The U.S. Navy conducts inspections and reviews on everything, from the proper appearance and wear of a Sailor's uniform to the water integrity of its largest warships. All inspections, no matter how small, contribute to the mission readiness of our nation's naval forces.

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) is undergoing the Career Information Program Review (CIPR).

According to NAVPERS 15878K, CIPR focuses on areas dealing with Career Development Programs (CDP) and support systems at a command level.
Command career counselors play a large role in many of the CDPs inspected during CIPR such as the Career Waypoints (C-WAY) system.

According to http://public.navy.mil/bupers, the C-WAY system is a long-term force management tool used to balance manning across the rates by matching personnel inventory to the Navy's manning requirements.

"One of the things that they inspect is the command's C-WAY submissions and you have to have no fail-to-submits, which means we have to make sure that no Sailor in the entire command misses any C-WAY applications or looks," said Senior Chief Navy Counselor Nickole Palmore-Seay, a George Washington command career counselor. "With a command of about 3,000 people and four Navy counselors, that's a lot of work."

Command career counselors aren't the only members of the command that have a role in CIPR. The Educational Services Office is another contributor to the command's success in CIPR.

"The Educational Services Office team's role in CIPR is to provide statistics on the ship's advancement rate averages compared to the rest of the Navy and statistics on the command's Tuition Assistance and NCPASE (Navy College Program for Afloat College Education) course usage," said Ensign Brian Smith, the George Washington educational services officer.
"Many departments across the ship take part in this yearly review."

"Everyone plays a role because it's a command effort," said Master Chief Navy Counselor Ellis Picheloupe, a George Washington command career counselor. "Everyone has to come together to achieve a common goal."

Performing well in CIPR could result in awards or accommodations for the George Washington.

"If we do well on our assessment and meet all their requirements, we'll receive the retention excellence award as a command to keep our anchors painted gold for another year," said Picheloupe.

The crew of the George Washington stands inspection-ready due to the hard work and dedication of the Sailors in the command who serve to further the career of their shipmates through CDPs.

For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Commander, Submarine Forces, visit http://www.navy.mil/.