Posted on 12/20/2016 8:01:34 PM PST by US Navy Vet
Navy leaders are reversing their controversial decision to eliminate sailors’ ratings and will restore job titles across the fleet, according to a Navy message set for release Wednesday.
Effective immediately, enlisted sailors will officially regain their ratings, the traditional job titles that have inspired a deep cultural loyalty and that have defined enlisted career tracks for generations, Navy officials said.
The move comes three months after the Navy stunned sailors around the world in September by eliminated ratings titles, including those such as boatswain’s mate that dated back to the founding of the service.
The extraordinarily rare move comes after a fierce backlash from the fleet that became a distraction from the Navy's broader effort to reform the antiquated personnel system, Navy officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at navytimes.com ...
Exactly!
By reversing the policy, the Navy bitch slapped Obama and destroyed a legacy chunk while he still is in office
The political officer in charge was locked in his closet to prevent premature retaliation
I’m surprised that the PC police have never gone after the rank of “Chief” for being an afront to Native Americans.
Excellent!
Just like the Amnesty bucket before a barracks inspection. What is in the bucket does not get anyone in trouble.
What is in the trash before Trump gets there is forgotten.
LoL! I had forgotten about that boondoggle. Rear Admiral Lower Half demoted to Commodore. Captains (i.e. Wing Commodores, etc.) demoted to Captain. Squeals could be heard from sea to shining sea! Will they never learn?
More Trump induced winning.
My bro said the woman on her ship did just about every sailor. Terrible distraction. She had a brain....big deal...Nobody was after her brain.
Meh, we all pay for your precious Navy, so we have a right to comment too.
I hear you. My father was career US Navy.
So, you're one of those fatalists who believes the great American Experiment is already dead, huh?
What was the point of voting in Trump, if that's the case?
What's the point of Free Republic, if that's the case?
What's the point of you posting here?
What's the point of drawing breath?
Sheesh...
LOL
Rumor has it that it was a death penalty in some cases, and rightly so. Feed the faggots to the sharks.
Seriously, bud. Were you just messin with me? That comment really got me wound up.
I shared an apartment with a BM3 buddy he called it a whistle LOL. The term piping also comes to mind the actual call and announcement to follow. All I know for certain is when I got onboard ship in early 77 they were not to be heard anywhere. We came back off a 77-78 Med Sea cruise and were hearing them while in the yards.
We had it and no one got hurt nor assaulted. It has several purposes. One it is or rather was a long standing tradition. Another is the work "snipes" had to do was work in grease including climbing in bilges which contained everything from DFM to whatever. It got a greenhorn over the reluctance to get dirty and greasy beyond that of even a coal miner. The work no matter how greasy and dirty didn't bother you anymore after that. The Shellback initiation I went through was rougher and more weird especially kissing the Royal Baby Belly and crawling through the galley's grease saved the past couple weeks that was some rancid stuff.
What we would do greasing somebody was get the shop together and hang someone by their feet from a pipe with legs tied and several guys holding the persons arms and head to ensure no one got injured. They pulled the pants down maybe skivvies, inserted several hands full of graphite grease into the Crotch Of Their Clothing and pulled them back up nice and tight and released the person. No one got hurt. Total time less than a minute. Yeah the person was pissed while it was going on but later on after washing it off they were fine. Next greenhorn that came in the one just greased earlier helped get the next guy.
You'll always find exceptions to any initiation ritual where persons get out of control and yes those should be punished. We considered guys in our shop our friends and shipmates. Actually the worst part wasn't the greasing. It was kinda like the rumor in Basic about the square needle LOL. The worrying about it was far worse especially having you name on the PMS board as a piece of equipment with a Grease coding beside it M-1 IIRC. Only major screwups who kept the shop in trouble ever got greased again.
When I was in the Army NG all I had was a 2/278th ACR patch on my arm and a Spec 4 insignia. No one knew what I did. 2/278th ACR covered a lot of ground. My units main MOS was 13-B Cannon Infantry because we were a Howitzer Battery but we had some communications guys, mechanics, and like me truck drives and ammo handlers.
The rate insignia wasn't critical in addressing someone. MM3 Jones could be addressed correctly as Petty Officer Jones. Chiefs {E-7 - E-9} wore a different uniform they wore khakis and had a fouled anchor insignia easy to recognize calling them Chief was as acceptable as calling a First Sargent in the Army "Top". Persons with no Crow as we called the Petty Officer insignia were E-3 and below. Everyones name was on their uniform so to an E-3 "Jones, grab the paint and return it to the gear locker" was acceptable. Actually from E-1 - E-6 simply saying the persons last name was acceptable as well. My E-6 I called him by his last name like "Hey Smith, where are the clamps at". Only formal dress blues or working dress blues or whites had the persons rating on them.
with an E-3 and below their rate insignia for their dress uniform was simple white, red, or green stripes and if they had passed their ratings test or attended a Class A school it would also have their rating underneath it. Most recruits arrive on ship what is called a Non Rated E-1 or E-2. They can then "Strike" study and test for a rating. But in the mean time they will be assigned by their department head to a division and do general labor. A Fireman Non Rate went to the Chief Engineer and he usually placed them in the Boiler Rooms. A Seaman Non Rate went to Deck Department or Supply usually. An Airman went to Air Dept. E-1 - E-3 in all departments got the flunky work.
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