Older Navy Junior Officers on PBS show "Carrier" (enlisted, deploy)

[OC Investor2]

I just watched the 10 part PBS reality show "Carrier" on Hulu.com. It follows the USS Nimitz on a 6 month deployment in 2005. (Check it out if you have'nt seen it, very well done).

One of the things that really struck me was the number of older junior officers on the ship. It seemed like most of the non-aviator O1's & O2's on the show were like mid 30 to early 40 year olds. Usually when I think of a ENS/LT I'm thinking early to mid 20 year olds. Is it common in the Navy to run into JO's who are in there 30's & 40's? Is this a recent change because of GWOT manpower demands? Not that there is anything wrong with it, it just cut against my stereotypre of JO's. Can any Navy folks provide perspective? Thanks

[North Beach Person]

We had a couple older (30+) senior enlisted in my AOCS class in 1980. They were slated for commissioning and going into Aviation Maintenance Duty Officer billets and not flying,

[Takes1 2 Know1]

It's pretty common, there were several aboard my second ship. One of them used to be a chief and then became an ensign, others (2) I have met have been first classes and became LTJGs. This was back in 1998.