Maximilian_Jenius
Super User
Is it true that to acheive a rank greater than 03, that you must have a Masters degree?
I.E. with only a BA/BS it's a career stall in the military?
I.E. with only a BA/BS it's a career stall in the military?
Quick question..
- Thread starter Maximilian_Jenius
- Start date
Not at all. I'm an O-4 with no Master's degree. You can even make O-5 without one, but it makes it easier to have one. O-6 and above it's pretty much needed.
Maximilian_Jenius
Super User
OKay, because the other day I had a flashback to my ROTC days and our squadron Captain had stated that. And wanted to see it it was true.
granlistillo
Well-Known Member
I got a buddy that is a Naval aviator, NAVCAD and made O-5 without a bachelors degree.
Maximilian_Jenius
Super User
Really, how?
///AMG
Well-Known Member
The NAVCAD program only required 2 yrs of college IIRC. There are a few more senior folks still around how did this, and though I'd imagine most eventually got caught up, it was not a requirement at the time. I know my dad did the program (back in its original form in the 1950's) and didn't get his BS until he got off active duty. In terms of flight school, a NAVCAD was still an aviation cadet throughout flight school, and upon winging they would also recieve a normal commission. Interesting program, but I think it's final blow was in the late 1980's or so. We do currently have the flying Warrant Officer program in the Navy, but I believe they need to have a degree as well.
The Fez
Analog Millennial
I can't help but to throw my opinion in on this topic. Why is a degree needed to become an officer or pilot at all? Really? As long as a person can exhibit proficient aptitude at a given task, how does any college degree make a difference? I know the Army and Navy's Flying Warrant Officer programs are out there, but I've heard from several people that they like an Associate's at the very least. The RAF doesn't require anything other than the requisite test scores and the ability to get through flight training the last I checked, and they have some damn good officers and pilots! Okay, gripe session over.
///AMG
Well-Known Member
I would say it has a lot more to do with what they want to see in the officer corps vs what you need to be skilled in the cockpit. I'm not saying you need a college degree to be a good officer, but having a background in critical thinking and being well rounded in terms of your education is an important trait IMHO. It really is a debatable issue though, and I personally don't feel that my college degree has benefitted me that much thus far in my career (in the cockpit or otherwise).
Look at it from a promotion board's perspective -
Before the promotion board convenes, there are officers (not the selection board) who vet your file, and prepare a summary slide of you - who you are. They lay out your career and your performance to date - especially things that make you stand out in contrast to your peers (good and bad) no up to date photo has been mentioned as a downer a lot.
When virtually all of your peers (at least on the Navy) have a master's degree and you don't - it will stick out very clearly. It's not a killer, but your sustained performance at sea will really have to make up the difference as to why the board should promote you when you haven't marked off the expected wickets of which having a graduate degree is a "wicket".
Depending on how large the promotion group is,the board may review a couple hundred officers in a day to determine who to promote and who not to promote.
That officer who vetted your file and made up the summary - he stands in front of the board and flashes your life/file up on the screen and pitches/ summarizes you for the board - then board says yea or nay - then you're down (you're up on the screen for about 15-20 seconds - a minute at most) and then it's off to the next officer for consideration
So it's kind of like a job interview except you're not there and you have that brief time for the board to get an impression. It's not so bad when they're looking to promote 99% of you - but when promotion rates go down and you're wanting to stay in the service, you don't want to be in the pile that's passed over for promotion.
You still might get picked up on your second look for promition, but it's not very likely that you'll get promoted the second time around - again there are many exceptions, but the ones that got picked up the second time around really had to bust their nut to get picked up.