All naval officers, with the exception of a few who have been battered by experience, consider themselves experts on personnel matters. Those in command and operational billets in the fleets are usually sincere in their belief that what the Bureau of Naval Personnel needs is a few practical naval officers (like themselves) to take charge of personnel distribution and straighten the whole thing out, once and for all.
The writer claims no exception from the above generalization, and, at the risk of appearing slightly less than modest in view of his present assignment in BuPers, is prepared to state that “those people in BuPers” are, in fact, practical naval officers. Most of them came directly from command and operational billets in the fleets, some of them kicking and screaming all the way to Washington. All of them are doing their conscientious best to improve the system, if only because they want the situation in the fleets to be better for them when they go back to sea.
Actually, the business of distributing over half a million men, as individuals, is a monumental task. Using the old methods it was impossible. Therefore, enlisted men were not distributed as individuals, but rather as numbers. Special requirements were filled by “drafts,” usually without regard for the individual. A Gunner’s Mate was merely “One Gunner’s Mate” to the distributor, not Joseph Jones, GM2,123 45 67, USN, who had been at sea for eight years, the last three on board the USS Fiske, had a wife and one child, a request in for shore duty in Seattle, and no desire whatsoever to go to the Class “B” Gunner’s Mate School in Great Lakes, Illinois, to which he was being ordered in order to fill a mandatory quota, and only because the USS Fiske had such a good training program that it had advanced two Gunner’s Mates to 2nd class as a result of the last examinations, instead of only the one allowed on board by force manning levels.
All is now different! A quiet revolution has taken place in the past several years and is still underway in the distributional field.
The first step was the modernization of data processing methods. It had become impossible to shuffle by hand the countless pieces of paper necessary in order to make intelligent assignments, so people had to be moved as bodies. With the introduction of electrical accounting machines for data processing of punch cards, it became possible to digest masses of information on the individual and make it available to the distributor in order to enable him to make intelligent decisions on the assignment of individuals. With the advent of electronic data processing (the IBM-705 computer is now in operation in BuPers), even more information can be digested, and summarized.
The next step was more rapid means of communicating information about people to those who needed it. With CINPACFLT in Pearl Harbor, BuPers in Washington, CINPACFLT in Norfolk and CNATRA at Pensacola, the interchange of information among major distributors alone represented a tremendous problem. The radio facilities of the Naval Communications System could not be burdened with this mass of administrative traffic; and mail, even airmail, was much too slow. It was extremely wasteful of manpower to have a man wait at the Receiving Station, San Diego, for as long as a month until his assignment arrived from BuPers making him available from General Detail to CINPACFLT in, who in turn made him available to a type commander, who finally assigned him to a ship—all by letter, speed- letter, or message. The solution was the establishment of the Bureau of Naval Personnel’s Transceiver Network: a system of leased telephone lines linking all major distributors in the United States (with a radio-telephone linkage to Pearl Harbor). Information from punch cards can be transmitted over this system automatically at the rate of eleven cards per minute for four simultaneous transmissions per line.
How does this expenditure on machines and facilities actually save us time and money? Well, now a man appears at a receiving station: for example, Joseph Jones, GM2, 123 45 67 reports to Receiving Station, San Diego, fit for duty after prolonged hospitalization at Naval Hospital, San Diego (Balboa). A few hours after he is interviewed at the Receiving Station his availability arrives in BuPers via transceiver, with the following information in abbreviated form on punch cards:
Joseph Jones, GM2, 123 45 67 USN (Diver, Second Glass)
Fit For Duty
Expiration of enlistment: December 1962
Active Duty Base Date: January 1946
Duty Preferences:
Home port: San Fran, Long Beach
Type Ship: Destroyer Tender, DD, DDE
Overseas: Guam
Year of Birth: 1933
C. O. Evaluation:
1. Professional Performance 3.8
2. Military Behavior 4.0
3. Leadership 3.6
4. Military Appearance 3.8
5. Adaptability 3.6
Career History last 10 years: 3 mos. NavHosp., San Diego; 12 mos. at last duty station, Destroyer Homeported Long Beach; 24 mos. Shore Duty, Net Depot Seal Beach; 78 mos. Destroyer Escort Homeported San Diego
Dependents: Wife and one child
Test Scores: GCT 52, ARI 49, Mech 60, Cler 40
Special Quals: 5in./54 gun mounts
General: Wife expects baby in 2 weeks; requests 30 days leave en route new duty station.
That same day, or the next, a decision is made in the Bureau by the cognizant distributional control officer for his rating and Jones is made available to the CO, Enlisted Personnel Distribution Office, Pacific (EPDOPAC; CINPACFLT’s in distributor of enlisted personnel) for assignment to sea duty. This availability is again transmitted by punch card with all the above information plus the authorization for thirty days delay to count as leave. CO, EPDOPAC assigns Jones internally to the Destroyer Desk the same day. Within a day or two, the Destroyer Detail Officer at EPDOPAC decides upon the ultimate assignment, taking into consideration all the above information and, within hours, the Receiving Station, San Diego has the assignment to USS Edson (DD-946) and can prepare the Standard Transfer Order. A total of two to five days has elapsed between the time Jones left the hospital and the time he is on the way to the Edson via his leave address. Under the old system this procedure took twenty to ninety days and decisions were made with less than one third the information now available.
It should be noted that Jones was poorly- advised in asking for a destroyer tender home- ported in San Francisco as first choice, since there are none based there. The distributor was aware of this and ordered him to a destroyer homeported at Long Beach as coming closer to his requested assignment, yet meeting service requirements and being mindful of transportation costs, previous experience, etc. He did not go back to his old ship because he had already been replaced numerically.
The third and perhaps most important step was modernizing, or revolutionizing, the rotational system. For years, rotation between sea and shore and overseas was done haphazardly. There were lists within lists and wheels within wheels. Some chosen few got nothing but choice duty; others spent their careers going from one undesirable job to another. A man could get “locked-in” on “double-bed sea duty” (home every night) on a large staff and remain for years and years. On the other hand, a good senior petty officer might remain on a “Shore Duty Eligibility List” for years, while serving in destroyers. Then, just as he was transferred to well-deserved duty in a tender, his name would reach the top of the list and orders to shore duty would appear.
There is now a Long Range Distributional Plan. The key word here is plan. It is axiomatic that actions done according to a detailed plan are smoother and more likely to accomplish a mission than actions conceived on the spot to meet requirements as they materialize, provided, of course, that there is sufficient flexibility in the plan to meet exigencies. The SEAVEY/SHORVEY Distributional Program is such a plan. Stated briefly, its objectives are:
a. Increased personnel stability afloat and ashore
b. Planned replacements
c. More effective use of naval schools
d. Less inter-unit shuffling of personnel to replace unforeseen losses
e. Meaningful and predictable tours afloat and shore
f. More efficient expenditure of travel funds
g. Reduced frequency of movement
h. Effective response to operational requirements and personal desires
i. Equitable assignment to desirable and less desirable types of duty
j. Maximum rotation advantages to career personnel
The word SEAVEY is derived from Sea Duty Survey, and hence is a list of people eligible for Shore Duty. It is, perhaps, an unfortunate choice because it can lead to confusion; but we were stuck with it because of the long-standing term, SHORVEY, or Shore Duty Survey, which had for some years been a list of people due to go to Sea Duty. Most personnel are now accustomed to the terms, however, and realize that SEAVEY means impending Shore Duty and that SHORVEY means that a man’s days on the beach are numbered.
Because of the variations, ramifications, and special procedures in the plan to make it flexible and to cover the transitional period, it appears to be very complex and hard to understand. Actually it is, basically, quite simple. For each rate there are X number of billets ashore and Y number of billets at sea and overseas. The ratio of Y to X determines the sea/shore rotation for the rate. For the sake of fleet stability it is most desirable to keep a sea tour to a minimum of three years and, for other obvious reasons, a shore tour to a minimum of two years. From these basic numbers the sea and shore tours are determined for each rate each year. For example: A certain clerical rate may have the same number of shore billets as it does sea billets. The 3-year sea tour minimum then requires a corresponding 3-year shore tour. If there are twice as many billets at sea as ashore that rate must serve four years at sea for a 2-year tour ashore.
Obviously, there are certain rates with peculiar sea/shore ratios, for which certain special steps must be taken. Again there are entire ratings, such as Communications Technicians, which must be distributed according to special formulae. These are the exceptions that make the system appear complicated. The vast majority of personnel, however, come under the general rules of SEAVEY/SHORVEY and are able to do long range personal planning on the basis of the long range rotation plan.
In simplified form this is how Sea/Shore rotation works: All personnel ashore serve on fixed tours as determined by the Chief of Naval Personnel through the process described above. One year prior to the expiration of a man’s tour ashore the Personnel Accounting Machine Installation (PAMI) for that Naval District forwards a Rotation Data Card to the man’s commanding officer (#1 in SHORVEY Diagram). This tells the commanding officer and the man that the latter will go to sea duty in twelve months time. The man is assisted in filling out his sea duty preferences on this card and adding any new information not previously indicated. The card is returned to the PAMI (2), coupled with other information on the man, and a group of four cards is transmitted to BuPers via transceiver (3). A month-by-month summation of the information on these cards for all personnel on Shore Duty constitutes the SHORVEY (4).
Four months prior to the month of the man’s scheduled detachment, a transfer directive is sent to his commanding officer via the PAMI telling him the man has been made available to a Fleet Commander (Atlantic or Pacific) for transfer four months hence (5). The Fleet Commander gets a battery of four cards of information (6) and assigns the man directly to a specific ship (through the Type Desk at the Enlisted Personnel Distribution Office). This ultimate assignment is transmitted by card to present and future commanding officers well in advance (7). The commanding officer prepares his orders and the man can plan his move in a straight line from shore duty to ship (8). If advanced schooling is desirable in his case, it is planned in advance by BuPers and accomplished en route, in order that the Fleet may benefit most from his newly acquired skills. The beauty of the system is the planning time permitted the individual, the commanding officers at both ends, and the Fleet Distributors.
SEAVEY operates slightly differently and in the opposite direction. In the Bureau of Naval Personnel the total requirements ashore for each rate during a twelve-month period are computed well in advance. Assume for purposes of simple illustration that one year’s requirement turns out to be 200 Swab Jockies, First Class. Of all the SJ1s currently on sea duty, 200 have been on continuous sea duty since October, 1956, or before. Or, in other words, we must go back to October, 1956, before we find 200 SJ1 s who have been at sea that long. October, 1956, then becomes the Sea Tour Commencement Date, which determines which SJ1s will be on the SEAVEY.
About five months before the commencement of the “SEAVEY YEAR,” each of these 200 men will receive a Rotation Data Card from his Fleet PAMI. It is filled out indicating duty preferences and other information, in the same manner as for the SHORVEY described above. The individuals (and their commanding officers) now know they will be going ashore during a specific twelve-month period.
In the Bureau these 200 men are arranged in a priority listing based upon total naval service. Suppose twenty of these men have asked for the Fifth Naval District, only one vacancy will exist in the Fifth Naval District during the first month of the SEAVEY, and the three top-priority men out of this twenty have within several months of the same total service. The first man to get orders to the Fifth Naval District will then be the one of the three who has had the most arduous duty during the last ten years. The remainder are ordered in the same manner, as vacancies are anticipated during the ensuing year. If it is known that only fifteen vacancies will occur in the Fifth Naval District during the entire year, the low five men out of the total of twenty are placed on a listing for their second choice. The lowest men on the total listing of 200 are sent to areas for which there have been insufficient volunteers, attempting to get them as close to the areas of their choice as practicable.
This procedure is carried out for each rate of every rating, with an experienced officer making the decision in each individual case. There are, of course, instances wherein a man who wanted to go to the Norfolk area is sent to Bainbridge, or even Corpus Christi, if skill requirements and low priority so dictate. But the career man gets the advantage, and the longer his service the closer he comes to writing his own ticket.
Electrical sorters and electronic computers make it possible to produce these priority listings rapidly and in usable forms, and these listings comprise the SEAVEY. But while machines make the SEAVEY possible, it must be emphasized that machines are tools for assistance in processing data essential to the distributor for the personal decision which he alone can make. No machine is or will be making a decision concerning the assignment of any man in the Navy.
The misguided idea that machines were making decisions is not the only misconception held about the SEAVEY. Some thought the SEAVEY increased the frequency of rotation. Actually, it was designed to accomplish just the opposite. One of its major objectives is to increase fleet stability by reducing frequency of movement, at the same time reducing transportation costs. Planned replacement accomplishes this. In fact, once a man appears on the SEAVEY he cannot be transferred within the type or fleet and remains where he is until ordered ashore.
Another misconception is that the SEAVEY forces people who love the sea to go ashore against their wills. Actually, any man serving on arduous sea duty (a ship or unit that deploys regularly or operates extensively away from home port) can request that his sea tour be extended, and he will be dropped from the SEAVEY for a year. He can be so extended year after year. He must, however, request such extension before he receives orders to shore duty, not after he gets a set of orders he may not like. Also, the Fleet Commander must determine that his current unit is considered arduous sea duty. A man on non-arduous (double-bed) sea duty may also request that he be dropped from the SEAVEY because of a sincere love of the life at sea. Such cases are approved, but the individual is transferred from his soft billet to a destroyer or other arduous duty by the Fleet Commander.
Another criticism of the system is that the Shore Establishment gets a better break than the Fleets as far as percentage manning level is concerned. Actually, the reverse is true. The Fleets are deliberately maintained at one or two percentage points higher than the Shore Establishment in all rates in order that the Fleets may not have to bear the burden of the dead time in transit from shore to sea and the reverse.
When first instituted, the SEAVEY met with decided opposition from the seagoing forces. As it got underway, however, the opposition faded, and, as its objectives became better understood and its results more apparent, the seagoing forces became its biggest boosters. Even the submarine forces, whose personnel lose sub pay when they go ashore, are now ardent supporters of the SEAVEY because they realize that a base of submarine qualified people on shore duty is absolutely essential if expansion programs are not to denude the operating forces.
A prime advantage of SEAVEY/SHORVEY is that the fleets are being provided complete information on people and their capabilities. This statement is based on the information now provided all distributional commanders on each man (except recruit) being made available for assignment to them as indicated in the Joe Jones example above and outlined below:
1. Name
2. Service Number
3. Sex
4. Enlisted Designator
5. Branch and Class of Service
6. Limited Duty Classification (if any)
7. Number and type of dependents
8. Month and year of expiration of active obligated service
9. Month and year sea tour commenced or month and year shore tour completed
10. Date of entry into naval service
11. Primary Navy enlisted code
12. Secondary Navy enlisted code
13. Home port preferences (2)
14. Type of duty preferences (4)
15. School recommendation
16. Distributor available from
17. Year of birth
18. Summary of commanding officers evaluation of performance
19. Education achievements (civilian)
20. Types, location, and length of time on board all duty stations in last 10 years
21. Month available for transfer
22. Estimated month of reporting
23. Special qualifications, such as:
a. Types of engines qualified in
b. Graduate of special factory training courses
c. Type of catapult qualified in
d. Types of aircraft qualified in (F7V, F9F, P5M, etc.)
e. If Titanium qualified
f. If graduate Fleet Indoctrination program
g. Types of missiles qualified
h. Types of aircraft systems qualified in (APS-20, APQ-41, etc.)
i. If qualified in “PRESUIT,” “LIQOXY”
j. Special qualifications, i.e. AEW, air intercept, landing craft coxswain, etc.
k. Any other special qualifications in plain language
24.Any other information man or his commanding officer volunteers which might be pertinent regarding reassignment. Example: “Wife is qualified grade school teacher”
The safeguards which provided deploying units, aircraft squadrons, and all commanding officers against loss of key personnel at undesirable times, are now better understood. After a year of operation its finer points are being realized. But the SEAVEYis new and can be improved. A radical recommendation from the Commanding Officer, EPDOPAC(Enlisted Personnel Distribution Office, Pacific) for its improvement next year is now under study and will be implemented if it proves feasible.
The fourth step in the distributional revolution is the achievement of centralization, a process that has been proceeding simultaneously with the other steps described.
Although it may seem contradictory, centralization of distribution actually increases the flexibility of the system, along with increasing its efficiency many fold. Prior to the establishment of EPDOPAC, for example, the very nature of the naval organization made it necessary to give authority to issue permanent transfers for enlisted men to an inordinate number of Pacific Commands (31). This included all type, area, wing, and other commanders. It was not impossible for a man on a ship to receive three sets of orders simultaneously, including one to shore duty. The only way to eliminate such an obviously unhealthy state of affairs was to centralize control. The use of electrical and electronic aids and an evolutionary process of consolidation resulted in the establishment of EPDOPAC where the functions of all 31 officers were combined in a single building at North Island in San Diego. The Commanding Officer, through the Service Force Commander, is CINCPACFLET’S agent for enlisted distribution. He has representatives from each type commander on board to do the actual detailing, and the Pacific Fleet Personnel Accounting Machine Installation (PAMI) in the same building to provide the necessary information and service. Bureau, Fleet, and Force policies are executed through one office, and intrafleet, and intra-type transfers can be effected efficiently and held to an absolute minimum, to increase stability afloat, EPDOPAC has more and better information on every man in the Pacific than any Type, Force, or Area Commander ever had, and can therefore fill urgent requirements or correct deficiencies with far greater flexibility and speed than ever before.
EPDOLANT is almost ready to be established as such at Norfolk, along the same lines as EPDOPAC. The organization is almost complete and only certain physical moves have yet to be made.
EPDOCONUS is being planned for establishment in 1960 and is designed to accomplish the consolidation of the distribution functions of all District Commandants, Naval Commands, Training Commands, and other minor distributors in the continental United States.
Each EPDO will have a tape-driven IBM-650 electronic computer system in its PAMI, and BuPers will have the larger 705 system, for full utilization of the newest techniques in data processing.
The three personnel distribution offices described above, directed by BuPers, will comprise an integrated system that could handle mobilization in stride. Furthermore, the flexibility provided the distribution business by SEAVEY/SHORVEY means that mobilization would not destroy all rotation plans, as in the past. Equitable rotation could continue without interruption if mobilization were to commence tonight.
Finally, EPDOPAC, EPDOLANT, and EPDOCONUS will each have the capability of taking over from BuPers, or from each other, in case of emergency or catastrophe. We are attaining a physical plant and a carefully planned system that can operate according to design, in peace or war.