While I appreciate those offering to mentor this outstanding young officer, mentorship from a LCDR, CDR, or CAPT who has not served at sea as a division officer in years is not what is needed right now. What this officer—and every officer—needs is meaningful, relevant training. Not death by PowerPoint, and not an eight-hour STALLION lab they completed years before ever stepping onboard their first ship.

When a junior officer wearing an IW pin steps onto a ship completely unprepared for the realities of the surface warfare community, the credibility of that pin takes a significant hit. No amount of well-intentioned mentorship will fix that gap.

What these officers need is time at sea alongside a qualified 1810 who has recently completed a tactical assignment. They need to develop the ability to think critically through complex, real-world problems before reporting onboard. They must understand both U.S. Navy operations and adversary doctrine. And most importantly, they need to earn a warfare pin that carries real credibility.

Surface warfare officers are focused on warfighting at sea—they are not concerned with the NSA. If we fail to prepare IW officers for that reality, we are setting them up—and the mission—for failure.

I can go on, but I think you get the point!

V/R,
Mario Vulcano
The Pursuit of Excellence