The incredible rate of development in new naval weapons is too much a part of our Navy life to need any elaboration. It is interesting, however, to observe how dramatically this rate of development is documented by the advertisements in the U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings. Here, manufacturers display their contributions to new weapons systems such as the Naval Tactical Data System; operations analysis techniques; thermonuclear weapons; fleet ballistic missile submarines; supersonic, all-weather, carrier aircraft; and most recently, space vehicles. These eye-catching, advertisements reinforce the pride we in the Navy feel as members of this technically exploding modern Navy, but at the same time they make us wonder how the Navy is going to meet its requirements for technically trained officers.
It is the responsibility of the Chief of Naval Personnel to ensure that technically competent officers in sufficient numbers are ready to operate, maintain, and command the weapons of the Navy, no matter how complex these weapons become. This is no small challenge. It is the purpose of this article to discuss how this challenge is met: first, by outlining the distribution philosophy of the Bureau of Naval Personnel which emphasizes the subspecialty concept; second, by discussing the uniqueness of the Navy and the reasons for rotation patterns; and third, by describing the Bureau of Naval Personnel organization and the manner in which it selects and assigns officers.
Distribution Philosophy
Traditionally, the Navy has been built around the unrestricted line officer. He has manned the ships—the aircraft—the submarines—and almost all of the shore establishment. More than seven out of every ten naval officers are unrestricted line officers. The rationale for this Navy organization coincides with the Navy’s mission, “control of the seas.” Weapons based on the seas provide the means by which this mission is accomplished. The unrestricted line officer early must acquire familiarity and competence in the use of these weapons, and, when he increases sufficiently in rank and experience, he must command them. Knowledge of sea warfare is developed concurrently with use of the weapons systems.
The Navy is organized as a single team oriented toward a single objective, an effective fighting force at sea. Within this framework exists an essential member of the team —the shore establishment, with support of the fleet as its single reason for existence. General Order 19 states, “The mission of the shore activities of the Department of the Navy is to support the operating forces.”
The unrestricted line officer provides the cohesive force which binds the shore establishment to the fleet and provides the essential knowledge of and experience in sea warfare requirements to assure not only adequate but properly oriented fleet support. Without this knowledge and background, the shore establishment would be unable to carry out its support functions.
How then does the Chief of Naval Personnel carry out his responsibilities to develop officers capable of performing these necessary functions? The unrestricted line officer first acquires a competence in his specialty—command. He learns to conn his ship or pilot his aircraft, he learns to handle men, he acquires the tools of leadership. Most important, he learns sea warfare and operations the only way they can be learned, by operating in the sea environment with the weapons systems involved. Concomitantly, he may be developing a subspecialty or he may acquire one later by attending postgraduate school. Thereafter, in alternate tours of sea and shore duty, he serves in both the fleet and shore establishment.
When on shore duty, he translates his operational experience into realistic fleet requirements, cohesive planning, and common sense research and development. He returns to sea with his operational competence increased by the knowledge he has acquired of planning and development problems. From the rank of lieutenant commander on, the duties of the unrestricted line officer, whether on sea or on shore, are predominantly those of an executive in the naval profession, duties requiring competence and experience in command and warfare and, in addition, competence and knowledge in a technical or management field. The end product desired is an officer with a complete understanding of sea power and the weapons systems by which it is applied.
This concept of the unrestricted fine officer is complemented by the contributions by this officer as technical specialist in the shore establishment. There are some billets where the rapid development of a specific art requires continuous application, billets which cannot be filled satisfactorily by a civilian. Specialists are needed in many billets to work side by side with the operator—the specialist, an expert within a limited technical area; and the subspecialist, the unrestricted line officer representing the fleet. This concept is further complemented by the contributions of staff corps officers, both at sea and ashore. Each staff corps has its own subspecialties and requirements to rotate between shore and sea in order to keep fleet-oriented and responsive.
The ever-increasing complexity of the Navy has caused the question to be raised as to whether this concept of the unrestricted line officer is still valid. The changing character of naval weapons has brought us to the point where a tremendously increased amount of technical knowledge and engineering know-how is required of naval officers. The question of exactly what training and education are required is too lengthy a subject for this article. However, this technical and engineering knowledge should be properly oriented. Few, if any, naval officers are required to be research experts. A recent count of billets indicated 80 pure research billets in the entire Navy, only 28 of which called for an unrestricted line officer. The need is for managers and supervisors who can relate requirements into hardware and who can manage programs rather than perform the actual research themselves. The questions to be resolved here are “Who is to get this training?”, “How and When?”.
There are really only two possible courses of action. Either we create some form of a “wet and dry” Navy, or, alternatively, the unrestricted line officer acquires the necessary technical competence. The “wet and dry” concept is completely unacceptable as it would destroy the cohesive force, the seashore rotation of unrestricted line officers, which binds the shore establishment to fleet requirements. Advocates of a “wet and dry” Navy propose many forms. Some propose substantial increases in the number of restricted line officers. Usually these proposals are clouded with substantial requirements for the specialist to rotate frequently into operational duties, oftentimes until it would be difficult to distinguish the specialist having operational experience from the unrestricted line officer who is also a good subspecialist. Other proposals would have the Navy split the unrestricted line into an operational group and a non-operational group, in much the same way as does the British Navy. Others propose a complete reorganization along general staff lines, with a combatant section clearly distinguished as such. Finally, there are proposals which do not face the problem directly but which would have the cumulative effect of a slow progression into a “wet and dry” Navy.
The alternative course of action will provide the additional training required by the Navy for the unrestricted line officer. Under this proposal, it is recognized that operational experience is an essential ingredient of every naval officer, but that no officer, unrestricted line or restricted, can master every facet of our new Navy. In action this proposal charges every unrestricted line officer with knowing intimately some aspect of technology or management. He is a specialist of the sea, but he is a subspecialist in some technical or management area. He cannot master every field, but he can acquire a strong competence in one. His specialty is still command, but his other field is his subspecialty. The Navy is unalterably committed to this concept.
Subspecialization
Subspecialization was recently defined by the Chief of Naval Personnel as “a qualification in a particular field of naval endeavor obtained through any combination of formal education, functional training, and practical experience.”
There are two broad areas of subspecialization: technical and management. Among the technical areas are the hard core sciences and engineering subjects: operations analysis; marine, aeronautical, electrical, electronics, or communications engineering; weapons engineering; physics; chemistry; and nuclear power. Within each of these categories there are many subdivisions. For example, in the category of weapons engineering, nuclear weapons, nuclear effects, missiles, explosives, underwater ordnance and guidance systems, are but a few subdivisions.
Under the heading of management areas are intelligence, international relations, Navy management and comptrollership, personnel administration, and others.
It will be noted that subspecialization does not include areas of operations and warfare. That is, while an officer can acquire considerable experience in destroyers, attack carrier warfare, strike antisubmarine warfare, or submarines, he will never be designated a subspecialist in these categories. Knowledge and experience in sea warfare are inherent in the development of the unrestricted line officer as he prepares himself for broad command at sea. In these areas, the unrestricted line officer must acquire the same broad knowledge which he has always needed as he advanced in rank toward broad command responsibilities. Just as a commanding officer should have sufficient knowledge of each department of his ship to ensure its safe and efficient operation, so should officers commanding composite units have adequate operational knowledge of each individual unit or type of weapons system under their command. The senior naval commander will be an expert in one or more fields of warfare, but he should be knowledgeable in all fields.
How is a subspecialty acquired? The unrestricted line officer will generally acquire his subspecialty through formal training undertaken upon completion of his first full sea tour. That is, he will first acquire a knowledge of his specialty—the fleet—its weapons systems and its requirements, and then he will move to his subspecialty. The officer who turns to graduate work immediately upon completion of his baccalaureate without knowledge of naval professional requirements born of sea experience is at a disadvantage in his specialty with contemporaries knowing these requirements and further, he has not acquired the proper perspective to select his subspecialty. After completion of his first sea tour, the young officer is much better prepared to select his postgraduate work. He has had four years at sea during which to relate his prior academic training to the actual sea environment and its requirements. He has acquired a background which, with his postgraduate training, will form a firm foundation for a productive and fruitful career. He may have forgotten, it is true, some of the academic details, which he will have to view, but he has gained a far more important ingredient—experience at sea.
On the other hand, should the newly commissioned officer continue studies before acquiring sea experience, he has made the equally important decision, consciously or otherwise, that he prefers the academic to the operational, and the restricted line to the unrestricted line as a career.
Officers to be considered for selection for postgraduate training first must have demonstrated competence as naval officers. Their particular subspecialty selection thereafter is dependent upon academic capability and availability of course desired. The amount of postgraduate training allowed in each instance will depend primarily upon the demonstrated ability of the officer to absorb it.
Subspecialization fills a vital need in the Navy. Emphasis on subspecialization is the Navy’s response to the requirement for an officer corps with increased technical and management competence and the Navy’s decision that the unrestricted line officer who manages so many of the Navy’s interests must receive this training. Officer subspecialists in the future will be detailed between sea tours to repeated tours in their subspecialty, ensuring that each tour offers greater responsibility and provides for individual growth. Officers will be expected to develop and maintain an authoritative knowledge of their chosen subspecialty. These assignment practices meet a pressing Navy requirement and will be reflected in the professional development of the unrestricted line officer.
Subspecialization has not changed the fundamental fact that the unrestricted line officer is a naval (seagoing, sea-experienced, sea-oriented) officer. The mission of the Navy has not changed; the complexity of the weapons has. Each naval officer must master some facet of this complexity, yet his ultimate responsibility to command complete weapons systems has not changed.
The naval officer with the highest performance marks and potential, as determined by fitness reports, the one who has demonstrated at sea that he has the motivation, aptitude, and ability to progress to command is being advised and selected to acquire a subspecialty. Thus, the officer input into the increasing fraternity of subspecialists is characterized by excellence of performance. These are the officers whose names appear in the forefront of every selection. The policy of the Chief of Naval Personnel that performance at sea be the ultimate criterion for selection for postgraduate training is deliberate. The officers selected under this criterion are the officers who appear to be the best candidates for selection for promotion. This policy is only natural, because it behooves the Navy to spend its limited training resources wisely, i.e. on officers who will remain and progress in the service.
Summary of Distribution Philosophy
(1) The increased complexity of naval weapons has created a demand for officers with increased technical engineering and management knowledge.
(2) Unrestricted line officers are being selected for advanced training in order to provide the same officer with both the operational experience and the technical competence required in the fleet and in the shore establishment.
(3) The unrestricted line officer will be expected to acquire a detailed understanding of some field of naval endeavor—his subspecialty. This will be in addition to his specialty of command.
(4) Subspecialization is a basic ingredient in each officer’s qualifications. Success of the subspecialization concept is ensured by the selection of only those officers of proven operational capability for postgraduate education.
Reasons for Rotation
The naval officer at sea lives on board ship where he is always on duty and where eight hours of every 24 actually are spent on watch. He lives in crowded quarters in extremely close association with his shipmates and with no way to escape his environment for rest, relaxation, or a change of scenery.
Man is a land animal, and it is difficult, if not impossible, for one not accustomed to the sea to appreciate or even visualize Navy life at sea with its requirements for constant vigilance, the continuous battle with the elements, and the demanding routine of fast- paced, round-the-clock operations.
Three significant factors that have to be considered in making officer assignments emerge from this uniqueness: first, the billets at sea must remain filled, with adequate turnover time for reliefs; second, tour dates must be met at sea or morale will suffer seriously; third, and most important of all, the unrestricted line officer first must go to sea to practice his profession and must return to sea at frequent intervals to ensure proper orientation and professional growth.
The allocation of officer billets in ships is at best austere, and it is mandatory that these billets be kept filled to enable the ship to perform its peacetime mission and be prepared concurrently for immediate action in the event of war. Since the fleet must take priority, the impact of the officer shortage must be absorbed by the shore establishment; as a result, many shore billets must be left vacant. This effect upon the shore establishment is aggravated even further when, as at present, the officer shortage in middle and senior grades is somewhat compensated for by the commissioning of an excess number of junior officers. Since junior officers must go to sea if they are actually to become naval officers rather than civilians in uniform, they are not available to fill the vacancies existing ashore.
There was a time when most junior officers were bachelors and when the operating tempo of the fleet permitted ships to return to their home ports at frequent intervals; married officers were able to be with their families without prolonged separations. Conditions have changed. Now, our officers marry at an early age, and the frequent and long deployments of operating forces keep ships away from home ports from 50 per cent to 80 per cent of the time. If morale is not to suffer, and if a naval career is to appear desirable to a young officer, it is essential that he be relieved from sea duty on schedule and be given regular tours ashore where he can be reunited with his family.
Most important of all is the need for the unrestricted line officer to go to sea to learn and practice his profession. Then, he must go ashore to pass on the fleet requirements and orientation. This interchange between sea and shore unrestricted line officer tours provides the cohesive force which binds the shore establishment and the operating forces into an effective fighting team capable of discharging effectively the Navy’s mission in peace or war.
First of all, officers are rotated to fill billet requirements. The chart on page 82 gives the approximate numbers of assignments by rank and category for unrestricted line officers at sea and ashore. The number of billets shown are correct for only one point in time since billets meeting changing requirements are in a constant state of fluctuation.
In addition, during the last fiscal year, 10,748 officers left the Navy, for various reasons. During the same period, almost 16,000 new officers entered the Navy. It is obvious that many rotations are required just to make adjustments to this annual turnover and change in total authorized numbers.
Second, and of even more importance, we rotate officers to maintain readiness. The average tour at sea is approximately three years, although it may run as high as six years in some cases. After this period of time, the fine cutting edge begins to dull somewhat; efficiency tapers off. In order to maintain readiness, we must “relieve the watch.”
Third, personnel are ordered ashore, not only for respite from sea duty, but also because they are needed. The shore establishment exists solely to support the fleet. Personnel ordered ashore make the support forces aware of fleet requirements and of the urgency of these requirements.
And finally, as previously indicated, we rotate officers to reunite families after long and continuous periods of separation. Rotation is important for morale and motivation, and it directly affects our ability to retain personnel beyond their obligated service. Our inability to retain junior officers in sufficient numbers is one of the most serious problems in the Navy today.
Career Essentials
It is not intended to outline career patterns as such since this information is contained in the Officer Fact Book which is published by the Bureau of Naval Personnel and is available at every naval activity. There is, however, no single, ideal career pattern that ensures success or promotion in the Navy for the unrestricted line officer, but rather, there are countless patterns which are equally desirable. The patterns themselves are changing continually to meet changing requirements. For example, nuclear-power-qualified submarine officers have entirely different career patterns than those officers in diesel boats. Nuclear-power-qualified lieutenant commanders and commanders, in such short supply, are toured on sea duty as needed to meet expanding naval requirements. For another example, the Bureau of Naval Personnel now re-tours subspecialists in their subspecialty during each succeeding tour ashore insuring only that each assignment is challenging and one of increased responsibility. One point needs emphasis: what might be considered the most career-enhancing job today may no longer be so tomorrow.
The formal boards, convened to select officers for promotion, establish their own detailed criteria for such selections based on general instructions received from the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Personnel. An officer not selected by one board may be selected by another. It is for this reason that federal law requires that an officer must be turned down by at least two different boards before being retired because of non-selection for promotion.
A review of the records of officers who have been promoted to flag rank over the years reveals only one common criterion met by all those selected—continuously outstanding performance. Another criterion almost universally met by unrestricted line officers who have gained the broad stripe is successful command of an operational unit of the fleet. In fact, this type of assignment generally is considered the acme of a Navy captain’s career, and performance in such command has weighed heavily in past selections.
The ambitious young officer should set these goals—continuously outstanding performance, and command of a major unit— above all others and make every effort to shape his career and conduct accordingly.
There are other desirable goals generally considered worthwhile and career-enhancing, though no one among them should be considered as absolutely essential. The attainment of a subspecialty is becoming more and more important and will doubtlessly continue to grow in importance in response to the urgent requirements generated by recent technological advances. Attendance at a service college is a desirable goal. Duty in Washington, D. C., also should be considered as being desirable career-wise. Duty on a large staff or in an educational or training assignment of some type is also worthwhile. An officer at some point in his career should spend at least one tour of duty in one of the many joint billets to meet a flag rank requirement set by the Secretary of Defense. An overseas tour in a military advisory assistance group, mission, or as a naval attaché is also an important assignment. There are in fact no dead-end assignments. If any job were not important, the billet would not have been established. As a general rule, it is not considered career enhancing to remain in the same location doing the same kind of work without broader-experience and assignments of increased responsibility. But, as past history has proven, any career pattern can lead to flag rank if the officer’s performance is continuously outstanding, as compared with his contemporaries’ performances in similar assignments.
(1) The uniqueness of the Navy requires repeated tours at sea for the professional growth of the unrestricted line officer, while, at the same time, overly long tours must be kept to a very minimum for morale reasons.
(2) Officers are rotated to meet the needs of the Navy, both to fill the sea billet requirements and to provide sea-experienced officers to the shore establishment.
(3) Career patterns are flexible, adjusting automatically to new requirements, and although there are many desirable assignments and no dead-end assignments, the only essential criterion for promotion is continuous outstanding performance; command of an operational unit is the next most important selection criterion.
Officer Distribution Division
The Officer Distribution Division of the Bureau of Naval Personnel is a vast receiving and clearing house for every type of information concerning officer personnel. The study and evaluation of this information: desires of individual officers; career planning; fleet, shore, and overseas requirements; housing problems; travel plans; transportation arrangements; school quotas; operating schedules; urgent requirements for specially qualified officers; activation and deactivation of shore facilities; commissioning and decommissioning of ships; illnesses; casualties; dependents’ problems; babies; school for children; et cetera, is a continuing process. All of this data flows into and out of the division by almost every known means of communication, except carrier pigeon. Any of this information may be extremely important and any of it that is the least bit pertinent is fully considered prior to determining an officer’s next assignment. The result is personalized service, not push-button detailing.
The Officer Distribution Division basically is divided into three independent yet interrelated major branches operating with the fullest mutual co-operation and responsibility of seniors—the Officer Placement Branch, the Grade Assignment Branch, and the Staff Corps Liaison Branch.
The Grade Assignment Branch is comprised of individual sections for line officers for each rank, captain and below. These sections are responsible primarily for the individual officer’s career development, they deal with each line officer as a separate entity and represent him at the bureau level.
The Grade Assignment Officer heading each rank desk is in a position to evaluate the qualifications of each officer with those of his contemporaries. He reviews each officer’s record and data card when the officer becomes available for reassignment and plans the next assignment which will best serve the Navy and advance the officer’s professional development. The Grade Assignment Officer is concerned primarily with enhancing each officer’s promotion potential by providing him with the necessary experience, ensuring proper sea/ shore rotation and placing him in the most responsible billet his past performance and experience will permit. Incidentally, the Grade Assignment Officer, also desires to please each officer as far as location, timing, and type of duty are concerned, where practicable and consistent with other requirements. In summary, as the officer’s individual representative in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, the Grade Assignment Officer makes the initial decision as to the next program into which an officer should be placed.
The Officer Placement Branch represents each activity and command at the bureau level. This branch is responsible to each commander for the officers assigned. To serve its functions, “placement” is divided into two main sections, sea and shore; the sections are broken down further into desks by function or type commander. For example, the amphibious and auxiliary ships and associated staffs are placed under a single section with separate desks for staffs, Atlantic fleet and Pacific fleet ships. Bureau activities, including BuPers, BuShips, and BuWeps are grouped into a single section, with separate desks for each activity.
The Staff Corps Liaison and Service Branch co-ordinates the assignment of staff corps officers; administers recall, release, and termination orders; issues temporary active duty and temporary additional duty orders; administers medical surveys, physical retirements, overseas leave travel; and supervises composition of selection boards, other special boards, and orders thereto.
Officer Distribution Plan
The Chief of Naval Operations establishes a numerical allowance for each activity, based on the authorized strength of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Personnel (Pers-A) determines the billet description and the desired grade of the officers needed to fill the authorized billets in the allowance. The allowance is thus the guide for the optimum assignment of rank in accordance with responsibility in peacetime. However, established allowances do not reflect the number of officers actually available for assignment, particularly by grade and designator, nor the number that can be assigned to each activity. It is not feasible to change the allowance whenever the number of officers in the various grades fluctuates. The allowance must represent firm requirements to permit an activity to function at peak efficiency, and it is thus a constant goal toward which to train and distribute personnel.
When comparing unrestricted line strength with allowances, it is apparent that the existing imbalance of officers by designator and the distortion in the grade structure will continue into the foreseeable future. For example, the code 1100 situation is characterized by a serious shortage of officers in the grades of lieutenant through captain and by a significant excess of lieutenants (junior grade) and ensigns. Conversely, the aviation picture shows a serious deficit in the junior ranks and an overage of lieutenant commanders, commanders, and captains. Accordingly, the Officer Distribution Plan (ODP) has been developed in order to provide for the most equitable distribution of officers throughout the naval establishment. “Level of responsibility” is the principal criterion used to determine relative priority among billets.
Operations
In their daily operations, the placement desks make the requirements for officers, based on the Officer Distribution Plan, and projected rotation dates, known to the respective rank desks. This process of requesting an officer is known as “posting.” For example, the Destroyer Placement Desk advises the lieutenant commander desk that in March 1963, Lieutenant Commander Blow in USS Neversail will complete his tour and will require a relief. The lieutenant commander desk adds this requirement to the requirements for 1100 lieutenant commanders set by all the placement desks for that month. Then, based on knowledge of the officers and billets, the officer manning the lieutenant commander desk determines what billets will be filled by whom. The placement desks are consulted in this determination and maintain a veto power. Officers available within a two or three-month period are considered for any billet becoming vacant within this period.
Arbitrarily selecting a step in the cycle, the process operates as follows. About one year prior to completion of Lieutenant Doakes’ tour as Engineering Officer of USS Gator in San Diego, the amphibious placement desk asks for his relief. Since the allowance and ODP require a lieutenant, the request is sent to the lieutenant assignment desk. The lieutenant desk determines that Lieutenant Gish, who is completing a tour ashore, is ready to rotate to a sea tour. Since Gish has had previous sea experience on a surface ship but no amphibious duty, his career development indicates an amphibious tour. Likewise, his data card indicates that he wants duty in San Diego, where he has just purchased a home. Therefore, the lieutenant desk proposes to the amphibious desk that Lieutenant Gish relieve Lieutenant Doakes. A review of his record reveals that Gish’s performance qualifies him for the responsibilities of department head. At the same time, a review of the engineering department of USS Gator by the placement desk shows several junior officers as well as a warrant machinist with experience in engineering. It is clearly evident that the assignment of Lieutenant Gish would be appropriate. The amphibious desk then accepts Lieutenant Gish on the provision that he attend engineering school before reporting, and the desk prepares transfer orders accordingly. At the same time, the incumbent, Lieutenant Doakes, is made available to the lieutenant desk for reassignment on a “when relieved” basis.
At this point, the process repeats itself, and Lieutenant Doakes’ next assignment will be determined by his record, his preferences, and the needs of the Navy.
As in any organization, there are exceptions to the norm; these lie primarily in the area of command.. Within BuPers, three formally constituted boards of senior officers are established for the purpose of assigning officers to command. When an officer has attained the performance and experience that indicate possible assignment to command, his fitness report record is submitted to the appropriate command clearance board for decision. The surface board is comprised of senior officers who successfully have had command of a surface ship; the submarine board is comprised of officers qualified in submarines who have had submarine command; the aviation squadron command board members are aviators who have had a squadron command. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that command assignment is based strictly on demonstrated performance and operational qualifications as reflected in past duty assignments.
The selection of captains for major commands at sea is also the function of a board of flag and senior officers appointed by the Chief of Naval Personnel. The board establishes a list in order of priority recommended for major command assignment by year group. Again, as with all assignments, demonstrated performance in demanding billets is most important. In addition, medical records are screened to ensure that officers being considered for selection meet physical standards.
Assignments to service colleges are likewise a board function. Based on the number of “seats” allocated to each year group by designator, a selection board formally convenes each year to select the students for the following year’s courses. Selection is based upon “performance” and only those with the best fitness reports are selected. A minimum of six officers are considered for every officer to be selected. After the findings of the board are approved by the Chief of Naval Personnel, tour lengths are adjusted and reliefs are requested for those officers selected as students.
Selection for postgraduate training is also the function of an annual selection board. A formal board of senior officers, including P.G. school representatives, convenes to select officers for postgraduate assignments. Two factors are considered in this selection, demonstrated professional performance in previous duty assignments and past academic record.
An assignment is determined by a combination of many factors. Detailers and placement officers like to please officers with their assignments. All else being equal, the officer with the best performance record gets the job, but the needs of the service must take priority over all other considerations.
Summary
(1) The officer distribution system is organized to represent both the individual officer and the individual naval activity in making each assignment.
(2) Officer assignment is not a push-button operation but instead involves a careful consideration of all pertinent factors.
(3) Selection boards are used for the selecting of officers for postgraduate schools; service colleges; and ship, squadron, and other major commands.
(4) An Officer Distribution Plan, prepared by the Officer Distribution Division, governs the assignment of officers by rank and category to each activity. The ODP is used rather than the allowance when there are insufficient officers of appropriate rank and category to fill the allowance.
(5) The Chief of Naval Personnel is anxious to please each individual officer whenever it is practical, but the primary considerations in making any assignment will continue to be the needs of the service.