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Government.
As a PN, you have the same
responsibility for keeping each member’s service
record up to date.
COMPLETENESS OF SERVICE RECORDS
Making sure each service record is complete and
accurate is an important job. Let’s consider the case of
RMSN Pistol. RMSN Pistol recently graduated from
class A school and reported to his first duty station
aboard a ship that happens to be the same ship you are
on. After being on board for 6 months, he becomes
time-in-rate eligible to participate for advancement to
RM3. A few weeks before the Navywide advancement
examination date, you review the time-in-rate
eligibility/advancement requirements listing prepared
by your command and discover that the list does not
show RMSN Pistol as having completed any of the
advancement requirements.
You immediately interview RMSN Pistol. He
assures you he completed all the prerequisites for
advancement before he left class A school. He also tells
you that he assumed all entries had been made in his
service record because the PN in the personnel support
detachment’s (PERSUPPDET’s) educational services
office (ESO) promised him this would be done.
When you communicate with the PERSUPPDET
that transferred Pistol to your command, you learn that
the PN who was supposed to have made the entries in
Pistol’s service record has already been transferred
overseas, You are also told that the PERSUPPDET, as
a matter of policy, does not keep any records of
completed advancement requirements after the entries
are made in the service records. You are also informed
that no advancement requirement entries are on file for
RMSN Pistol.
You subsequently inform RMSN Pistol. As would
be expected of any sailor who completed the
requirements for advancement and then finds out no
entries were made, Pistol is outraged. He blames all
PNs for what happened and says they are all the same.
He tells you he is going to put in a request chit to see the
CO to complain.
Fortunately, you are able to calm Pistol down and
explain to him that he still has time to complete the
requirements.
You assure him that he really has no
other choice.
He eventually requalifies for
advancement and is allowed to take the advancement
exam for RM3.
This mistake never should have happened. After
initially completing the advancement requirements,
Pistol should have checked his service record to make
sure all the entries were made. Of course, Pistol should
have definitely done this before he transferred, but
because of his lack of experience in the Navy and his
trust in the PN who was supposed to make the
appropriate entries, he did not check his service record.
Of course, the PN in the ESO of the PERSUPPDET
should have made certain Pistol’s service record entries
were made, but he failed to keep his promise. Of course,
the transfers’ PN also should have checked Pistol’s
service record because it was her job to do so and was
even part of the normal check-out procedure, but she
failed to follow through. There were several
opportunities for this mistake to be discovered and
corrected, but it was not. Do you understand the mess
RMSN Pistol had to deal with because of all this?
What happened to RMSN Pistol could happen to
any enlisted service member. Do you see why the
entries in every member’s service record should be
accurate and up to date? This is why you, the PN—the
one who maintains the enlisted service records-should
always make sure you maintain these records properly,
completely, and accurately. If during the reporting
interview or while doing periodic service record
verifications, you discover errors in an individual’s
service record, do not allow these discrepancies to
continue. Fix them on the spot. If you do not know how
to fix them, ask your supervisor. He or she will know
what to do or will help you find the answer.
ACCURACY OF SERVICE RECORDS
As well as being complete, the information in each
member’s service record must also be accurate. In
Pistol’s case, the service record was incomplete. As an
example of what can happen because of inaccurate
information in a member’s service record, let’s look at
the case of Chief Petty Officer Frost.
CPO Frost had recently reported for duty to your
ship, home-ported at Naval Station, San Diego,
California. Frost was an admirable and enviable
individual who had accomplished many achievements
during his 14-year naval career. His record was
impeccable. A few months after reporting for duty to
your ship, Frost was rumored to be having marital
problems and was in the process of getting a divorce.
You were told by your chief that Frost would soon
come to the personnel office to change his page 2,
NAVPERS 1070/602, and his Servicemen’s Group Life
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