Chief Petty Officer Initiation abolished....

CWOJackson said:
I have to wonder how the USN/USCG will now mark the advancement to Chief. Symbolic ceremonial neutering?
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I doubt that will happen in today's "kinder and gentler" military. :icon_lol: It's been several years since this change but, the Air Force didn't want to make any airmen feel inadequate or second class so they changed the first 4 enlisted ranks. When I was in back in the 1960s, there was Airman Basic (E1), Airman Third Class (E2), Airman Second Class (E3), and Airman First Class (E4). Now it's: Airman Basic (E1), Airman (E2), Airman First Class (E3), and Senior Airman (E4). No more third and second class airman....:sheep:

RD
 
As far as I know the Navy still has 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class Petty Officers. But in today's PC enviroment, I wouldn't be surprised if that changed.

Although when I was a 3rd Class, it did seem like i was just a glorified Seaman.
 
Leading Seaman

My first two years in the Canoe Club was as a TIn Can Sailor (black shoe) and I was in the 1st division - deck apes. Now we had a leading seaman who had some clout then (1963).
If you were a first class you were a "WHEEL". On a boat of 250 ~ souls about 10 or so were CPOs about the same for the Ossifers (Officers) rest were the backbone of the ship, where the rubber
met the road so to say. CPO's back then didn't get too chummy with the lower enlisted. I felt sorry for the Warrants, the CPO's didn't want anything to do with them; neither did the Officers.

My Dad was a Warrant (AVIONICS OFFICER). Back then they had W-1's (they wore crossed anchors pin on their combination hat, when they made W-2 they changed pins to crossed anchors
with buzzard above them.
 
Willy said:
As far as I know the Navy still has 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class Petty Officers. But in today's PC enviroment, I wouldn't be surprised if that changed.

Although when I was a 3rd Class, it did seem like i was just a glorified Seaman.
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Willy in the USAF, our E-4s are not NCOs (NCOs start at E-5)...so I can understand why you said you felt like a glorified Seaman...
 
Panther, in my case it was more the command and the situation. Several of us who showed up there just out of "A" school who were supposed to be showing up as E-2s, arrived onboard as 3rd Classes thanks to a program the Navy had then called Accelerated Advancement. I made E-4 before I would have made E-2 because I got lucky enough to qualify for it and jumped on it. So here the command had all these junior petty officers that should have shown up as E-2s. We ended up still doing an E-2's job as there was no one else there to do it.
 
I must have been in some sort of a "gap" between the two ranking systems - in my AF, the progression was Airman Basic (slicksleeve) - Airman (one stripe - mosquito) - Airman First Class (two stripes - dragonfly) - Sergeant (three stripes). I came in under the AECP (Airman Education and Commissioning Program) with my first year of college behind me. Objective was to start the program - complete the last three years on Uncle's dime - then fly or otherwise serve as an officer for four more years. In keeping with my usual excellent sense of timing, I was sitting in basic training at Lackland AFB when in Feb 1973 the Paris Peace Accords reached their final agreement, and the AECP was cancelled. I never made it above Sgt but still had fun. Learned a lot, too.
 
Very sad, but this going on across the board in other branches (almost all traditions are changing or disappearing). Got to watch many peers pass over to the CPO side, and I never thought of it going away. I was prepared if I had to do it, but switched while an E-6 over to the green side. All those peers are now retired, E-7/8's, with a close friend finishing up his last cruise now and is done, just due to the fact of how the Navy has become today.
 
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