ARTICLE

November 2003

Joint Education to Become Mandatory for Navy Officers

by Sandra I. Erwin

The Navy increasingly will encourage junior officers to pursue joint military education programs. Eventually, however, the plan is to make joint military education a prerequisite for every officer.

“We are increasing joint education opportunities,” said Capt. Don Quinn, the Navy’s director of aviation officer distribution at the Navy Personnel Command.

Meanwhile, discussions are under way among Navy leaders to make joint education mandatory, Quinn told naval aviators at the 2003 Tailhook Convention, in Reno, Nev.

Before any such policy changes are firmed up, he said, the Navy will need to ensure that every officer has adequate means and access to joint military education programs. “We don’t have that yet,” said Quinn.

Besides obtaining joint education credentials, naval officers will need to serve in joint assignments, in order to boost their chances of getting promoted, he added.

“Joint qualifications are growing in importance,” Quinn noted. Captains, particularly, should be paying attention to this. In about two years, “you will not be a flag without a joint tour.”

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