What exactly is a section leader?

[Kristen (Greg, Nuke ET3's Wife)]

My husband sent his first letter yesterday and he made mention of him being a section leader. How does one get appointed to be a section leader? And what are their responsibilities? I'm very proud of him!

[Gulf Coast Mom]

Kristen - my son was port watch section leader. Don't know what your husband is. My son said - I didn't volunteer for it, but when they tell you, you don't say no. He was responsible for scheduling all his division for "watch" during the night in two hour shifts. Evidently they keep some type log book they have to write in. He had to get up everynight at midnight and log in the new day. He had to check the other guys entries and make sure everything was correct. I don't know if they are in front at PIR or not. He was in the choir. He said he thought he got the job because his handwriting was neat. FYI - he is a nuke - he graduated prototype in December - is on a sub - just left Wednesday on a short trip. You might also want to just check in/look around the "nuke school charleston" group. It is open to anyone, but is mainly young wives with small children whose husbands are nukes in school. Be warned - it is very intense, but seems to me that the married guys do better. If you have not looked there, you might find it interesting. Good luck.

[navywife22]

I just found this from another post here on this site....





Recruit Chief Petty Officer (RCPO)
The RCPO is the primary recruit assistant to RDCs and is responsible for:
1. Maintaining good order, discipline, and security within the division at all times.
2. Ensuring compliance with standing orders and regulations.
3. Assisting RDCs with implementation of schedules.
4. Reporting any abnorrnal condition to RDCs, including violations of good order, discipline and security, when RDCs are not present.

Recruit Leading Petty Officer (RLPO) (RPO1)
The RLPO is responsible to the RCPO and RDCs for:
1. Assisting the RCPO.
2. Ensuring compliance with standing orders and regulations.
3. Assuming duties as RCPO when required.

Recruit Master-at-Arms (RMAA) (RPO1)
The Recruit Master-At-Arms is responsible to the RCPO and RDC’s for:
1. Configuration and cleanliness of division spaces.
2. Procurement, proper stowage and use of all cleaning required by the division.
3. Supervision of the division in the absence of RDC’s, RCPO or RLPO.

Port and Starboard Watch Section Leaders (PWSL/SWSL) (RPO1)
The Port/Starboard Watch Section Leaders are the senior Recruit Petty Officers for respective watch sections.
1. The Starboard Watch Section Leader (SWSL) shall serve as the division’s watch bill coordinator. Watch bills will be prepared and subsequently submitted to the RDCs via the RCPO.
2. The Port Watch Section Leader (PWSL) shall coordinate the rotation of the ship watch standers with the RDCs.

Recruit Yeoman (YN) (RPO1)
The Recruit YN is responsible to RDCs for:
1. Performing general clerical duties in the division and assisting RDCs with preparation and maintenance of divisional reports, records, class attendance rosters, mail pick-up and distribution.
2. Coordinating with the Medical YN, Education Petty Officer, Athletic Petty Officer and Religious Petty Officer to ensure compliance with special schedule events.
3. Attending the Mail Orderly, Medical/Dental, BMO/Testing and Physical Fitness Testing briefings.

Recruit Medical Yeoman (MYN) (RP02)
The MYN is responsible to RDCs for:
1. Assisting the RDCs in preparing and maintaining recruit medical documentation.
2. Coordinating appointments with the Medical Liaison.
3. Tracking the status of all special physicals.
4. Attending the medical/dental brief.


Recruit Dental Yeoman (DYN) (RPO2)
The DYN is responsible to RDCs for:
1. Assisting the RDCs in preparing and maintaining recruit dental documentation.
2. Coordinating appointments with the Dental Liaison.
3. Tracking the status of all special physicals.
4. Attending the medical/dental brief.

Recruit Section Leaders (SL) (RPO2)
Section Leaders are responsible to the respective Watch Section Leader for:
1. Supervise and assisting the Sailors in respective sections.
2. Monitoring personal cleanliness, military appearance, clothing care and watch standing for Sailors assigned to respective sections.

Division Laundry Petty Officer (LPO) (RPO2)
The LPO is responsible to the RMAA and RDCs for executing proper laundry handling procedures. The LPO is also responsible for maintaining the Cash box and division expense log.

Recruit Education Petty Officer (EPO) (RPO2)
The EPO is responsible for assisting RDCs in administering and mustering night study and mandatory night study classes. The EPO will attend a BMO/Testing brief.

Recruit Athletic Petty Officer (APO) (RPO3)
The Recruit Athletic Petty Officer is responsible to RDCs for:
1. Assisting RDCs with Physical Readiness Training.
2. Providing non-participation or substandard performance documentation to the MYN.
3. Attending a Physical Fitness Testing brief.


Recruit Religious Petty Officers (RPO) (RPO3)
There will be at least a Catholic and Protestant RPO appointed for each division. If a division has three or more Sailors of the same religion, a religious petty officer shall be appointed to represent that faith. RPOs are responsible for:
1. Ensuring all Sailors who desire to pray are afforded such an opportunity at tattoo
2. Attend mandatory meetings at the Chaplain’s Office Thursdays at 1900 commencing on the first Thursday following 1-2 DOT and continuing until graduation, with the exception of FAST Cruise and Recruit Reception Night.
3. Report to the chapel each Sunday 30 rninutes prior to the scheduled service to serve as a chapel assist or usher.
4. Ensure all personnel desiring to attend divine worship services are aware of location and time of services.

Recruit Mail Petty Officers (MPO) (RP03)
The MPO is responsible for pick-up and delivery of all mail. Designation as MPO includes special qualifications at mail orderly orientation and custody of a mail orderly card.

Recruit Damage Control Petty Officer (DCPO) (RP03)The DCPO is responsible to the RMAA for:
1. Correcting any fire hazards.
2. Maintaining division fire extinguishers, to include proper location and working order.
3. Assisting RDCs with minor repair and general maintenance of the compartment.
4. Documenting any material discrepancies on the MDCOL that cannot be corrected

[Kristen (Greg, Nuke ET3's Wife)]

Hey thank you for your response..it's crazy how much responsibility they all have. Now they all know what its like to get up in the middle of the night to take care of an infant.. well in a different way of course. It's just as tiresome.. but okay I'll definately look into that group! thanks!

[Helen, T-man's mom]

My son called home 5 days after getting there and said he was a section leader. He would also be carrying a flag at PIR. I didn't have much time to ask what his responsibilities were. He called today to get some info that his recruiter had copied wrong and said that his whole division had a stomach virus that was making it's way around to everyone. He sounded miserable. He said there were some screwups in his division that if they didn't straighten up, PIR would be delayed. He hopes they get kicked out. He said they don't care one way or another about what they are told to do. He's been waiting so long to be there, that it's really upsetting him.

[Kristen (Greg, Nuke ET3's Wife)]

Yeah my husband said his division hasn't been doing so hot. He is in ship 10 div. 169. He didn't tell me much about everything, but he acted like they'll get back on track since it's only week 3 for them. But I've seen that other moms said that their son who are in the same division as my husband, said that PIR might be delayed! :( But when I talked to him last night on the phone, he didn't act like PIR would be held back. So I'm hopinng everyone gets back on track! Like what you said about your son, people actually want to be there and do well.. it is upsetting that some guys goof around or don't get with the program and REALIZE they're there and it's a serious thing! It ruins it for us wives/mothers/fathers/girlfriends who've waited so long to see them again.

[DeniseInFla]

Kristen and I are in the same boat. (no pun intended). My son put "SA" after his name now, not sure what that stands for. He said he is a SL so I'm assuming it is an RPO2

Recruit Section Leaders (SL) (RPO2)
Section Leaders are responsible to the respective Watch Section Leader for:
1. Supervise and assisting the Sailors in respective sections.
2. Monitoring personal cleanliness, military appearance, clothing care and watch standing for Sailors assigned to respective sections.

[Anti M]

SA, seaman apprentice, is his real, actual paygrade of E-2. SL stands for section leader, their current job (not to be confused with rate, that comes later). Boot camp jobs come and go, although if they're good at it they may keep it for the entire time. RPO2 stands for recruit petty officer second class, but do NOT mistake that for anything meaningful outside of boot camp, it goes away once they graduate. In the meantime, it is responsibility, good practice for the fleet.

[DeniseInFla]

I think anything that helps you grow as a person however fleeting is a good thing! I told him so in one of my letters recently, just in case he lost his SL status. :)

[Anti M]

Being responsible for others is a double-edged sword. You feel proud of it and kinda great... but on the other hand you just want to shake the snot out of the slackers and the slow ones, the ones who don't care or catch on. I was the EPO is my division ages ago; the gals who would not study drove me crazy! I guarantee he is both enjoying it and being driven mad by it at the same time. And I was very proud when my nephew was made EPO for his division! Like a legacy almost.

There's always leadership roles in the Navy, always.

[Kristen (Greg, Nuke ET3's Wife)]

I see what you mean! Yeah my husband didn't sound all that thrilled of his division.. I said "are you still section leader? I know you can lose that job quicker than you can say the name.." and he said "Oh yeah, they'll snatch it right off your chain and give it to someone else if you don't do it right.. they'll find someone else who can do it better." And so he sounded like he took it seriously.. but he DID sound frustrated of his division.

[Helen, T-man's mom]

I'm sure the recruits are aware of this also. They are sharing their "new" status with their families and we're trying to find out what their responsibilities are with each new status. We're learning along with them. I don't think the responsibilities are that much different than what we tried to teach them. RDC are continuing to help them "grow" in the "responsibility" area. We are proud of our SAs.

[George]

My son wrote and mentioned that he is a section leader in his boot camp division. He said that he is responsible for 12 recruits. Part of his responsibility is to make sure that they are up on time, shaven, and quiet when they are getting too loud. He also mentioned that he gets to wear a silver pin with a pierced eagle with 2 chevrons. We are super proud of him. He is in Ship 11 Division 496. They graduate November 5th!!