2014 saw a lot of new COs for our fleet — Captains Blueheart, Frost, Nugra, and Livingston, and Commanders Faranster and Handley-Page all took that central chair, and in a fleet of nine ships, six new captains in a single year is a pretty big deal! Each of those new COs has been an asset to the fleet and helms a unique and productive ship, but — in many of these cases, and in previous years — new commanders haven’t had much time to serve as first officers or in other capacities on their vessels before being rushed into command. This isn’t ideal because it puts a lot of undue stress on newly promoted officers.

Enter the new role of Promotion Coordinator. This position’s goal, according to its proposal before the Executive Council, is “to create a central resource officer for all promotions in the fleet, but primarily for staff promotions to commander, captain, and above.” What does that mean? The Promotion Coordinator will work with lieutenant commanders and commanders (and above!) and their COs and mentors to help everyone more smoothly and effectively through the promotion process and ensure that the group is building up a strong bulwark of talented command candidates.

The first Promotion Coordinator will be Fleet Captain Egan Manno (also known as me!), so please drop by my little corner of the forums with any questions you might have. And if you’re a command-minded lieutenant commander, you and your CO should expect to hear more from me soon!