Professional development of junior full-time support aerospace maintenance duty officers

MBA Professional ReportThis project utilizes the critical incident technique to identify professional knowledge gaps for junior full-time support (FTS) aerospace maintenance duty officers (AMDO) during their initial tours. The study seeks to remediate identified knowledge and experience gaps by utilizing principles from adult learning theory and knowledge management concepts, and through additional mentorship opportunities. I collected data from 14 officers through telephone interviews. I asked those interviewed to describe their experiences during their initial squadron tour as an FTS AMDO. The interviews focused on the following topics: Navy background and educational history, FTS redesignation process, initial expectation of the FTS AMDO community, professional training history, first FTS squadron assignment, experience as the maintenance material control officer in an FTS squadron, and recommendations for improvement within the FTS AMDO community. I collated the responses into critical incidents by their frequency and relevance. The critical incidents identified are a need for additional community information to prospective and newly selected officers, a need for a more robust mentorship program and a need for a means of knowledge management within the community. I have provided five recommendations to the FTS AMDO community to meet the needs discovered by this study.http://archive.org/details/professionaldeve1094556810Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy ReserveApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited