THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9406210393
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940622 LENGTH: NORFOLK
``I've hustled,'' Strickland said, ``but the Navy gives you the opportunity to hustle, to show what you can do. You get those opportunities in the civilian world, but they don't come as quickly.''
{REST} Strickland is one of more than 28,000 petty officers first class who have qualified for the 2,996 chiefs' slots available this year. The highly anticipated selection process began June 6 with the convening in Washington of the selection board.
The board, made up of more than 100 officers and master chiefs, will notify petty officers of their decisions by the end of next month.
Only a select group will rise to the senior enlisted rank, about 11 percent of those who are board-eligible. But at least there are no cuts this year in the number of slots, as there have often been since the start of the post-Cold War military drawdown.
``Opportunity has stayed the same from last year,'' said Lt. Dan Bates, spokesman for the Bureau of Naval Personnel. ``That's come up from previous years. Opportunities were much less during the early years of the drawdown.''
The selection board, Bates said, looks for ``hard chargers, people who go out of their way to do extra, and who perform well when given difficult tasks.''
But hard work alone does not qualify sailors for the unique and prestigious rank of chief. The process requires an enormous investment of time during the months it takes to prepare. Failing to gain a slot is disheartening.
Just ask Petty Officer 1st Class Teri R. Derosier. This is the fourth year the aviation storekeeper, who is stationed at Oceana Naval Air Station, has tried to make chief.
``I'm trying desperately not to think of it,'' said Derosier, 30. ``It's a real letdown when you don't make it. Anybody who tells you it's not isn't telling the truth. It's gotten a little worse for me each year.''
Adding to the frustration is that the selection board does not tell applicants why they weren't chosen, she said. ``I got together everything I thought they needed, but I don't know what they're looking for. I don't know why I haven't been chosen.''
The selection board, in evaluating candidates, looks at exam results, performance evaluations, career diversity, awards, how much sea duty a sailor has pulled, and other factors.
The bottom line, Strickland said, is that ``the system is vacancy-driven.''
That means that there are quotas, or a limited number of openings, in each Navy rate - and some rates won't have any openings. For example, there are 77 chief slots Navywide for fire-control technician, Bates said, but only three for pattern maker.
``I heard there were 59 openings for aviation storekeepers this year,'' Derosier said. ``Last year 45 out of 300 who were board-eligible made it - the year before that, only 11.''
The drawdown succeeded in opening more billets for new chiefs, she said, as master chiefs, senior chiefs and chiefs took advantage of early retirement offers.
Derosier, a Virginia Beach native who enlisted shortly after graduating from Bayside High School 11 years ago, is responsible for the computerized supply and maintenance system at Oceana Naval Air Station.
She needs to make this next step so she can achieve her goal in the service: to become the first female master chief of the Navy.
Strickland falls four years shy of the average length of service for people who make chief, 12.4 years. He hopes to help make up for that with his work as editor of The Flagship, the newspaper produced by Norfolk Naval Base.
The waiting has caused him some anxiety and, most days, he gives himself a 60 percent chance of making chief this time.
``If I don't make it, I'll be disappointed, sure. But it won't be the end of the world.''
{KEYWORDS} SELECTION PROMOTION PERSONNEL
by CNB