Squadron Commanding Officer
Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers who successfully complete a fleet tour as a squadron department head (usually while successfully holding the ground position of either the Squadron Operations Officer, or Squadron Aircraft Maintenance Officer for lengths of a year or more and ranked as the top lieutenant commander), are considered in a Navy-wide Command Screen Board for Squadron Command. Selectees must also have been selected and approved by the U.S. Congress for promotion to the rank of Commander (O-5). Those few selected participate in a variety of command, leadership, legal and safety schools; and required refresher flight training and carrier re-qualifications. Unlike other branhes of the Navy, Squadron Commanding Officers start out the first half of their tours as the Squadron Executive Officer (XO), then "Fleet up" to the top position during their tenure, at a formal change of command. Aviation Squadron Commanding Officers (CO's) hold sea and shore squadron positions as a first command tour, and may move on to other commands, staff billets, or may retire from there. Typically this tour occurs in the eighteenth to twenty-second year of career service for the individual. The role of CO, as it similarly is for the Naval Service's Surface, Submarine, and Marine Corps communities is considered a nexxus position for effective military operations.
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Famous quotes containing the words squadron, commanding and/or officer:
“Well gentlemen, this is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Tonight your target is Tokyo. And you’re gonna play ‘em the Star Spangled Banner with two-ton bombs. All you’ve got to do is to remember what you’ve learned and follow your squadron leaders. They’ll get you in, and they’ll get you out. Any questions? All right that’s all. Good luck to you. Give ‘em hell.”
—Dudley Nichols (1895–1960)
“It has never occurred to me to wish for empire or royalty, nor for the eminence of those high and commanding fortunes. My aim lies not in that direction; I love myself too well.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)