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Navy Restores Enlisted Ratings! |
WASHINGTON – The Navy is scrapping its decision to
eliminate dozens of enlisted sailors' job titles, including many that end
in "man," after hitting an onslaught of opposition from the force. The decision to drop long-held traditional titles
and instead refer to sailors by their rank was announced in September and
signaled a sharp cultural shift for the Navy. Three months later, after
hearing persistent complaints and questions from sailors around the world,
Navy leaders are going back to the drawing board. Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval
operations, said in a memo that modernizing the job ratings or titles was
designed to give sailors more flexibility in training and assignments.
Switching to names more understandable to the civilian world, Navy leaders
argued, would make it easier to get jobs once sailors left the service. But after hearing angry feedback from thousands of
sailors, Richardson said Navy leaders believe they can find a way to
provide better job flexibility without dropping the titles. "We have learned from you, and so effective
immediately, all rating names are restored," he said. The memo will be publicly released at 8 a.m.
Eastern time Wednesday, and sailors can expect to see correspondence from
Navy leaders. Richardson outlined what he called a "course
correction" in the memo, saying the Navy will continue to review ways to
update the names. "Modernizing our industrial-age personnel system in
order to provide sailors choice and flexibility still remains a priority
for us," he said. "We will need to tackle the issue of managing rating
names." The Navy called for a review of the titles in
January, shortly after the Pentagon ordered that all combat jobs would now
be open to women. The idea was to eliminate titles such as "chief yeoman,"
''corpsman" or "boatswain's mate" — titles steeped in tradition but
difficult for the public to translate or understand. Under the plan, sailors would be known by their
ranks, such as petty officer or chief. And job titles would be made more
gender-neutral. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who pushed the plan, said
at the time that he wanted titles to better convey the job a sailor is
doing. For example, few civilians know what a hospital
corpsman does, Mabus said in a June interview. A corpsman could be called
a medic or an emergency medical technician, much like "messman" was
previously changed to culinary specialist, he added. Sailors, however, protested the decision, launching
a White House petition and gaining some support from Capitol Hill. They
said that while they liked the idea of more flexibility, they wanted to
hold onto their traditional titles. It's unclear now whether the move to make titles
gender neutral will continue. Richardson said that sailors who want to provide
input can email their ideas to:
NavyRatingMod.fct@navy.mi Source: Associated Press: Dec. 20, 2016 |
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