Limited Duty Officer (LDO)
The Motivation, the Process, the End-State Goal in Becoming a Mustang
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
I have been commissioned for a little over eight years, and over the years, I have met with plenty of those Sailors who mention in passing that they think about applying for LDO. I can honestly say I have talked to over 100 Sailors stating they want to be an LDO. Unfortunately, only 13 of them have followed through and submitted an officer package. All 13 were selected! I bring this up for the reason to remind you that many Sailors want to achieve those goals, except many of those same Sailors do not want to put in the effort to meet those goals. If the case was that easy, everyone would be an LDO.
So how long have you been thinking about this goal? Some of you have been thinking about this goal since boot camp, some of you may have started looking into this program since you were an E-5, some of you just started when you picked up this book. Does it matter? I believe it does, for two simple reasons, the longer the timeframe, the more homework you have done on this program and the better prepared you will be. Second, the more iterations or drafts of the application you have completed, the more errors you will catch and the better finished product you will have.
I have seen some Sailors submit their applications within a three month timeframe of working on the application and they are selected, but if you are like me, you have to work on your application for years. Sounds crazy huh! The reason I worked on it for so long was that I did not want to give the board an excuse to tell me “NO”! As a matter of fact, I wanted to make sure all my ducks were in a row and that there was no doubt I was selected the first year I applied. I felt so confident, I had purchased my butter bars the day I submitted my application. I knew the program in and out, received very little guidance until weeks before I submitted the application, and no matter what was against me, I knew the Lord was with me so who could possibly defeat me. I will be honest with you and the day I became serious in wanting to be an officer was the day I selected for Petty Officer Second Class. When my peers called me and asked me to go out with them to some local bars and celebrate the advancement results, my answer was simply telling them I was going to start working on my LDO package. They thought of me as this looney tune Sailor who was letting this advancement get to my head. I was just thinking of all these famous athletes as that was the best analogy I could come up with. Did Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Nolan Ryan all become overnight sensations. No, they worked over time to become the athletes they were destined to be. I was simply looking at it in these terms as well. When someone is passionate about a certain topic, occupation, a sport, or even a hobby, they are going to excel, why because they are passionate about that specific item; and if you happen to fail at what you are passionate about, you will get back up and make sure you succeed. What happens when you are not really passionate about said topic? It’s a 50/50 situation and if you fail, you just put that behind you and continue onto the next topic or item you wish to achieve, hopefully becoming an LDO is a topic you are deeply passionate about.
Okay, you are ready or are you? In the following pages I will be talking about different parts of the applications process. Getting to this point in your career is a big step in what you really want out of your career. To some applicants, this may seem like the most difficult obstacle you will be encountering, while others the application process will seem rather easy. None the less, it will be a lengthy process that may take 16 months or like me it took 26 months from start to finish. That’s right, I took the Chief’s exam for LDO purposes in January 2007, submitted my application in October 2007, notified in February 2008 that I was selected and was finally commissioned in February 2009. That’s a long time, but if you stay consistent and persistent with the application, you yourself will be wearing those butter bars soon enough. In order to get this through your heads, some of you will talk about submitting an application for a long portion of your career and will never finish the process. I have met plenty of Sailors who fell under this situation and one of the reasons I wrote this book is to prevent from this happening as much as possible and to motivate you in ensuring you do submit the application. Don’t be one of those Sailors who never submits an application and just talks about it. If you are falling into this category where your timeframe to submit an application is starting to decrease, read the rest of this book which will help motivate you and provide you tips in order to ease the application process.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
So why do they call limited duty officers in the U.S. Navy “mustangs?”
That’s because mustangs are wild horses that are hard to tame, and even when they are broken, you have to be careful because at any time, they can revert to their old, wild ways.
LDOs come from the enlisted ranks but have crossed over to become commissioned officers, which requires them to adapt to a new lifestyle and perform accordingly—something the author, Lt. Roel “Ro” Rosalez—learned firsthand.
He writes from the perspective of a man who was struggling to make ends meet and who wanted to provide for his family. In sharing his struggle, he explains what you need to focus on when trying to stand out as a candidate, how to fill out the application, and how to present yourself in a manner that improves your chance of success.
Don’t be one of those sailors who always dreamed of becoming an LDO but who never applied. Find the motivation you need to advance, and make a successful leap with the guidance in Limited Duty Officer.
About the Author
Lieutenant Roel “Ro” Rosalez, MJA, hails from Port Isabel, Texas, and has more than eighteen years of military police experience in operations, criminal investigations, protective services, and as a security director. He also has three years of civilian police experience and is a certified police officer in Mississippi. He earned a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice from Park University, a master’s degree in justice administration from Norwich University, and graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy, Session 261.