In the Navy, we've got many bureaucratic systems doing many bureaucratic system things.
One of those systems is Billet Based Distribution (BBD), and it aims to get the right Sailors assigned to the right commands falling under (ideally) the right billet/skillset.
Given the small size of my current command assignment, I figured I'd do what I can to help the Sailors I've got while I can.
Most of them are dead set on getting out (and do so within the next year), so they're automatically not candidates for getting into these schools.
I tried to get my IT1 into the Network Security Vulnerability Technician (NSVT) course.
Denied because he was lacking the 746A (System Administrator) NEC. But they say I could route the waiver request and he might be able to get in. Figure I'd give it a shot, only to realize I have no idea where these damn things need to get routed. So I reach out to the contacts that I do know for any insight they could get, and I finally get in touch with an ITCM in the chain.
Apparently the odds of the course prerequisite being waived was unlikely to happen since without any networking background in the folks I do want to submit, passing the course would be a longshot.
It was then recommended I enroll them into the 746A course, and then into 742A (NSVT).
Though I still want to help them out, a massive barrier now stands between me and success:
746A is a course that spans 124 days.
742A is a course that spans 35 days.
That means that in the pursuit of getting a single course that we need to have here as a billet, I'd need to essentially give my guys half-year vacations to schools.
Given the workload we've got now, I'm still behind that, but it's a tough sell.
Especially since both courses are courses detailers typically use to entice people into reenlisting for en route to their next command.
...
I love me some bureaucracy, but only when it's handled well.
Which is one of the main reasons I've got to call it quits after this tour.