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Message: [QUOTE="CDG, post: 230327, member: 2530"] This sentence in particular jumped out at me:[I] None of the flag officers interviewed for this study supported wholesale changes to the fitness report system, and all believed that the reporting senior is the correct person—not peers or subordinates—to evaluate the suitability of officers for promotion and selection.[/I] While many may agree with this sentiment, the reasoning behind it is severely flawed. There is a thinly veiled attitude of contempt from many Naval officers towards those of a lesser rank. The commonly held belief seems to be that enlisted people are only there to do the jobs the Os don't feel like doing, and junior officers are only there to do the jobs the more senior officers don't feel like doing. Now, there is obvious need for delegation and an officer shouldn't be expected to do the same things as enlisted man all the time. Officers have a lot more paperwork to deal with and don't have time to come field day twice a day. However, when an officer can't be bothered to learn ANYTHING about the systems he is supposedly in charge of, and instead relies on the enlisted personnel to always bail him out with the CO, something is seriously wrong. Many junior officers have the attitude that learning how the 5" gun works, what the maintenance demands on the MK-41 VLS are, or how much of a pain in the ass it is to do almost anything in the engineering spaces. Nothing is done to correct this attitude by the more senior officers. They are concerned with hearing what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. And to be honest, the most obvious display of contempt for enlisted personnel I saw was from several ensigns in my BUD/S class. Not only that, but officers get away with a litany of offenses that would get enlisted personnel in serious trouble. In the four years I spent in the Navy, I saw an LDO get caught shoplifting from the NEX, an ensign miss the liberty boat due to being too drunk and we were forced to put the ship's RHIB in the water to make the two hour round trip to pick him up, multiple officers that failed weapons quals but we were forced to sign their paperwork anyways, officers skipping PT, quarters, and duty days from hangovers or simply not wanting to come in, and a multitude of other smaller offenses. Nothing happened to these officers. None of them lost command of their divisions or departments, there was never even public acknowledgment that they had fucked up. Contrast that with having multiple public Captain's Masts of enlisted people or having their transgressions and punishments announced to the crew. What it all adds up to is that the Navy has a serious issue on its hands, and one that no one wants to admit or talk about. The attitude of elitism and "I'm better than you" from the Officer Corps shows no signs of going away any time soon. [/QUOTE]

Verification: How many letters are in "ShadowSpear?"