5VM V12... WTF?

For those of you who can't get enough of Navy acronyms and personnel programs, check out this propaganda release from NAVPERS:

"The Functional Integration Management department at Naval Personnel Development Command (NPDC) released Version 12 (V12) of the 5 Vector Model (5VM) in October.
"This latest version, available on Navy Knowledge Online (NKO), expands the capabilities of an Integrated Learning Environment (ILE) that incorporates existing training opportunities and task-based initiatives with "SkillObjects."

Fallen asleep yet? For those who've been out a few years, the "Five Vector Model" (or 5VM) is the latest Navy attempt to... well, I guess the latest attempt to provide fitrep bullet points for senior officers and enlisted who are no longer on the "fast track". It's supposed to be a new way of matching the right Sailor with the right job; as it is, the way they hope to track the "skills" a Sailor has will end up being an on-line version of the "PARS" cluster----. As far as helping win the War on Terror, it does keep some of these people who are developing it away from staffs where they might mess up the war, so it's doing its job in that way.

As XO of a training command, I got sucked into some meetings when they were first introducing it, and the room was full of O-5s and O-6s, with nary a command pin in sight. I could tell immediately that the whole project had "trainwreck" written all over it, but as you know, speeding trains have a lot of inertia.

So, has the project lived up to expectations? Let's see what the propaganda report says:

“Without question, many Sailors have had some frustrating experiences with their 5VM," he added, "but we have listened and will continue to listen to Sailor feedback and do everything we can to constantly improve upon the last iteration and make it more functional and more user friendly. Every Sailor needs to take the 5VM very seriously because in the future, the 5VM will be the primary tool for career management, and our Sailors have to be ready and able to take advantage of every opportunity.”

Yep, that's pretty much what I expected...