The long exam nightmare is over for dozens of sailors who took their advancement tests onboard the guided-missile cruiser Antietam only to learn that their results got lost in the mail.
“The sheets were delivered and processed by Naval Education and Training Professional Development Center on Wednesday. Fifty-eight Antietam sailors were selected for advancement," said Naval Education and Training Command spokesman Cmdr. James D. Stockman in a Friday email to Navy Times.
On Thursday, the warship’s commanding officer, Capt. George A. Kessler Jr., took to the Antietam’s official Facebook page to announce all 58 sailors who made rate.
“A special note of thanks to the team at NETPDC,” added Kessler. “They expedited the grading, uploading, and publishing of the results. Their assistance as we worked through this issue was outstanding and I am grateful for their dedication and professional support.”
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It was a happy ending to a postal odyssey that should’ve ended at the Pensacola-based grading facility long before Nov. 20, when other commands worldwide began telling junior enlisted shipmates that they made the cut and were being advanced.
Instead, on Nov. 21 Kessler informed his sailors on Facebook that the exams seemed to have disappeared inside the military postal system.
He told them that they were received at the U.S. Army’s Camp Walker Post Office in Daegu, South Korea, but should have been shipped to the U.S. Air Force’s Osan Air Mobility Command on their way to Naval Education Training Professional Development Center in Florida.
On Nov. 22, Kessler reappeared on Facebook to say that Fleet Mail Center Yokosuka sent a team of postal clerks to Yokota Air Base to retrieve the lost exams, which then were sent by Express Mail service on Nov. 23 to Pensacola.
The problems with getting the parcel to Pensacola has triggered a rising chorus of critics asking why it took Navy officials so long to realize that the Antietam’s E-4 to E-6 results had been lost in the first place.
Formal Navy guidance to Education Service Officers cautions that both “the candidates and the commands anxiously await the examination results," which should be received by the commands about three months after candidates take the tests.
After sailors finish their exams, regulations require commands to forward all returns for each pay grade to NETPDTC by U.S. registered mail or government-contracted overnight delivery within seven working days.
Answer sheets and a report chronicling the destruction of extra forms must be posted to the same address by a letter of transmittal, according to the official Navy guidance.
It remains unclear how the Antietam’s command sent off the results and then monitored their progress through the postal system to guarantee the shipment arrived in Florida.
Naval Education and Training Command’s Stockman said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on what occurred before the results arrived in Florida. He pointed Navy Times to the Antietam’s chain of command in Japan.
Emails from Navy Times to 7th Fleet and Antietam officials were not answered on Friday, however.
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Now that the Antietam’s results have been received, processed, graded and published, a total of 22,279 sailors throughout the Navy moved up this cycle, about one out of every four who sat for the fall exams.
Here are all the selectees from the Antietam:
STG2 ADAMS KOURTNEY
CTT2 AYALA ALAN
CS3 BALAGTAS RAFAEL
CTT1 BLATCHFORD HALEY
GM3 BROADWELL DUANE
SH3 CAMACHO CHRISTOPHER
FC2 CAMPBELL ANGELIA
FCA2 CARNEY DONALD
CTM2 CLOUTIER JULIAN
FCA2 CURRAN RICHARD
CTR2 DAHLKE JACOB
FCA2 DELATORRE JAIRO
DC2 FONSECA ALFREDO
OS3 FRIZZELL MICHAEL
STG2 FURLONG ELIZABETH
GM3 GARZA JEFFREY
BM2 GILLILAN ANTHONY
BM3 GONZALEZ VICTOR
STG2 GUAJARDO JORGE
OS3 HAMAD BASIL
OS2 HERON DWIGHT
GSM2 HERR COURTNEY
ET2 HUTTO JACOB
FC2 JENKIN JOSHUA
ET2 JONES AUSTIN
LS3 JONES BRAXTON
OS1 LACY SHELDON
CTR2 MANZOSEXTON LEVI
STG2 MISSIG NATHAN
FCA2 MONTGOMERY CODY
DC3 POSADA BRIAN
GSM1 RAMOS MARCO
CS1 REY ROBERT
GSM2 ROARK EZRA
QM3 ROBINSON BERNARD
CTT2 RUMINER MATTHEW
FC2 SEWELL GARRETT
FCA2 SHAFE JOSHUA
GM1 SPANO MATTHEW
OS2 SQUIRES WILLIAM
FC2 SULLIVAN DALTON
FCA2 VILLAMIL JACLYN
IT2 WILCOX KYLE
FCA2 WILSON SAVANNAH
GSE2 WYNKOOP MICHAEL
IT2 ACEVEDOGONZALEZ FRANCISCO
OS1 ARROYO ANTONIO DEJESUS
DC1 BARNETT JAMES WILLIAM
GM2 BORKA MICHAEL
GM2 CRAIN PHILLIP
GSM3 DOUSE JULIUS
YN2 FLORES JOHN
GM1 FOX MARCOVINCENTE
GM2 FUENTES KRIZ
GM3 JACKSON JARED
IT3 MARSH KEGAN
HT3 NOON NOAH
GSE2 WILSON KENYATTA
Navy Times congratulates all the selectees!
Prine came to Navy Times after stints at the San Diego Union-Tribune and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He served in the Marine Corps and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. His awards include the Joseph Galloway Award for Distinguished Reporting on the military, a first prize from Investigative Reporters & Editors and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
