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Comment by Butterball on January 27, 2018 at 8:19am

Okay Allison and Anti M, I am officially on confused overload. Thank you for all of the information, I thought learning police dispatching, payroll admin, and detective admin support was confusing, but it is a piece of cake. I may never get it straight in my mind, but as long as Vic understands it, that is all that matters to me. LoL

Comment by Allison on January 27, 2018 at 4:59am

Another fun example is Officers. In the army a Captain (CPT) is O3, in the Navy, a Captain (CAPT) is an O6. They do have slightly different abbreviations, but still, the both hold the rank of Captain and would be addressed as such, but they are different paygrades. It’d be nice if we had a uniform rank system, but the history/tradition behind ranks is pretty cool, we wouldn’t want to lose that, so that’s why we have paygrades I guess :). 

Comment by Allison on January 27, 2018 at 4:49am

It gets confusing because pay grade and rank are the same thing, but they’re not. Pay grade is the E1, E2, E3…and so on. While it does correlate to a rank, it is actually their pay grade, what their monthly pay is, how much BAH/OHA they’re eligible for, it can change ticket prices for military events, etc. Rank is the SR, SA, SN, PO3…and so on, or in the case of FC, FCSA, FCSN, FC3…etc. This is how you identify them, like their title in the Navy. All base pay is the same across the branches, based on that same pay grade system (E1-E9 for enlisted). But an E4 in the Navy is a Petty Officer, 3rd Class (PO3), while in the Army, they can be a Specialist (SPC) OR a Corporal (CPL), all make the same amount of base pay (assuming they have the same # of years in service), they’re all E4, but they’re all called different things. So the paygrade is just uniform and administrative to keep it simple. 

Comment by Allison on January 27, 2018 at 4:22am

Like butterball said, that’s his pay grade. E3 is a Seaman, abbreviated SN. For now he’ll just be SN Last Name, but once he graduates A School, he’ll become “rated” and will be FCSN Last Name. The first link I sent you will show you how long A School is, but the second, the career pathway, is a good guideline, remember things can always vary based on the needs of the Navy, if you look at FCSN, they typically have more or less a year of service, it takes them, on average, 9 months to be promoted, there’s not any special programs available, they’re not in the sea/shore flow yet, time still varies widely for them, and they usually are just working on bootcamp, A School, and C School during this time. Then you can get a sneak peak at their next step. They’ll be promoted to FC3 (3rd Class Petty Officer), they’re eligible for programs like STA-21, which is a program to go enlisted to Officer, Naval Academy or NROTC. The next phase will be UP TO 60 months of sea duty (on a ship, but not continuously at sea). I say up to because billets are all different lengths, from 18-36 months usually. It will depend on the detailer and the sailor’s  rank/skill set, but typically performance itself only impacts you getting your first choice, they need good sailors both on sea/shore duty. They may get lucky and only do 36 months of sea duty and then sent to a shore command, or they may get another 18- 24 months at the same or a different ship. 

Comment by ellen0502 on January 27, 2018 at 1:41am

Butterball,  FC would be his rating (Fire Controlman) and the E3 would be his rate. When his rate (pay grade) reaches E-4 he will be a PO3 (Petty Officer third class), or FC3.

I know it is confusing because his pay rate is a "4", but the number behind is a 3. At pay grade E-5 it becomes PO2 (Petty Officer second class), E-6, PO1 (Petty Officer first class). Next is CPO, etc.

Comment by Butterball on January 26, 2018 at 10:27pm

Okay Allison where does FC E3 come in, that is what my son is, but I don't see it on the list. So confused. 

Comment by Allison on January 26, 2018 at 8:51pm

Oh my goodness! That’s too funny xD. Did they let him sit it, or did he have to wait for the next one?  

Comment by Anti M on January 26, 2018 at 8:49pm

Okay, FC.  They follow a similar path as the ETs.  ATT first, then a nice long A school.  They often are held at Great Lakes after A school, as FCs have fewer options for C schools.  An FC without a C school is not of much use to a ship.  If the C schools are full, the new FCs must wait until a seat opens. It can take months, so patience is required.  At least they tend to get a better barracks room and more liberty privileges after A school.  Their C schools are quite lengthy, as weapons systems are complicated and require absolute attention to detail and zero mistakes.  FCs operate, maintain, and repair their gear, while ETs tend to do only maintenance and repair.  We aren't operators.  That's the ITs and OSs for the most part.

After C school, they will receive orders for a ship, as FCs rotate to sea duty first.  

Comment by Anti M on January 26, 2018 at 8:44pm

I was an ET1, my husband an ET1(SW).  We were both ET1 Clayton, which caused some confusion when I separated and he went to take his chief's exam.  They'd cancelled his instead of mine because they just looked for Clayton, not the first name too!

Comment by Allison on January 26, 2018 at 8:09pm

When writing to your son, you can get away with RATE/RANK LAST NAME unless you have a common last name. It’s safest to do RATE/RANK LAST NAME, First Name, MI. However, if you were to write a formal thank you note or invitation or whatever, you’d probably want to include the Quals (if they have any) out of respect. RATE/RANK (QUALS) LAST NAME at the very least. If you’re hand delivering, name order doesn’t really matter as much, I’ve seen it done both Last, First, MI, and First MI. Last. There’s probably a right way haha, but I’ve seen both :). 

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