Later this year, nine enlisted sailors will head out for prestigious year-long internships with a range of Fortune 500 companies.
It is the first time enlisted will be participating in the Navy's new Navy Secretary Ray Mabus' Tours with Industry program, where participants will work a year-long stint at an esteemed company while earning their Navy pay and benefits.
The program is expanding in its second year, with has expanded in its second year, increasing opportunities from five lieutenants and lieutenant commanders in 2015 to 33 spots in 2016, along with enlisted sailors E-6 and above from throughout the Navy.
Individual spots are being selected by branch to best match up sailors with companies that need their talent. The list of enlisted spots, like that for officers, is broken down their service branch:
- Submarine force: Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Lockheed Martin.
- Surface force: UPS and Marotta.
- Aviation: Boeing, Amazon, Lockheed Martin and AT&T.
- Civil engineer corps: CH2M Hill.
The selection announcement comes a few months into the first round of tours, which sent two officers to FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee, and three to Amazon in Seattle.
Participants will spend roughly a year working in a management-level position at the selected company, while earning their standard Navy pay. The jobs also include a permanent change-of-station move if necessary.
Throughout the tour, sailors will provide monthly reports to Navy Personnel Command on what they've been working on. They will also be assigned to a local command to keep up to date with the physical fitness assessment and any other administrative issues.
When the tour is over, they'll receive fresh orders to a billet that will let them apply their new skills.
Top-performing sailors interested in signing up for the 2017 cycle must send a bio and letter of intent to their commands, who will pass the applications to Navy Personnel Command for selection.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
