Could be wrong here, but I don't think he ever actually gave his rank? Just asked for a higher one, torpedoman would be their MOS I believe. The more you know, for when you troll.
I think he did give his rank. From what he says he'd prob been a TM1 (Torpedoman's Mate, Petty Officer 1st class) with at least 12yrs good conduct (hence the gold chevrons instead of red). As for not making promotion to chief, SoberBarn was speaking out of turn. For though I understand it's theoretically possible in the US Navy to be eligible for promotion from PO to CPO in as little as 3yrs, to do so working up through the ranks typically takes more like 15yrs, so steelclaws1957 leaving as a PO after 13 years of good conduct service is nothing to be sneered at. As an old Brit who was once a naval support engineer (subs), I salute that American sailor.
I know a ton of first class petty officer with gold chevrons. Even one of my RDC was a first class who serve for 16 years and was satisfy with being a first class. Some people just don't want the responsiblity of a chief.
Aye, not everyone wants promotion, and for various reasons. There's also fewer opportunites - you may have 20 POs who are time & experience eligible, pass exams etc to be promotion board eligible - but then out-scored as there's only say 6 CPO slots to fill. My UK time (1970s-90s) in naval support was 98% shore-side - worked with many POs & CPOs. All of them great guys who knew their stuff.
I left the Navy as an E-5, ET2(SS) with 9 years. The main reason was there was a reduction in force going on, and E-6 and above in the community weren't taking early retirement for the most part so there was a bottleneck in promotions [there were actually re-enlistment bonuses if I stayed]. In the Navy you compete for promotion with others of your community/specialization; I, for example, competed against other submarine electronics technicians (the nuclear ETs were separate). If they only estimate a need for 10 promotions to a higher paygrade within the specialization then only 10 are promoted to that paygrade that cycle.
With only so many award and time in paygrade/service points allowed as part of the score, submariners really only get promoted by attrition more so than most communities due to the relatively low turnover rate.
Well, civilian job offers/salaries were quite tempting also :)
Nice mod! One minor note just for "lore", the ribbons should be flipped. You can actually see that the "E" device is backwards on the ribbon rack. Still, never thought I'd see dress blues on the Nexus, good job!
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With only so many award and time in paygrade/service points allowed as part of the score, submariners really only get promoted by attrition more so than most communities due to the relatively low turnover rate.
Well, civilian job offers/salaries were quite tempting also :)
I would love to find NWU 1 Blueberries , and NWU 2's with 8 point hat for Seabee's .