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CHAPTER 2
NAVY ENLISTED OCCUPATIONS
Most people think of ships when they think about
the Navy. While ships are certainly a distinguishable
part of the Navy, they alone do not makeup the whole
Navy. The Navy is composed of thousands of men and
women who perform numerous professional and
occupational functions in a variety of duty stations,
including ships, submarines, aircraft squadrons, and
shore stations throughout the world. Before we discuss
the different functions performed by our Navy
personnel, let’s take a brief look at what might happen
when a person first enters the Navy.
Upon entering the Navy, an individual is sent to a
recruit training center.
From recruit training, the
individual may or may not be sent to receive formal
training for a particular job or rating. Whether or not an
individual is sent to formal training will depend on the
individual’s test scores and the Navy’s manning
requirements.
Chapter 7 of the Enlisted Transfer
Manual (ENLTRANSMAN), NAVPERS 15909,
indicates that recruits are assigned to a class A school by
the Deputy, Chief of Naval Personnel (BUPERS).
Based on BUPERS established standards, however,
some recruits are granted an Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test score waiver for
assignment to a class A school. So, a person’s ASVAB
test scores may be a significant factor in determining
whether or not this person is sent to a Navy A school or
assigned to on-the-job training (OJT) in one of the
apprenticeship rates.
Today’s Navy requires the work of many experts in
many fields. In regard to enlisted personnel, the Navy
consists of 70 different occupations. Keep in mind that
as ratings merge, combine and/or are no longer needed,
the number of occupations will decrease. These
occupations are known within the Navy as ratings. As
a Personnelman (PN), you belong to one of the Navy’s
customer service ratings. Because your customers will
represent many different ratings and paygrades, you
must be able to recognize and know something about
each Navy enlisted rating.
In this chapter we will focus our attention on the
various occupational fields that are represented by the
Navy’s enlisted ratings. In our discussion we will also
look at the basic rating and paygrade structure for the
Navy’s enlisted ratings and some of the special
qualifications associated with specific ratings. After
reading the information in this chapter, you should be
able to identify the Navy’s enlisted personnel structure
and recognize some characteristics and requirements of
each enlisted Navy rating.
PAYGRADE STRUCTURE
According to the Department of Defense Financial
Management Regulation (DODFMR), Military Pay,
Policy, and Procedures, Volume 7, part A, DOD
7000.14-R, members of the U.S. Armed Forces are
entitled to receive pay according to their paygrades and
years of service, if they are on active duty in a pay status
and not prohibited by law from receiving such pay.
Many years ago, Congress passed the Uniform Services
Pay Act to guarantee this entitlement by bringing the
paygrade levels of all branches of the U.S. Armed
Forces into alignment.
STANDARDIZATION
The Uniform Services Pay Act was the first
legislative action to establish regular, consistent
paygrade levels within the enlisted personnel structure,
regardless of the specific branch of military service.
Study figure 2-1 and compare the paygrades for enlisted
members of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and
Air Force. Notice, for example, how a Navy petty
officer first class is in the same paygrade as a staff
sergeant in the Marine Corps, a technical sergeant in the
Air Force, and a staff sergeant in the Army. For all these
personnel, the paygrade is E-6. The letter E signifies
that the member is enlisted; the number 6 identifies the
member’s numerical step or seniority within the enlisted
personnel structure.
TITLES AND ABBREVIATIONS
From your study of the basic military requirements,
you will likely remember several common terms
associated with the Navy’s enlisted paygrade structure.
For example, all Navy personnel below the grade of
warrant officer are referred to as enlisted personnel. The
Navy’s enlisted personnel are distributed among the
various levels within the enlisted paygrade structure.
2-1
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