by Robin Lundberg, NAVAIR Public Affairs Office

Andrea Newborg joined the Navy to serve her country, see some of the world, and to try and find a suitable career. After enlisting she was eventually assigned to VF 101, an F-14 Tomcat fighter squadron.

Eventually she was assigned to NAVAIR Patuxent River as an Aviation Structural Mechanic (AM). However, this was not a position that suited her well and Newborg began entertaining thoughts of quitting. She spoke with the Navy Career Counselor (NCC) who suggested that she would be a good candidate for Navy Counselor (NC), something she was interested in. But Newborg was skeptical, "My previous experiences with career counselors didn't allow me to have much input about the jobs I'd be doing and I wasn't given much of a heads up about the opportunities I had when it came to re-enlisting."

However, this time it was different because of Project SAIL-Sailor Advocacy through Interactive Leadership. Project SAIL allowed Newborg to keep tabs on her status, plan for re-enlistment earlier, and have more input throughout the detailing process.

Project SAIL was implemented to help move the Navy toward a technology-enabled, Web-based, incentive-driven distribution system. Through the project, sailors play a more proactive role in the detailing system. Prior to an assignment, individual sailors are interviewed to determine their career goals, assignment preferences, and other relevant interests. Following the interview, the Command Retention Team, (which works closely with the detailer) helps to pair each sailor with a suitable job.

Project SAIL is already having an impact here at Patuxent River. Currently there are 45 individuals on the team-detailing list, and Newborg says these sailors are already benefiting.

"Project SAIL helps the detailer know what the sailors' want," she said. "There is improved communication with the detailer. It allowed the detailer to periodically check up on me throughout team detailing lists and it helps sailors keep their expectations realistic--that is why the team detailing portion of Project Sail is so great," she added.

Newborg adds that the project is also helpful because it allows sailors to think about and plan for detailing much sooner than they had been able to previously. "You get a three months heads up," she said.
"The detailing window is nine months but now sailor's can start thinking about it more than a year in advance."

Debora Cook, Command Career Counselor for VX-1, said the success of the project so far comes with no small contribution from the Enhanced Job Advertisement and Selection System (Super JASS). Super JASS is a Web-based system that displays all billets available to sailors. These billets are then organized into three categories: red, green, and amber. The red screen contains positions that fill within one to five months, while the green screen displays the full range of priority assignments that fill in six to nine months. The amber screen displays all jobs available to sailors re-enlisting that are not included on the red or green screens.

Cook believes Super JASS has offered a wider choice of career enhancing jobs for each sailor. "Super JASS is a new way to get orders, there are no hidden orders," she said. "It really puts all the information out there; the computer aspect has really made things much easier."

As Project SAIL continues to mature changes will be made to make it more efficient so it can continually allow sailors to take initiative both at Patuxent River and across the Navy. To see the contributions the program has already made, one needs look no further then Andrea Newborg.

Newborg recently got the position of her choice and will soon be transferring to Norfolk, Va., the location that she wanted to go to. Project SAIL has changed her outlook on her job and helped her find the niche she has sought since joining the Navy.

"As an NC1, I'm going to an aircraft carrier and doing a job I enjoy and therefore doing it better and having some pride and satisfaction in what I'm doing," she said, "making the Navy more than just a job for me and turning it into a career I can be enthusiastic about."

Photo by Vicky Falcón, NAVAIR Public Affairs Office

Photo Caption: NC1 Andrea Newborg researches aircrew opportunities through JASS for a sailor she is career counseling by phone.