Is any board you walk away from a "good one"?

[BMC Matthew James]

So I was waiting for the actual Memo to show up so I could scan it and post it as a sort of trophy, but I wanted to take a second and express my gratitude to all of you who provided me guidance and motivation leading up to the Spring OINC boards. I was successful and earned my MM Afloat and Ashore certifications.

Here's my question...I was not personnaly very pleased with my performance at the district board and would not have been shocked if they had given me a "close, but not quite there". When I debriefed with some of my mentors, they had similar experiences. Is this common? I don't ever want to repeat that experience, but I can't help but wish I had another shot to blow the board out of the room with what I know.

Thoughts? Thanks again shipmates. I'm looking forward to screening this summer and doing the peple's business.

MDJ

[BMCM Bruce Bradley]

Matt congrats on the board. From my experiences on both sides of the table is that your gut feelings are normal. The ones who come back in thinking that they "blew to board away" are usually sent away. And in truth you are always harder on yourself and the review board pressure doesn't help that. After all it is only a couple of hours that determine your rating future. No pressure there.

Be worried about your performance once you get selected for the big chair, that's where it really matters. In truth RFC should be a 4 letter word you never want to hear.

[BMCM Deane Smith]

Matthew...Congratulations!

Don't worry about feeling like you didn't do well, that's a natural feeling to any of those type of experiences. Instead of wishing you could go back and blow the board out of the room...just put that energy into blowing your OIC assignments out of the room!

Congratulations again!

[BMCM Stuart S. Slesh]

Matt, congrats,
I think even the people that blew the board away felt they could have done better, just as the people that were told they were close felt they should have been given the benefit of the doubt.
I do think any board you walk away from should be viewed as a good one. If you certified with enough to advance, the board is a great one. The people that don't certify should walk away with enough to get them through the next time.
The only bad boards you walk away from are the ones that give you feedback that doesn't fit. Those where they're telling you to work on areas that they didn't even ask you about. The ones that tell you to come back after you advance. The ones that tell you that you've answered all the questions, but you need more experience.......

[BMC Nicholas George]

The ones that tell you that you've answered all the questions, but you need more experience.......

Hmmm.... that sounds familiar...:mad:

[BMC Jason Olsen]

Matt,
Congratulations! I got the rest of mine this spring. So are you going to screen for AY10?

Jason

[BMC Seth Tomas]

Hmmm.... that sounds familiar...:mad:

Is that what you were told?? Ridiculous...... :mad:

[CWO Chris Sparkman (BMC)]

Matt,
First off congrats. In regards to your question:

When I debriefed with some of my mentors, they had similar experiences. Is this common?

In my opinion, YES. Very common. When I was asked to come back in, I was in the "oh man, here it comes mindset". "you did pretty good, but you are not quite there yet". The old "we expect to see you back for the next one".

I was pleasantly relieved when I got the thumbs up! I got out of there as soon as I could and did not look back:D

One of the toughest and most rewarding boards in our service.

cs

[BMC Matthew James]

You're right about not looking back...I think I left burn marks on the carpet!!

MJ