As far as rank/rating is concerned, i will give a quick explanation.
Rating Designations:
The first two (sometimes three) letters in something like "ETCM Monkey" are the rating designation. The navy has TONS of rates. I will list the ones that you will hear a lot from me, as they are the rates onboard a submarine.
ET: Electronics Technician (Radio Communications, or Navigation like myself)
FT: Fire Control Technician (these guys target and fire missiles and torpedoes)
STS: Sonar Technician Submarine. This is one of few three letter designations. These guys listen for enemy contacts in the water.
TM: Torpedoes Mate ("trained monkey") Load torpedoes into torpedo tubes and maintain the mechanical end of torpedo firing systems.
MM: Machinist's Mate. Not to poop on them but these guys are basically the hardest working most bad ass plumbers in the world. 80% of a submarine is plumbing. Plumbing is their job.
MT: Missile Technician (Not to be confused with "TM"). These guys maintain both mechanical and electrical systems for Trident I-II nuclear missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
EM: Electrician's Mate. On a submarine these guys are "nukes" (meaning nuclear trained, or work near the reactor or back half of the boat). Note that the following rates also have a "nuke" version aboard the submarine, meaning that they work on the back half, or reactor portion of the boat: ET, MM, EN (Engineman). I may refer to someone as a "nuke" they can be any one of these rates. "Nukes" are not just called that for their job, their training tends to nuke their brain and they all come out like weirdos. -Fo shizzle, strange people.
SK: Store Keeper. They just handle logistics on the boat.
YN: Yeoman. Paper pushers. Handle administrative stuff, and lots of paperwork. If you get in good with these guys, sometimes they forget how much leave you have taken ;-).
CS: Culinary Specialist, or cook. Pretty obvious what these guys do. They also do laundry for the officers.
Rank Designations:
I will start this from bottom to top, Designation, then paygrade.
SR: Seaman Recruit E1
SA: Seaman Apprentice E2
SN: Seaman E3 (my rank)
3: Third Class Petty Officer E4
2: Second Class Petty Officer E5
1: First Class Petty Officer E6
C: Chief E7
CS: Senior Chief (Chief, Senior) E8
CM: Master Chief (Chief, Master) E9
Warfare Designations:
There are a few of these, I wont often mention them, but as a for-instance my MySpace name is ETSN(SU). Now that you know how to figure out what the ETSN part is, i will explain the "(SU)". First off, you have to understand that submariners are considered "special forces". Just like Navy SEALS, or Marine Force Recon (even though either of them could kick my ass). Beacuse of that there are a few of them for submarines, that are not there for any other warfare type. It will all make sense soon. But this is what is referred to as "earning my dolphins" or getting "qualified".
(SU): Submarine Unqualified (This is the only "un-qual" because the submarine qualification is the hardest to earn).
(SS): "Silent Service" or Submarine Warfare qualified. This takes 2-12 months.
(SP): Submarine Previously Qualified, you get this if you are medically unable to serve on a sub.
(SW): Surface Warfare. Surface ship qualification, or "qualified target" as we submariners call them.
(FMF): Fleet Marine Force. These are the navy guys who work with marines on the battlefield. To include HMs (hospital corpsmen, with this designation are field medics).
(AW): Aviation Warfare. These are the guys on the flight decks of aircraft carriers. Or guys who maintain planes on land.
(DV): Diver. This is earned after any of the above qualifications and replaces that qualification on your name. We have these on Submarines as well.
Congratulations!
Now you can put most of these things together. As a for instance you will know that if you see. "ETCS(SS)" that this is an Electroics technician, Senior Chief, Submarine Qualified. Or myself: "ETSN(SU)" Electronics Tech, Seaman, Submarine not-yet-qualified.
I will give you another one!
YN1(FMF): Yeoman, First Class Petty Officer(E6), Fleet Marine Force qualified.
TM2(SP): Torpedo's Mate, Second Class petty Officer(E5), Submarine Previously qualified.
As i said, there are several "Rates" in the navy. So the first two letters might drive you crazy, but now you can look at them and know their rank and qualification.
I will start this from bottom to top, Designation, then paygrade.
SR: Seaman Recruit E1
SA: Seaman Apprentice E2
SN: Seaman E3 (my rank)
3: Third Class Petty Officer E4
2: Second Class Petty Officer E5
1: First Class Petty Officer E6
C: Chief E7
CS: Senior Chief (Chief, Senior) E8
CM: Master Chief (Chief, Master) E9
Warfare Designations:
There are a few of these, I wont often mention them, but as a for-instance my MySpace name is ETSN(SU). Now that you know how to figure out what the ETSN part is, i will explain the "(SU)". First off, you have to understand that submariners are considered "special forces". Just like Navy SEALS, or Marine Force Recon (even though either of them could kick my ass). Beacuse of that there are a few of them for submarines, that are not there for any other warfare type. It will all make sense soon. But this is what is referred to as "earning my dolphins" or getting "qualified".
(SU): Submarine Unqualified (This is the only "un-qual" because the submarine qualification is the hardest to earn).
(SS): "Silent Service" or Submarine Warfare qualified. This takes 2-12 months.
(SP): Submarine Previously Qualified, you get this if you are medically unable to serve on a sub.
(SW): Surface Warfare. Surface ship qualification, or "qualified target" as we submariners call them.
(FMF): Fleet Marine Force. These are the navy guys who work with marines on the battlefield. To include HMs (hospital corpsmen, with this designation are field medics).
(AW): Aviation Warfare. These are the guys on the flight decks of aircraft carriers. Or guys who maintain planes on land.
(DV): Diver. This is earned after any of the above qualifications and replaces that qualification on your name. We have these on Submarines as well.
Congratulations!
Now you can put most of these things together. As a for instance you will know that if you see. "ETCS(SS)" that this is an Electroics technician, Senior Chief, Submarine Qualified. Or myself: "ETSN(SU)" Electronics Tech, Seaman, Submarine not-yet-qualified.
I will give you another one!
YN1(FMF): Yeoman, First Class Petty Officer(E6), Fleet Marine Force qualified.
TM2(SP): Torpedo's Mate, Second Class petty Officer(E5), Submarine Previously qualified.
As i said, there are several "Rates" in the navy. So the first two letters might drive you crazy, but now you can look at them and know their rank and qualification.
Lol, I dont know what you think a 'quick' explanation is, but this post does not fall under that category. Yikes, I dont know how you remember all of that.
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