More than 140 Reserve limited duty officers (LDO) and chief warrant officers (CWO) from multiple Reserve units and commands met for a four-day career development and training event at Joint Base Little Creek-Fort Story, April 27 to May 3.

"It has been four years since our last community-wide event and there have been enormous changes to the LDO/CWO program over that time," said Capt. James Elizares, Reserve LDO/CWO community leader. "Getting the word out to each member of the community, so they learn the facts about the status of our program and the long term career ramifications as it relates to them as individuals, has been a great challenge."

Guest speakers at the event included Vice Adm. Robin Braun, commander, Navy Reserve Force; Rear. Adm. Eric Coy Young, commander, Navy Reserve Forces Command; Rear Adm. Daniel MacDonnell, commander, Information Dominance Corps Reserve Command and Rear Adm. Kelvin Dixon, deputy commander, Navy Surface Force Atlantic, who talked to Sailors about programs and assignments, education and the value of the Reserve LDO/CWO community to the Navy.

According to Elizares, the event was especially significant to the Reserve Component (RC) LDO/CWO community as most RC LDO/CWOs will go through their entire commissioned career as an officer and never have the opportunity to serve in a unit with another LDO/CWO.

"Our community has put a very high priority on periodic 'face/face' gatherings where our officers can come together and receive essential training that will improve their effectiveness as both members of the overall wardroom, and especially as LDO/CWOs," said Elizares.

The event was developed to provide critical career development information, along with continuing education in leadership and professional growth. One focus of the event was to explain fleet expectations regarding technical relevancy, leadership, and wardroom advancement.

The RC LDO/CWO community is made up of officers from more than 20 different career fields ranging from surface deck boatswain's, sub-surface engineers, aviation maintenance, intelligence analysts, information professionals, security officers. Each of the career fields has a discreet career path, promotional opportunity, and chance for command.

"Being commissioned as an LDO/CWO brings with it a tremendous amount of responsibility to perform at a very high level from day one, and further throughout ones career," said Elizares. "A well trained LDO/CWO is truly a force multiplier that enables their subordinates, wardroom peers, and overall chain-of-command, to benefit from their leadership and achieve the mission objective."

The LDO/CWO community is a small but critical component of the fleet. The diversity of perspective and extensive operational experience that members of our community bring to the mission are invaluable to the success of the squadron, fleet commander and combatant commander."

For more news from Commander, Navy Reserve Force, visit www.navy.mil/.