Up to 1,100 chiefs face involuntary return to sea duty

[nitpicker]

http://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2017/08/07/up-to-1100-chiefs-face-involuntary-return-to-sea-duty/

Up to 1,100 chiefs face involuntary return to sea duty

By: Mark Faram ?  17 hours ago

The Navy may order more than 1,000 senior enlisted supervisors back to sea duty involuntarily, the latest move designed to tighten up manning levels at sea and in deploying operational units. The new Navy policy announced Monday will take effect immediately and aims to fill the nearly 3,000 unfilled senior enlisted billets at sea. Most of those gaps —about 2,080 — are at the E-7 level. Just over 700 are for senior chiefs and almost 200 unfilled billets are for master chiefs.
(snip)

The new policy is likely to be controversial, and prompted Fleet Master Chief (SW/IW/AW) Russell L. Smith, the senior enlisted leader for the Navy’s Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education, to write a message to the fleet explaining the move.

The push to get more chiefs out to sea comes several months after Navy officials sought to fill junior enlisted billets at sea and instituted a program encouraging enlisted sailors to voluntarily extend on sea duty. In exchange for volunteering for one to two additional years at sea, Navy officials told junior sailors they could waive the traditional up-or-out limits, allowing sailors the ability to stay on active duty longer. For the chiefs, however, there’s no such carrot in this deal — it’s all stick.
(snip)

At the crux of the problem for the senior enlisted ranks are 25 ratings that are overmanned ashore. Navy personnel officials estimate that the bulk of those being sent back to sea will come from these ratings, and new orders could be handed down within the next few months. Sailors most at risk for involuntary orders are in the following ratings: AD,AE,AM,AT,AWO,BM, CS(SS), CTI Eastern Europe, CTI Latin/South America, CTR, EMN(SW),ETN(SS), ET(SW), FC, GM, HM, ITS, LS(SS), MMN(SW), MM(SW), PS, QM, UT, YN, YN(SS).

The overmanning ashore does not stem from any mismanagement, officials say, but instead is the result of strict adherence to sea-shore flow and sea-shore rotation rules. For example, when a sailor is selected for chief petty officer or higher, the system typically allows the sailor’s normal rotation to continue regardless of paygrade. That means a petty officer first class who gets picked for chief might remain in a billet that no longer reflects the new rank. The same thing happens up through the ranks. Now, under the new policy, the Navy will review the assignments of all enlisted supervisors, including those recently selected for advancement to chief petty officer and above, and consider them for potential sea duty assignments. Navy officials acknowledge that involuntary orders for sea duty can be disruptive to sailors and their families. Personnel detailers will take into account sea-shore rotation concerns, but that will be secondary to fleet manning requirements, officials say.
(snip)

[Not Ruth]

1. Let me get this straight, in the Navy, you used to get to choose if you went to sea?

[Throck]

3. There's a lot of land based jobs in the Navy.

I'd jump on sea duty in a heart beat. The impact is on family life and deployment is serious emotional trauma. When I was single I loved it. Life changes and so do your priorities. Career sailors after they've done a few years at sea aspire to land careers in fleet support positions. Sea duty is great when young but kills relationships.

[secondwind]

2. WTF is going on??!!?