CWO Selections

[p3nfo]

Looking for some advice on trying to lat transfer.

I applied to the Jun 2017 board and did not get picked up. I am an NFO with not the best FITREPS(Long Story) but not sure why I missed the boat on this one. It could very well be my package, or perhaps the competition. As an NFO I couldn't apply until now due to my aviation commitment and am now a senior LT (YG2010).

My concern is that I am competing against senior LT LDO's who are already in the community. Do I even stand a chance against them? This last board only selected SWO's and LDO's. I am assuming because of the SWO commitment, I was not competing for slots against their year groups and there would be no way I would get picked up over an LDO already established and qualified.

I was kind of hopeful I was going to get picked up this time around, but the more I think about it, I am starting to think I may have missed the window to make the transition to CWO?

I am planning on talking to the Community Manager in soon, but wanted to see if their was any insight from the masses.

[COMEVIL]

Looking for some advice on trying to lat transfer.

I applied to the Jun 2017 board and did not get picked up. I am an NFO with not the best FITREPS(Long Story) but not sure why I missed the boat on this one. It could very well be my package, or perhaps the competition. As an NFO I couldn't apply until now due to my aviation commitment and am now a senior LT (YG2010).

My concern is that I am competing against senior LT LDO's who are already in the community. Do I even stand a chance against them? This last board only selected SWO's and LDO's. I am assuming because of the SWO commitment, I was not competing for slots against their year groups and there would be no way I would get picked up over an LDO already established and qualified.

I was kind of hopeful I was going to get picked up this time around, but the more I think about it, I am starting to think I may have missed the window to make the transition to CWO?

I am planning on talking to the Community Manager in soon, but wanted to see if their was any insight from the masses.

I think you answered your own question in the first paragraph - senior LT with not the best FITREPs.

[p3nfo]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I completely get that a mediocre record doesn't help. However, if I were competing with 5 LDO's for 5 slot, what would it take to get a slot over a qualified LDO? Obviously this requires speculation unless someone has sat on a board.

[Schlag]

From the results message

3. Quota constraints for year groups were especially tight, thus the demand
signal far exceeded the supply pool. Many quality applicants were identified
by the board but could not be selected due to quota constraints of either the
outgoing community or the gaining community. Applicants who were not selected
by this board should apply again while sustaining superior performance and
bolstering their record for desired communities.

That is boilerplate language that every results message will have because there is a lot of interest from URL into RL. Gotta think of how many SWO's are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel (traditionally, SWOs have made up the bulk of community in quotas for CW). That said, you are correct, competing against LDO's does make things more difficult, but all things held equal, sustained superior performance is going to be the first discriminator - even for the LDO (esp. since they can earn an EP as an ENS/LTJG).

In general, coming into the community is significantly harder for all on-ramp sources (OCS, USNA/ROTC, POCR, LDO/CWO, Lat Xfer) than in years past. Used to be you could be 10 year enlisted Sailor with 3.0 GPA B.A. in Liberal Studies and get in as long as your EVALs were solid. Those days are over. STEM rules the day for initial commissioning and proven experience in our core competencies with high academic aptitude for on-ramp sources is the secret to getting in post-commissioning.

Here's some tips that I can think of off hand

1. Not knowing your educational background - do you have a STEM Bachelors and/or Masters? If not, can you start working towards one? NPS does offer Masters certificates that could help if you have your heart set on CW.
2. Take a look at your career history, have you done stuff in the past that complements the CW community's core capabilities (SIGINT, CNO, EW)? Refer to the NOCCS manual for guidance and see if you can get AQD's retroactively added for demonstrated experience. In the absence of CW core capabilities, see if you can relate things to IWC core capabilities (Assured C2, Battlespace Awareness, Integrated/Non-kinetic Fires)
3. Can you get a letter of recommendation from a senior officer in the community explaining why you'd be a good fit? I came into the community via POCR in 2009 after attriting out of primary. If you looked at my profile (USNA Poli Sci w/ 3.3) there was exactly zero reason why the community should have picked me up. Fortunately I had two senior people vouch that despite my *ahem* technical shortcomings that I was able to easily digest technical matters and actually had an academic skillset that was quantitative in nature and could handle big data. Also, one of those people was a post-command E-2 NFO who taught at the Academy and because he was bored during the summers worked with CW's out of OPNAV N2/N6 and could speak the lingo perfectly. Bottom line, senior officer advocacy can shift doubt away from obvious shortcomings in your package.
4. One final thing that applies to all boards - is there any way you could get a letter from the reporting seniors that gave you questionable FITREPs to explain the circumstance or mitigate the impact? Not seeing your PSR makes this difficult to know if its an option, but that's generally a good thing to consider for any board.

Not wanting to harp on the FITREP matter too much, but want to make sure you aren't looking at this overly optimistically. In recent years, we have FOS'd lat xfers during their first promotion board. Some were going up for LCDR and some were going up for CDR. In both cases, these officers had decent URL paper and decent CW paper; however, the direction of the community is changing and there is something to be said for having a technical background and excellent (not just decent) documented performance. You know your record - if your record has such serious dings, then even if you do get into the community you might be ice skating uphill. I'd recommend seeking out mentors in current community and the CW community and seeing what your realistic chances are. Also would recommend widening your aperture and considering other IWC designators. Hope this helps, more than willing to clarify if needed.

[p3nfo]

Schlag, thanks for the detailed reply. My first degree was in construction engineering management and I am going to complete a second BS in Computer science this summer. I did get a LOR from the CO who signed my not so great FITREP. As the name states, P3 background so limited exposure to sigint but still operational in 7th and 4th fleets.

I figured I had a 50% chance, but once I saw all the LDO's get picked up I started to wonder. I am going to look at the selection from higher priority communities for my year group band, whether I would have been picked or not many have not mattered if my community had run out of out quotas. That might actually explain the large number of LDO's. Perhaps they have an unlimited number of out quotas.

Anyway, I appreciate the insight, thanks again.

[CNO Guy]

Shlag gave some good guidance, but I would tell you that the results of a single board don't dictate the results of following/future boards. Ultimately what I am telling you is that you should reapply b/c the competition and opportunity is different at every board.

YG 2010 is undermanned and will continue to be open for Lateral Transfers Into the community. Just realize the more senior you get the more risk you are accepting to promoting to CDR as you will be expected to (1) be qualified as a CW, (2) have your IWO pin, and (3) ideally be in or have completed an operational role as a CW in order to be promotable.