The full-length photo in khakis is once again out of style.
Selection boards will no longer review these head-to-toe images of officers up for promotion, an addition the fleet was slow to adopt a decade ago, with many worried it would be used to sideline anyone who appeared overweight. To be sure, the photos will be required in an officer's record, but no longer for selection boards, the Navy announced Tuesday in NAVADMIN 186/16.
"In reviewing the Navy's board process, it was determined that the officer full-length photographs present redundant information to board members and do not provide significant value to the selection board process," said Lt. Cmdr. Jodie Cornell, spokeswoman for Navy Personnel Command. "While it will still remain a requirement to submit an officer photograph, we believe that by removing the officers' photographs from selection boards, it will allow board members to concentrate more fully on the individual's overall performance record."
It's been an interesting, nine-year run for the required images — color, 4-by-6-inch, three-quarter view, full-length photographs — which were re-introduced in 2007 to officer records and selection boards after a decade of absence.
In the photos, officers are required to stand against a plain, flat background and wear short-sleeved khakis with their left shoulder forward.
The Navy has removed the requirement that promotion boards will review full length photos of officers.
Photo Credit: U.S. Navy
Compliance was slow at first, and personnel officials as late as 2013 had to remind the officer corps the photos were mandatory and had to be re-submitted within three months of any promotion.
The Navy eliminated many photo studios on bases worldwide. Officials said it could be taken off-base as long as it was in the required format, with a solid white background. Officials said the photo would be used to assess military bearing, but many officers thought they'd be judged on their looks and physique rather than their accomplishments.
There has never been a similar requirement for enlisted to have their image attached to their service records. Several proposals over the years to require photos of chief petty officers have been shot down.
Cornell said processing updated pics during board season was an administrative pain for NPC, as well as officers required to submit them.
"Annually, the Navy receives approximately 10,000 officer full-length photographs. Last year the Navy received 1,800 photographs included in letters to the board," Cornell said. "We believe that eliminating the photograph requirement will lessen an administrative burden that does not provide significant value."
But eliminating them altogether wasn't an option, she said, stating the images still have a place in officer personnel records because they're used by detailers to assess an officer's appearance when evaluating nomination packages for special billets such as embassy duty and Pentagon staffs.
Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.
