With most amphibious ships now or soon to be commanded by captains (O-6 paygrade), it’s time to revisit the amphibious squadron (PHIBRON) commodore billet and make it a sequential major command assignment again. Currently, all amphibious squadrons, general-purpose amphibious assault ships (LHD), and multipurpose amphibious assault ships (LHA) are commanded by O-6 paygrade captains. All amphibious transport, dock (LPD-17)–class ships are transitioning to O-6 commands, and approximately half of landing ship, dock (LSD-41/49)–class ships are commanded by O-6 aviators. These are all first-time major command assignments. The officers are of similar seniority and arrive in command with varying levels of amphibious experience. For many of these officers, it is their first exposure to amphibious operations, making it a learn-as-you-go journey in acquiring amphibious expertise. The upside of having most amphibious ships commanded by O-6 major commanders is that it creates a large pool of post-command captains with amphibious expertise. By making the PHIBRON commodore billet a sequential major command, the Navy would be able to take advantage of this experience base and place the most successful of these officers in the position of PHIBRON commodore/amphibious ready group (ARG) commander.
The PHIBRON commodore holds command responsibilities second only to a carrier-strike-group commander in breadth and scope. With anywhere from three to six ships in the amphibious squadron, he or she is the immediate superior in the chain of command, answerable directly to the surface type commander for all man, train, and equip issues. Operationally, as the ARG commander, the PHIBRON commodore will deploy as a task-group commander, responsible for the tactical employment of three amphibious ships, three assault-craft detachments, a helicopter detachment, a fleet surgical team, and more than 2,000 sailors. During heightened tensions or actual kinetic operations, Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile–capable surface combatants may be placed under the tactical control of the ARG commander, like they were for Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya. He or she will be the Navy counterpart to the embarked Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) commanding officer, who is often on his second “float” as a MEU CO. While in a given combatant command area of responsibility, the ARG commander often reports directly to the numbered fleet commander as a commander, task force or commander, task group. Heady stuff indeed for the commodore. As a testimony to the caliber of officers selected for this assignment, the track record of performance has been routinely stellar. So what’s the beef?
Now that most amphibious ship commands are major command assignments, the PHIBRON commodore is in a “first among equals” position. Sometimes even junior in seniority to one or more of his or her subordinate ship captains, he or she will likely be junior in seniority to the MEU CO as well. The military is a hierarchical organization for a reason—so that those in charge and responsible are clearly and unambiguously senior to those that they have authority over. To further exacerbate this seniority issue, the PHIBRON staff is outnumbered and significantly junior—by one or more paygrades and level of amphibious expertise—to both their LHD/LHA wardroom counterparts and the MEU staff.
The second reason for making the PHIBRON commodore billet sequential major command is arguably the most important one: It puts a seasoned amphibious expert in command of the ARG. The ARG is a complex, large organization with many moving parts, most of which move simultaneously. Additionally, the ARG commander is required to interface up the chain of command, across the services, and with interagency and nongovernmental entities. A more senior, experienced commodore would also help mitigate the limited amphibious experience of the PHIBRON staff.
Until the early ’90s, the PHIBRON commodore billet was a sequential major command assignment. It was changed to the current construct in an attempt to make more officers with amphibious backgrounds competitive with their surface-combatant counterparts for selection to flag rank. While it is probably debatable whether or not the intended objective is being met, it has resulted in a dilution of amphibious experience at the highest level of operational amphibious command.
The Navy should take advantage of the deep pool of post-amphibious major commanders that is resulting from the current expansion of O-6 amphibious ship command billets and assign the best and brightest of these officers as PHIBRON commodores/ARG commanders. To use a corporate analogy, this would be akin to a capital reinvestment in one of our major product lines. More to the point, we would deepen and cultivate our amphibious expertise instead of letting this hard-learned skill set whither away.