. No. at Selection Point |
Future Sel.% |
Total Sel. from Group |
Previously Selected |
To be Selected in Future |
1926 |
149* |
16.7 |
25 |
21 |
4 |
1927-1 |
120 |
16.7 |
20 |
0 |
20 |
1927-2 |
121 |
16.7 |
20 |
0 |
20 |
1928&29 |
146 |
16.7 |
24 |
0 |
24 |
1930-1 |
101 |
16.7 |
17 |
0 |
17 |
1930-2 |
101 |
16.7 |
17 |
0 |
17 |
* At time of first selection.
|
Year Group |
To be Selected |
1955 |
Selections by Board in 1956 1957 |
Fiscal Year 1958 |
1959 |
|
|
1926 |
4 |
4 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
1927-1 |
20 |
16 |
4 |
— |
— |
— |
|
1927-2 |
20 |
— |
16 |
4 |
— |
. — |
|
1928&29 |
24 |
— |
— |
16 |
8 |
— |
|
1930-1 |
17 |
— |
— |
|
13 |
4 |
|
1930-2 |
17 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
17 |
|
|
|
20 |
20 |
20 |
21 |
21 |
This study is just one of many possible combinations. It is based upon fictitious figures, on a mathematical basis inserted for illustrative purpose only. It is emphasized that this is a random illustration and only by extreme coincidence will occur. In addition boards take an oath to select the best fitted to meet the needs of the service and the caliber of officers in year groups is not necessarily uniform.
However, the number of officers arriving at the selection point 1954-1959 will hardly change in any large percentage. With a commitment to renew 10% of the rear admirals list each year or 50% in five years the number of new vacancies probably will not vary far from 100. Therefore, the selection percentage should remain close to 16%.
A similar study is made to determine the number of rear admirals completing 35 years commissioned service and at least five years in grade who can be continued on the active list. This is done bearing in mind:
a. the agreement with the Congress to renew an average of 10% of the flag list annually,
b. the provision of the Officer Personnel Act that not more than 75% nor less than 50% of the flag officers arriving at this point can be continued on the active list.
Studies for equality of opportunity for other grades are made in similar fashion except that the larger numbers and the presence of reserve officers complicates the arithmetic and makes the estimate of vacancies less certain.
You will note that in 1956,1957, and 1959 the majority of selections are recommended from year groups in their 29th year of service. Subsequent selections will probably continue to be recommended from officers in their 29th year which will coincide with the promotion zone. Officers not selected in their 29th year will be considered the second time in their 30th year and, if not selected that year, will be retired on 30 June of their 30th year.
Retarding the promotion zone to the 30th year (2nd failure of selection and retirement occurring in the 31st year) probably cannot now be afforded as this would reduce the total vacancies in the grade of captain and hence the selection opportunity for the future.
Forced Separation from the Service
Forced attrition (involuntary separation of career officers) occurs under the Act as follows:
Lieutenants (junior grade) who twice fail of selection to lieutenant are honorably discharged on 30 June of the year in which they fail the second time. (An officer fails of selection only when he is in, or above, the selection zone, and not selected for promotion.)
Lieutenants who twice fail of selection to lieutenant commander are honorably discharged on 30 June of the year in which they failed of selection the second time.
Lieutenant commanders who twice fail of selection to commander are placed on the retired list on 30 June of the fiscal year in which they complete 20 years commissioned service.
Commanders who twice fail of selection to captain are placed on the retired list on 30 June of the fiscal year in which they complete 26 years commissioned service.
Captains not restricted in the performance of duty who twice fail of selection to rear admiral are placed on the retired list on 30 June of the fiscal year in which they complete 30 years service.
Restricted captains and captains who have not twice failed of selection but are not on a promotion list, are retired on 30 June of the fiscal year in which they complete 31 years service.
Lieutenants (junior grade) and lieutenants honorably discharged receive a lump-sum payment (severance pay) of two months active duty pay for each year of commissioned service, not to exceed two years pay.
Lieutenant commanders, commanders, and captains placed on the retired list receive retired pay at the rate of 2J% of their active duty pay (base pay plus longevity, but no allowances) at the time of retirement, multiplied by the number of years of service for which they are entitled to compute active duty pay, not to exceed 75% of active duty pay.
In addition to selecting the best fitted for promotion, selection boards are required to name officers, who have completed less than 20 years commissioned service, whose performance is unsatisfactory. These officers are separated from the Navy.
Certain categories of officers and certain circumstances vary from the above. The details are more complex in these cases than merit treatment in this paper, but the exceptions relate to the separation of officers who have lost numbers or precedence, captains of the Medical Service Corps, all officers of the Nurse Corps, and officers of the line and staff corps designated for limited duty. (Wave officers are not covered by the Officer Personnel Act.)
The subject of selection for retention of captains on the active list, selection for continuation and retention of rear admirals on the active list, and retirement of rear admirals, relates to such a limited number of officers that a discussion of their complex provisions is omitted.
The theory of operation of the Officers Personnel Act of 1947 has been described. A perfect functioning of this promotion system presupposes an original disposition of the officer corps by age, experience, length of service, and category, equivalent to that projected in the Act. We are all aware that such disposition did not exist at the time of enactment (1947) and does not exist now. The problems which this misalignment creates and their avenues of solution are subjects on which it is hoped discussion throughout the Service has been stimulated and that the opinions and suggestions of the Officer Corps will find voice in the pages of the Proceedings.