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On the subject of Chief Petty Officers


Alpo

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Leave us suppose that you are a mechanic in the Navy. A machinist mate. MM.

 

And you work your way up from an MM3 to an MM2 to an MM1 to an MMC to an MMCS and finally to an MMCM. Now you have reached the top of your profession. You are a Master Chief. An E9, superior to all you survey.

 

Now we have someone write your name down. But instead of writing MMCM Popeye T. Sailor, they write CPO Popeye T. Sailor.

 

Would that annoy you?

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1 hour ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

Drives home the message in a rather unique way.

I'm thinking in terms of efficiency. Seems keel hauling would be better. He gets a dip in the drink, but is attached to a rope. There's a fair chance he'll still be attached at the end, thus aiding in hauling up to the yard arm.  Yeah I know, sick, but what the hey, Coffinmaker started it! :rolleyes: 

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Should the "someone" writing know better?  If so, politely correct them when the opportunity arises.  If not, blow it off.  Its not like they called you an Ensign or something.

Joke'um

MMC, USN (Ret.)

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It would be the same as putting SFC instead of SGM. Not good.

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27 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

There is no starboard or port if under the keel. Aft to forward underway so’s you don’t foul the rudder. 
 

You asked! 

 

Ah! You mean REAL keel hauling,  not the Hollywood version. 

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There has to be a port and starboard. You throw him over one side, drag him under the keel, and haul him up the other side.

 

Now, I was thinking bow to stern, since it would be easier to get him started underneath the pointed bow then it would underneath the squared off stern. Didn't think about causing trouble with the rudder.

 

Maybe throw him over the port side at the bow, then drag him all the way down the keel to just f'wd of the rudder, then pull him up the starboard side. That way he would get the full effect.

 

 

 

By the by. I noticed that Otto thinks that f'wd is spelled ford. Lubber.

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14 hours ago, Alpo said:

There has to be a port and starboard. You throw him over one side, drag him under the keel, and haul him up the other side.

 

Now, I was thinking bow to stern, since it would be easier to get him started underneath the pointed bow then it would underneath the squared off stern. Didn't think about causing trouble with the rudder.

 

Maybe throw him over the port side at the bow, then drag him all the way down the keel to just f'wd of the rudder, then pull him up the starboard side. That way he would get the full effect.

 

 

 

By the by. I noticed that Otto thinks that f'wd is spelled ford. Lubber.

Haven't seen the film in eons, but there's a really dramatic scene of keel hauling in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962 version, starring Trevor Howard as Bligh and Marlon Brando as Christian.)

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That's simple. When you're talking to someone from a different branch of the military.

 

Daddy was a Keesler Air Force Base for heart surgery. My brother and his wife and I went to visit. Since we were visiting someone in the hospital, we could stay at the guest house. We had to check in. Since Daddy was career military, we had always had short hair.

 

We go up to the desk and the airman behind the desk asked us our rank. My little brother informed him CIVILIAN.

 

He told us we were not allowed to stay at the guest house if we were civilians. We said sure we could. We were visiting our father in the hospital.

 

Well that's different. What's his rank?

 

RETIRED

 

Starting to get a little annoyed, the airman says "what was his rank".

 

ADCS

 

What?

 

Senior Chief Petty Officer.

 

What?

 

E8?

 

Okay, he knew what that was.

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3 hours ago, Okiepan said:

My question is when and why would you call a MasterChief an E9 ?

Or when the person in question is all about themselves and not about their Sailor's.  Used derogatorily, also used in reference to an E-7 or an E-8.

I'd tell my Sailor's that up through E-5 their evals were all about what they accomplished.  At E-6 they need to reference what their Sailor's were accomplishing.  You get credit for their accomplishments, as well as their failures.

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On 4/1/2021 at 11:34 AM, Alpo said:

Leave us suppose that you are a mechanic in the Navy. A machinist mate. MM.

 

And you work your way up from an MM3 to an MM2 to an MM1 to an MMC to an MMCS and finally to an MMCM. Now you have reached the top of your profession. You are a Master Chief. An E9, superior to all you survey.

 

Now we have someone write your name down. But instead of writing MMCM Popeye T. Sailor, they write CPO Popeye T. Sailor.

 

Would that annoy you?

I'll say that in the real world "it depends".  A Master Chief or a Senior Chef is still a Chief.  

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1 hour ago, Okiepan said:

What if they are not an initiated E7 ?

 

Then they're an E-7. 

 

Initiation has changed over the years. Sometimes more hazing than others. But, in my experience, initiation has always been about building trust in the Chief's Mess. 

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I worked for an E-8 Chief (Enginemen rating which was fine before they required MM rating) that was in Engineering on the Nautilus prior to me working for him.  "Hey, Chief" was fine for him.  All the good guy CPOs I worked for were fine with "Chief".

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1 hour ago, punxsutawneypete said:

You lost me at MMCS.  I was never in the service.

Navy enlisted rank. The first three - E1 through E3 - are Seamen. After that your job is part of your rank. Yeoman, Hull Tech, Corpsman, Boatswain's Mate, whatever. A mechanic is not a mechanic, because the military never uses normal terminology. A mechanic is a Machinist Mate. MM. (Unless you're an airplane mechanic. That's an Aviation Machinist Mate - an AD) So an E4 Machinist Mate is a Third Class Petty Officer, and would be an MM3. He gets promoted to E5, and now he's a Second Class Petty Officer. MM2. Promoted to E6 and he's a First Class Petty Officer, MM1. Next step up, E7, is a Chief Petty Officer, and he would be an MMC. E8 is a Senior Chief Petty officer, so he would be an MMCS - Machinist Mate, Chief, Senior. Then E9, which is the highest enlisted rate, is a Master Chief Petty Officer, and he would be an MMCM - Machinist Mate, Chief, Master.

 

If I hosed that up, I'm sure someone will be in to correct me. But I think I got it right.

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Sorry @Alpo you’re not quite right.  Not all E1-E3 are Seamen, there are also Airman, Constructionman, etc..  And the MMCM is only correct if the Master Chief was not the Command Master Chief.  Once a Master Chief completes the training at the Senior Enlisted Academy they are either CMC or COB, depending on where they are serving.

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As to a Master Chief being called a Chief, if it was done by a Sailor then correct them and get a hold of their Chief.  The Chief will most likely have a “Come to Jesus” meeting with the young Sailor and make sure that they know the rank structure.  If it was a civilian politely correct them and move on.  If it was a JO pull them aside and flame spray’em.

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Rank = officers' paygrades. Ensign, commander, admiral, etc. Moving to a higher rank is a promotion.

 

Rate = enlisted paygrades. Airmen, petty officer 2nd class, chief petty officer, etc. Moving to a higher rate is advancement, or 'making rate'. ETA: because of their advanced enlisted paygrade, chiefs who advance generally consider it, 'promotion'.

 

Rating = professional specialty. Constructionman, Machinist's Mate, Hospital Corpsman, etc. Except for a few ratings, it remains the same throughout a career. A few ratings merge, usually at the level of master chief (e.g., AM, AME, and AD merge to become Master Chief Aircraft Maintenanceman.

 

It is possible, but not really common (I knew one in a 25 year career) for sailors in one rating to laterally transfer to a similar rating, depending on similarity of training and (of course) the needs of the navy.

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I cross rated from Electronics Technician Third Class to Damage Controlman Third Class. Although unusual to go from ET to DC I know of at least two others. My DC A-school class also had a FC3, MM3, BT3 and EN3 cross-rating. 

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