In recent years, the Naval Academy and the Coast Guard Academy have felt compelled to push additional specialization training earlier and earlier in a man’s career in order to allow him to maximize his ability and optimize his usefulness to the service. Thus, the academies provide the background training for all the specialization that follows graduation.
This specialization background serves two purposes: (1) it provides the cadet or midshipman with an overview of all the specialties in which he can become involved, thus allowing him a better opportunity to decide in what field he would like to specialize, and (2) by starting the specialization early, the officer will have less to "catch up” with when he enters postgraduate school or other post-commissioning training. While these are admirable and legitimate goals, one area of specialization that seems to lack sufficient background training availability is in the development of seagoing officers—ironically, the training area for which the academies were originally founded.
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