The Navy has rescinded its requirement that chiefs hold an associate’s degree to be eligible to advance to E-8.
The move comes after a nine-month review recommended lifting the requirement to ease the risk that many chiefs would not complete their associate’s degree in time for advancement in fiscal 2011, according to a recent NAVADMIN (Navy Administrative Message).
“The requirement disadvantaged a significant number of chief petty officers who are leading sailors at sea or in combat,” said Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Joe R. Campa Jr.
Thirty-five percent of chiefs eligible for advancement in fiscal 2011 would have been at “extreme risk” of not meeting the requirement of holding an associate’s degree, Campa told Stars and Stripes.
“This places them at an unacceptable disadvantage in competing for advancement,” Campa said. “The policy, as written, did not place the right emphasis on the qualities we have traditionally recognized as those inherent to an effective Chief Petty Officer.”
Campa gave figures showing that the following ratings had the highest percentage of chiefs who would have been at “extreme risk” to meet the associate’s degree requirement by fiscal 2011:
Steelworkers, 69 percentSpecial Boat Operators, 68 percentMachinery Repairmen, 66 percentEngineering Aides, 64 percentSpecial Warfare Operators, 63 percent“It concerned me that our Chiefs would be forced to choose between two important priorities, their sailors or their careers,” Campa said. “Now, I believe we’ve made those priorities complementary. Chiefs who lead will become Senior Chiefs. Chiefs who measure their own success by the success of the men and women they lead will be advanced.”
In a Navy news release issued Friday, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen said “times have changed” since the associate’s degree requirement was instituted two years ago.
“We still view education as exceptionally valuable for our senior enlisted force,” Mullen said in the news release. “But we realize that in light of the challenges Sailors face in today’s dynamic security environment, not everyone has the same opportunity to pursue an associate degree.”
For more information, go to NAVADMIN 150/07 at: www.npc.navy.mil.
