Initial Billet Assignments and the Performance of Naval Officers

This thesis attempts to determine if there is a relationship between initial ship type, initial billet assignment, the number of surface qualifications earned and career progress for surface warfare officers. The data used in this thesis were taken from the Officer Master-Loss Record File maintained at the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), Monterey, California, and the Officer Promotion History Data Files collected by the Department of the Navy for all officers, both active and reserve duty. Information was examined for surface warfare officers whose records appeared before Lieutenant Commander selection boards as extracted from both sets of files, on both those who stayed on active duty and those who left. The Officer Master-Loss Record File was derived for those officers who were commissioned between 1 January 1976 and 31 December 1982. The Officer Promotion History Data Files (Background and Experience files) were archived beginning 1981 through 1986 for Lieutenants and from 1985 through 1990 for Lieutenant Commanders. The results indicate officers assigned to Amphibious ships (AMPHIBS) for their initial division officer tours are less likely to earn qualifications in comparison to those assigned to cruisers and destroyers (CRUDES). Officers serving initial tours on AMPHIBS are also more likely to be passed over at the LCDR selection board. Additionally Black officers are 2 to 6 percent more likely to be assigned to amphibious ships and 7 to 15 percent less likely to be assigned to CRUDES ships.