Announcement of Advanced School Accelerated Online Seminars

1.  This message announces the creation of Advanced School Accelerated Online Seminars (ASAOS) to allow Marines to complete the required professional military education (PME) schools offered by the College of Enlisted Military Education (CEME) and the College of Distance Education and Training (CDET).
2.  COVID-19 is a Force Health Protection threat in regions where Department of Defense personnel live and work.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to assess the risk of COVID-19 and provide guidance for those residing in the United States and traveling abroad.  Per Reference J, Marine Corps University cancelled select classes hosted by CEME.  In an effort to allow Gunnery Sergeants the opportunity to complete their PME before the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Sergeant Major through Master Sergeant Selection Board convenes, the CEME and the CDET have partnered to offer ASAOS.
3.  For purposes of promotion and assignment, completion of a seminar is equivalent to completion of the associated school at a Staff Noncommissioned Officer Academy (SNCOA).
4.  Traditionally, these seminars meet once a week for 15 weeks.  In order to complete these seminars before the FY21 Sergeant Major through Master Sergeant Selection Board convenes, these accelerated seminars will meet twice weekly for approximately eight weeks.  This is an aggressive seminar program designed to meet educational promotion requirements in this unique time.  The program will consist of three fully scheduled work days for assignments, reading, and virtual collaboration.  Additional time, outside of these three work days, will be required to allow the student to read, reflect, submit and respond to asynchronous postings, and complete additional assignments.  Commanders and parent commands of Marines enrolled in ASAOS will be required to acknowledge that this course is their Marines primary duty for the duration of the course.
5.  Two waves of the ASAOS will be conducted.  Advanced School faculty from the Okinawa SNCOA will lead 3 seminars of 12 Marines each that will begin the week of 20 July 2020 and end the week of 7 September 2020.  These seminars are limited to Marines in the Far East.  A second wave of 5 seminars of 12 Marines each will begin the week of 10 August 2020 and end the week of 28 September 2020.  The second wave is open to Marines from all geographic regions.  Students will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.  However, commands are asked to prioritize Gunnery Sergeants and only submit nominations for those who are expected to be in or above zone for the FY21 Sergeant Major through Master Sergeant Selection Board.
6.  Coordinating Instructions.
6.A.  Course prerequisites include:  nominees must meet the Marine Corps Body Composition Program standards, have completed the associated prerequisite distance education program, EPME7000AA, on MarineNet and be endorsed by their commanding officer via the Command Screening Checklist.
6.B.  Course Registration.
6.B.1.  Registration packages, including a completed command screening checklist located at https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/CEME/Documents/Information/ASAOS.pdf?ver=2020-06-17-122336-863 must be sent to the CEME at CEME_WAIVERS@USMCU.EDU for enrollment in an online seminar.  This is the only form necessary and certifies that the unit understands the seminar is the primary place of duty of enrolled Marines, confirms they have the required computer and internet access, and provides students MarineNet IDs and contact information so they can be enrolled.
6.B.2.  As these seminars will be completed entirely online, duty status waiver requests are not required.
6.B.3.  Seats are limited.  Marines are encouraged to register as soon as possible.  Registration will close when all seminar seats have been filled.
7.  Amplifying Instructions.
7.A.  Travel Approval Request is not authorized for these seminar programs.
7.B.  All students require access to a computer and the internet while participating in a seminar program with word processing software that saves files in a .pdf or .docx format.
7.C.  ASAOS will be led by Faculty Advisors (FA) from the regional SNCOAs.  FAs will establish meeting days and times for their conference groups.  Every effort will be made to place Marines in conference groups that operate in time zones similar to the student, but that may not be possible in every case.
7.D.  When accepted in an AOS, FAs will email students at their personal email address.  Enrollees should monitor their inboxes as well as their spam/junk email boxes for coordinating information from FAs.
7.E.  As the CEME is observing minimal manning, email is the preferred method of communication.
8.  Released authorized by Major General William F. Mullen III, Commanding General, Marine Corps Training and Education Command.