The path is well-known and well-worn. From the day a pilot or naval flight officer checks in to his or her first fleet squadron, the so-called golden path is ingrained as baseline knowledge: Sustained superior performance and opportunity lead to selection as an operational department head, with follow-on opportunity to become a commanding officer.
For career-minded officers, the golden path is as close to gospel as NATOPS, but the path is not an easy one. Operational command is highly competitive. An officer who meets all community requirements for command has about a one-in-five chance of reading their orders at the podium. For nearly every community in aviation, there are fewer than 15 O-5 command billets available per board. This selectivity is by design: Selection for command is the final trial of more than a decade of constant evaluation of each officer’s airmanship, leadership, and mentorship capabilities as he or she progresses through the ranks and the fleet. The process exemplifies the “best and fully qualified” standard.
Following selection boards, talent management and retention of officers not selected for billets along the golden path can be a challenge for the Navy. The selectivity of the board leaves a large pool of talented aviators contemplating separation or retirement, often resulting in critical manning shortfalls at the senior O-4/junior O-5 levels—and many of these jobs are critical seagoing billets. The stigma associated with accepting jobs “off the path” is difficult to overcome, especially for officers who are suddenly, and often unexpectedly, facing a significant change in career plans.
The Silver Path
Enter the “silver path”: an emerging pathway for exceptional officers no longer on track to O-5 command to continue to serve and excel in the Navy.
Because opportunities to screen for operational (OP) department head are limited, the operational-training (OP-T) department head category provides officers not selected for OP department head an opportunity for continued career advancement serving in aviation billets other than operational squadrons. These billets traditionally are in the training realm, such as primary/intermediate training squadrons and weapons schools. However, recent years have seen the emergence of new operational opportunities for OP-T department heads, including tactical air-control squadrons, test community department heads, cross-service liaison officers, and air warfare officers (AWOs).
One challenge with OP-T department heads is the traditionally low selection rates at the O-5 promotion boards. As the billets are still defined as off the golden path and not well-described in either community values briefings or board precepts, many boards struggle to compare these aviators who continue their careers on the silver path with those who remain “due course” on the golden path. While the amount of time spent flying is minimal, OP-T department heads provide immeasurable value to the fleet and should be given fair value and favorable consideration by promotion boards, especially when OP-T department heads are serving on challenging sea-duty assignments.
The Vital Role of AWOs
At the Naval Surface and Mine War-fighting Development Center (SMWDC), OP-T department heads fill critical billets as AWOs. Over the past six years, SMWDC’s growth and focus on advanced tactical training have created an increased need for cross-community coordination between aviation and surface warfare as net-centric warfare, integrated joint fires, integrated fire control, and manned-unmanned teaming come to the forefront of tactical and operational development. The air- and missile-defense fight has become increasingly complex over the past 20 years, which, in turn, requires a highly trained group of warfighting-focused watchstanders who fully understand blue force capabilities and who seamlessly integrate all key execution stakeholders through the planning, briefing, execution, and debriefing process.
The SMWDC mission is composed of five lines of effort: warfare tactics instructor (WTI) production, tactical doctrine development, operational support, capability assessments and experimentation, and advanced tactical training. SMWDC’s major exercise is Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT). The advanced phase of the training continuum, SWATT aims to provide a training environment without the grading and certification strictures of a Composite Training Unit Exercise. SWATT enables watch teams and ships to develop their procedures and best practices before deployment certification, accomplished with onboard mentorship from surface WTIs. As SMWDC matures, so does SWATT, which now includes integration with aviation assets throughout the fleet, as well as cross-service aviation units, enabling critical lines of communication with fleet experts.
The AWOs, all E-2 air battle managers, joined SMWDC to serve as core leaders in carrier strike groups, to help bridge the gap between aviation and surface units in integrated air-and-missile defense (IAMD) throughout the entire plan, brief, execute, and debrief process. During the IAMD portions of SWATT, AWOs provide air adversary planning and control, train shipboard watch teams, coordinate with the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) to ensure superior air-defense training, and work with IAMD WTIs to lead aviation asset coordination. In addition, an AWO deploys with each carrier strike group as the principal staff planner and watchstander for the air-and-missile defense commander (AMDC), serving as principal advisor to the AMDC on tactical aviation integration across the entire carrier strike group. When an aircraft interacts with the AMDC (“Whiskey”), there typically is an AWO on the other end of the radio. The AWO’s addition to the staff planning team has provided a critical line of communication between the carrier strike group, the carrier air wing staff, and the AMDC, since all AWOs have prior experience working directly with (or for) the air wing.
The SMWDC AWO represents only one of several operational OP-T jobs in the fleet. As the scope and value of these tactical OP-T jobs increases, these silver-path jobs are as consequential to the successful execution of the Navy’s core missions as their golden path counterparts. The efforts of these OP-T officers are increasing in visibility in the surface and aviation communities and proving to be an integral part of the Navy’s battle force. AWOs who are selected for O-5 may have the opportunity to use their skills to serve in valued, follow-on sea duty, such as tours in the training strike groups—Carrier Strike Group 4 or 15—numbered fleets, or other critical staffs.
A Path to Aviator Retention
“The aviation community is finding innovative ways to retain and place talented lieutenant commanders in critical roles within operational strike groups,” said Rear Admiral Scott Robertson, a former SMWDC commander and former Commander, Carrier Strike Group 2. “I’ve personally witnessed these AWOs working jobs outside the squadrons and can attest they are difference-makers and essential to integrated, multidomain warfighting; an imperative not because we want to, but because we must.”
With the increasing interoperability among surface and aviation platforms, opportunities to employ the cross-community experience of these aviators will continue to increase. This experience currently exists only within the OP-T structure. As the Navy undergoes one of the largest transformations to its battle force structure in decades, the convergence of sensors, weapons, and network systems will demand more cross-community expertise in the senior ranks. Neither the aviation nor the surface community can go it alone. The service is moving from integrated to interdependent operations. The requirement for community liaisons embedded with their counterpart centers of excellence will only increase, as multidomain warfare becomes the Navy’s primary mode of operation. OP-T department heads on the silver path are uniquely positioned to lead the way.
The winds are shifting for the non-squadron department heads as the fleet, and subsequently selection boards, begin to understand the immense value of OP-T department head tours. AWOs from SMWDC select for O-5 at a rate of 80 percent (as of FY22)—significantly higher than any other OP-T department head job. This is a promising trend and may go a long way toward removing the stigma of taking an OP-T job. Now is the time for senior leaders to define the silver path as a viable and promotable alternative, employing the unique skills of these officers. Retaining and employing these officers properly will secure the Navy’s warfighting advantage.
