I imagine there is a good bit of angst in the collective CPO Mess over the upcoming board meeting to prune the top ranks of those found to be less fit for continuing duty. It is unfortunate that such a board convenes during a time of economic uncertainty, but such is the conduct of bureaucracy.
I've thought long and hard about this force shaping tool, its utility and its consequences....and I've come to conclude that it is probably worthwhile. At a very human level of abstraction, I wondered why there was no analogous board for officers, then remembered the critical shortages of Commanders and Captains that already exists. It seems the market is already regulating those numbers very efficiently.
And while Sailors gone long in the tooth and less productive has been a problem in the fleet since the Phoneticians, I am far more concerned by the relative YOUTH of the CPO Mess than its AGE. I can't speak for the other communities, but within Surface Warfare, we have in the past ten years or so begun to commission an out-sized number of enlisted Sailors--thereby "eating the seed-corn" of the future CPO Mess. In command, as I looked around my wardroom table, I found prior enlisted service in a great number of my officers, far more than in the wardrooms of my youth. This is a mixed blessing for the Navy, in that while on active duty, these officers bring experience and perspective; that said, they also naturally reach retirement age years before promotion to Commander, and many choose that option--exacerbating the already critical shortage of Commanders and Captains. In the meantime, holes in the CPO Mess are filled with those who do not choose the path to the wardroom, and in some career fields, it seems that we are promoting progressively younger (read: less experienced) Sailors to Chief.
The law of unintended consequences is unyielding.
Bryan McGrath
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