Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog

What Is It Like To Be an XO?

Posted on May 2, 2024 Updated on May 1, 2024

BLUF – You will have a wild range of emotions, experiences, and hours, which in the end will probably be worth it.

I was the Executive Officer (XO) at Portsmouth for 2 years and 2 months. Technically, I was not an XO but a Deputy Commander (DCOM) because we had a subordinate command (Expeditionary Medical Facility-Juliet), but most people still called me “XO”. To give you some idea of the scale, Portsmouth had about 5,500 people, 150 staffed inpatient beds, 10 outlying clinics, and 30 training programs with a budget of $550M. It is among the largest military treatment facilities (MTFs). Experiences at small to medium-sized places and non-MTFs will certainly vary.

The Hours

Unless you are TAD or on leave and have an Acting XO, you are always on duty as an XO. You never know when something may happen that you have to deal with.

Monday through Friday, you are at work. My actual hours depended on what was going on and was largely driven by my Commander, but they ranged from Monday through Friday from 0600-1830 to 0700-1500. I pretty much always spent 8 hours at work every day, but would occasionally have 13 hour days. If your Commander is more intense and spends more time at work, so will you. If they are more laid back, you’ll probably spend less time at work.

I found it most convenient to work out in the early AM before I came to work, but if I wanted to clear white space to workout while at work I imagine I could have. There really are only a few people that can affect your schedule when you are an XO, and you are largely in charge of how you want to run it.

After those work hours, I would go home and eat dinner. I nearly always would check my e-mail at night before I went to bed, usually only on my phone. I rarely had to VPN in at night.

On weekends, I would always check my e-mail at least once a day. I would also get periodic text messages or phone calls I had to deal with whenever something happened. It could be a facilities problem, questions about an inpatient unit going on divert, a problem dispositioning a patient, a request for permission to transfer someone in an unusual situation, or just about anything. Sometimes I would have FITREPs or EVALs, instructions, or other documents I had to review on the weekend. Some work weeks were a survival exercise, and I needed Saturday to catch up.

On my first night as an XO, I got 27 text messages. That was the first and last night I kept text message alerts on. From then on, my team knew that between 2100-0500 they needed to call if they wanted me. Otherwise, I would respond to texts when I woke up in the AM. I only received one emergent phone call that I remember in two years.

Overall, you will have a lot of control over your schedule, but hours can get long and you are always on duty unless you have an Acting XO. Don’t apply for XO unless you are ready for some long days and weekend fires that need to be put out.

The Experience

You are the XO, and you will have massive impacts on people’s lives. This is what makes the job rewarding. You can mentor, lead, admonish, hold people accountable, lay down the law, enforce policy, give exceptions to policy, set policy, swing the hammer of justice at Executive Officer Inquiry (XOI), deliver bad news, deliver great news, make sure things get done, decide what not to do, and all other sorts of things. An effective XO can dramatically improve the lives of those who work for you and your command. An ineffective XO can have the same negative effect. I think I was effective and made a largely positive impact, but ask the people who worked for me and see what they think if you really want to know. They are the judge and jury of how I did.

You become an XO because you want to lead people. If you don’t want to lead people and make hard decisions, I don’t know why you’d apply.

Things You Never Thought About Will Drive You Crazy

I have never thought more about pipes, generators, HVAC units, weather, temperature, humidity, or water. Leading people is a challenge, but it really was facilities that kept me on my toes. In a facility as large as Portsmouth, the physical building and all its associated challenges were the biggest headaches of being an XO. Luckily, I had excellent leaders in the facilities department. If I didn’t, it would have been VERY ROUGH. A good DFA and facilities manager are indispensable. If you don’t have competent people in these areas, you will need to train them ASAP. If they are untrainable, you will need to do something about it.

You Are a VIP!

You are a VIP, and you will be expected to act like it. People will stand when you enter the room. Your personal appearance and behavior will need to conform with standards. If you violate a policy, someone will know. You will be invited to and expected to attend many ceremonial events. You will have to serve as the MC and speak publicly numerous times. You will need every type of uniform. During my XO tour, I wore them all. This also means I had to purchase the ones I didn’t have, which was expensive, but my wife’s a doctor…

If you don’t want to be a VIP, don’t apply to be an XO.

The Bottom Line

You become an XO because you want to lead people. You will experience a range of emotions while doing so, and you will spend more time worried about facilities than you imagined. There will be some “get out of the Navy” days and weeks (as I call them), but the impact you can make will make those the minority of the days/weeks. It will likely be the most professionally challenging tour you’ve had, but also the most rewarding. You might not realize how rewarding it has been until it is over.

If you are up for the challenge, apply.