Requests to convert to DM should be submitted no later than the end of the month prior to the board. The Navy's newest officer community, Fleet Support, provides officers trained and educated in shore installation and support management. Officers from the General Unrestricted Line community were automatically redesignated Fleet Support Officers, with designator 170X, on Jan. 1, 1995. Future accession into the community will be by lateral transfers, with the first board convening April 10, 1995. Fleet Support Officers continue to have command opportunity and promotion opportunity through the flag officer level.
Officers compete within the community for promotion.
No new devices will be created by this change. For example, one officer wrote thanking her detailer for taking the extra time to revise her assignment when the command she was going to was reorganized. The detailer found a more appropriate billet, rather than sending her to an unspecified billet at the original command. Early retirement allows Sailors to leave the service with less than 20 years and receive a reduced monthly retirement payment. Personnel officials have quotas for 2,000 more applicants.