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Question about navy jobs


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My uncle, the late Master Chief Boatswains Mate John D. Perry, was also a diver and SeaBee, maybe something to do with gunnery also.  BB55 was his first ship, the North Carolina. To get to diver school and Seabee school, is that something you do as a reenlistment request?

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One could make that part of a reenlistment but it is also up to the needs of the Navy or the Command.

 

Boatswain’s Mates can be divers if the Command needs divers for various reasons. The same goes for other ratings. In the case of Boatswains it would more than likely be for inspecting the ship’s hull. Having a qualified diver aboard is a big plus, regardless of rating. Many divers also get the BUDS (underwater demolition) training, but that isn’t necessary for all.

 

Boatswain’s Mates have been attached to Seabee companies for everything from ferrying construction equipment from ship to shore to actually helping to build infrastructure that the Navy or the Marines need for their mission.

 

Boatswain’s Mates used to work hand in hand with Gunner’s Mates on gun crews many years ago, especially aboard battle ships and heavy cruisers.

 

It sounds like your Uncle was quite a guy.  :) :FlagAm:

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38 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

 

It sounds like your Uncle was quite a guy.  :) :FlagAm:

Well, John told a few stories....

 

one time when his Cruiser pulled into Guam, he ordered the helicopter blades taken ashore for whatever maintenance they needed.  He came back and found out it wasn’t being done because the Major in the Marine detachment ordered that the blades on the Marine choppers go first. Well, O5 vs E9.  John discovered the elevators were overdue for maintenance and the marines had to lug their blades up the ladders (is that what the stairs are called?).

 

Another story was about the Marine detachment’s alcohol chest.  They would open it and drink a toast. My impression from what he said was it had mementoes of the units past.  Well one time at sea it “disappeared”.  No Marine ever said anything but John saw Marines looking everywhere in the ship. Movement like that can’t escape the eye of a Master Chief.  After a time the chest returned home.  From then on there were two marines assigned to guard it 24/7.

 

john, second of nine uncles.

 

oh, 29 years 9 months in the Navy.  Retired from San Diego Training Center before retirement benefits were reduced to exclude the housing benefit.

 

there are other stories...

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Boatswain Mate is a rate (job), as such one can be assigned most anywhere in the Navy - any ship, beach master units (SeaBees), small boat units, etc. And a lot of shore commands.  Onboard ships BMs are responsible for all the equipment required to anchor or otherwise moor the ship. They are also responsible for most of the preservation of the exterior. 

 

Until recently, diver was also a job that pulled from the various rates. As a diver, you would still have to compete against your fellow BMs to make rate, even if they weren't divers (it was the same for SEALs). A person would have to join the Navy in a rate that could then volunteer to be a diver, complete that school, pass the diver qualification tests and then go to dive school (Panama City, FL).

 

SeaBee is not a rate but a group of rates that includes builders, equipment operators, construction electricians, etc. A BM can be assigned to a SeaBee as a boat coxswain. 

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Ahh, a couple more stories from Uncle John.

 

1958, we landed Marines in Lebanon.  The Marines loaded for war and went ashore. After that sailors went into their area and cleaned it up, I suppose with shovels and shoveled all the crap into the incinerator, including, ooops a grenade.  The call went out “ Fire in the incinerator, Fire in the incinerator”. Well yeah, of course.  Then a BOOM was heard. Didn’t damage anything, ships are tougher than that, but it still made a story.

 

John was a widower his last 15 years. After he passed three women called my cousin Jan and said thing like “He promised me his Ranchero.”  Once a sailor, always a sailor I guess.

 

 

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Boatswain Mate is also one of the few, if not the only, rate that you can't volunteer for before you join. You have to go to the fleet and "strike" boatswain mate once you're eligible for E-4.

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I assume your uncle was in the old navy, before such things as reenlistment options existed.

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48 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I assume your uncle was in the old navy, before such things as reenlistment options existed.

Tried to join in 44, was too small. Was in the Merchant Marine for a year, joined the Navy May 45. Enough to have had service in WW II, Korea and Vietnam.

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