A Loss of Confidence

It is difficult to rise to command in the United States Navy. The military remains, by and large, a meritocracy aimed at ensuring that only the best attain “command at sea” of the nation’s submarines, aircraft squadrons, and ships. Of all officers commissioned as ensigns in 1983, only 3% attained that goal. The road they travelled was intensely competitive, difficult, and littered with the thousands who failed to meet the Navy’s given standard of “sustained superior performance at sea,” further defined as “performance exemplified by a consistent record of exceeding expectations while demonstrating leadership and expertise at sea.”

As for the promotion system used to winnow the field, it features annual, ranked assessment of fitness in the performance of duty, along with rigorous multiple administrative and statutory boards. For those who do successfully attain and succeed in their first, or O5 command, only a relative few will subsequently be selected for a second, or O6 command, more commonly known as “major command.” “Major,” which is an even larger combatant command, is the last gate through which a few of these officers will pass prior to selection to flag rank. The entire aim of this system is to ensure that not only do the most qualified get to command the Navy’s combat units, but that the best of the best are prepared to become admirals.

Yet, despite whatever expectation might arise based upon this culling, many will fail dramatically once in command.  Every year a number of these elect will be relieved of their duties via “Detachment for Cause” (DFC). A DFC indicates that an officer did something so fundamentally egregious that they were shown the door. In view of the gauntlet an officer must run to even get to command in the first place, as well as the fact that these dismissals inevitably become national news, one might sensibly ask why exactly, on average, 16 of our “best and brightest” fail each year.

Unfortunately, the public is not allowed to know the answer to this simple question. Beyond the catastrophic mishap, or the odd cause célèbres simply too big to hide, the Navy remains resolute in a stony silence regarding exactly why a statistically significant number of commanding officers (CO) are fired, annually.