The director of the U.S. Navy Senior Enlisted Academy (SEA) met the with the San Antonio chief petty officers to discuss recent changes to the academy program, Sept. 23.

Command Master Chief Rich Curtis said his Navy Medicine Education and Training Command (NMETC) sponsored visit was part of a 10-city, 24-day whirlwind tour of fleet-concentration areas to answer questions and clear up misconceptions about the SEA's new format.

"I don't want any myths or rumors about the changes to the academy. Come hear it from the horse's mouth," Curtis said, referring to the new "9-3 hybrid-model class."

The SEA switched from a 6-week in-residence program to the new 9-3 hybrid model when academy graduation became a requirement for advancement to master chief petty officer in November 2014.

The first nine weeks of class are now completed on-line before travelling to the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, for the final three weeks of in-residence classes. The 9-3 hybrid-model allows for more quotas per year to accommodate the anticipated increased student numbers.

But the SEA is much more than a requirement for master chief. Curtis, the director since February 2015, said it helps the CPO community better bridge the gap between junior enlisted and officers.

"We're told as CPOs to train those above us, and train those below us," he said.

To help bridge that gap, the Senior Enlisted Academy is open to chief, senior chief and master chief petty officers. There are also seats available for senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) from other U.S. military services and foreign allied services.

The academy emphasis is on leadership and communication. Curtis said the communication emphasis is because it's essential for CPOs to communicate clearly and appropriately with officers, senior leaders and junior enlisted personnel. Junior troops also want to know why, so the SEA teaches CPOs to explain some of the why.

"When a junior enlisted asks, 'Why are we worried about China, or why are we in the Middle East, or why are deployments this long,' they are able to answer that why and bridge that gap. We build better leaders and better communicators," Curtis explained.

Academy graduates also learn to develop and present formal speeches and senior-executive-level briefings to commanding officers and flag officers. And they are taught social media awareness and use as a leadership tool.

Curtis, a former submarine radioman who worked with Navy message traffic, explained that he receives more emails in an hour than a CPO in the early 1990s received in written "snail mail" in a year. Formal Navy message traffic was then the primary means of communication for the fleet. It was a secure, structured, non-grammatically correct method where style was not as important.

"Today, when I write a paper or an email, I have to be conscious of my audience," he said.

He also said CPOs must be aware of the non-intended audience, referring to social media's viral effect where countless people could obtain and read the material.

"If it's not articulated correctly, if it's not written grammatically correct, if it's not written with some education and structure, then what are you as a senior enlisted saying about yourself?"

Chief Hospital Corpsman Alma Dubois was one of the San Antonio-based CPOs who attended the presentation. She said her takeaway was "hope."

A Hospital Corps "A" School instructor, Dubois said, "I had pretty much assumed the program was closed off to chiefs. But I now know that chiefs can actually get in. I also got re-energized about furthering my career. For me, the Senior Enlisted Academy is about getting more guidance and mentorship from leaders who have been there, done that. It's all about giving back to the junior enlisted and helping them along the way."

While the course structure of the Senior Enlisted Academy has changed, little else has.

"Be prepared to put forth effort," Curtis said. "The academy is a once in a career opportunity. If you always look at it as the academy isn't this or the academy isn't that, then you'll miss the message. I always tell the students, 'It's not what the academy isn't. It's what the academy is, and that's what you'll get out of it.'"


For more news from Navy Medicine Education and Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.