Nobody Asked Me, But Make Subspecialty Codes Matter

The Chief of Naval Operations 2005 Guidance speaks directly to the importance of a human capital strategy as the following demonstrates:

. . . We can only succeed in that endeavor if we can get the people with the right skills to the right place at the right time, and provide them with the professional and personal tools they need to be successful. A comprehensive Human Capital Strategy will do that, and it is therefore a crucial deliverable for our Navy.

. . . We must become a better educated, better trained and better compensated, but smaller workforce in the future.

. . . Develop metrics to provide more accurate retention and attrition statistics to better measure our effectiveness in shaping the force. At a minimum, include Fitness ReportEvaluation measures, as well as level of training and education invested.

. . . Review and recommend ways to more tightly fit educational experiences to job requirements.

Still no requirement or reward exists for the individual unrestricted line officer to earn a subspecialty code. As our Navy builds a human capital strategy, this disconnect should be corrected. Our past lack of such a human capital strategy has left administration of graduate education to the Navy's Manpower and Personnel (Nl), resulting in quotas embedded in short-sighted objectives. The individual unrestricted line officers have been left with the impression that master's degrees are good for promotion, but minimal guidance exists to identify which degrees are important. As a result, plenty of officers are getting master's degrees and checking-in-the-box for the next promotion boards without regard for long-term needs of the Navy, because no one has articulated them.

We can empower our human capital strategy by redefining the importance of the subspecialty codes. By adding an evaluated promotion value to subspecialty codes earned, we encourage the "right skills." Our major area sponsors and type commanders can determine which subspecialty codes are critical to the Navy's future and the right skill sets needed at the right time. Unrestricted line officers considering graduate education can best support the Navy by studying these matters of importance. The Navy can, in turn, support its unrestricted line officers by weighting their subspecialty codes at their promotion boards and assign the best suited professionals to the right places.