No more Seaman!

SkrewzLoose

Something Clever
Verified Military
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Oct 27, 2010
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I put on E4 today. It's an automatic advancement with my rate once I graduated A-school and had at least 6 months in service. So, while I didn't do too much to earn it, it will be a nice pay raise and will hopefully keep me out of FSA and Cranking (not holding my breath on either of those though) once I get to the fleet.
It's amazing what a pair of shirt stays and a little shoe polish will do to a uniform. Room full of turds they were... Even the E7 and O3 doing the take and shake were wearing uniforms that appeared to have either just been unfolded (Chief) or almost completely untucked in the back (LT). Even if it is just a bunch of push-button E4 kids, anything that has the word "ceremony" in it should involve some effort to look presentable.
/end rant
 
Congrats! I hope it helps on the Cranking deferment. I never went, thankfully, on account of my "awesomeness" (went shore first, made E-5, went to ship, so no awesomeness for me).

Kind of crappy that the LT and Chief were dirt bags, hopefully karma comes around to bear down on them.
 
Wait...so you're an NCO and you haven't even hit the fleet yet???

No way!!
It works a bit differently in the Navy. E7 - E9 (Chiefs) are considered our Sr. leadership. They would be the closest thing to an NCO/SrNCO the Navy has. E4 - E6 (Petty Officers) are the guys/gals doing the majority of the physical labor as well as holding supervisory positions. That's it in a very succinct nutshell. I'm sure IT101 or CDG can correct me if I'm mistaken here.
 
Congratulations!

For us ground pounders, what the hell is cranking?

Working down in the engineering (mechanical) spaces where it's 100+ degrees all the time. And working with the cooks, washing dishes, serving food, dumping trash, etc.
 
I'm unsure of what constitutes an NCO from a supervisory standard, but SkrewzLoose is correct in that the Navy works on a different scale than the other services, not necessarily in a completely positive way.

I've never heard of cranking involving the engineering aspect of what was mentioned, but that's from my limited experience and you are spot on with the rest: on the small boy (Destroyer) I was on, cranking was a different term for FSA, aka the folks who worked for/under the oppressive thumb of the cooks. Good part of cranking was they did not generally stand in-port watches.
 
I just know E-4 was always a big thing amongst our Corpsmen. E-4 is technically an NCO in the Navy, just like it is in the Marines. The load of responsibility varies though I'm sure.
 
E-4's are supposedly the fledgling supervisory positions, like overseeing the E-1 through E-3's painting or conducting maintenance while E-5 is supposed to be a person with higher technical knowledge that gets the fun jobs. E-6 is very paperwork and administrative-oriented. I won't even go in to E-7 through E-9, as those are different beasts altogether.

Also, I emphasize the use of the derivatives of suppose, because it rarely works out that way and is very job specific.
 
~snip
I've never heard of cranking involving the engineering aspect of what was mentioned, but that's from my limited experience and you are spot on with the rest: on the small boy (Destroyer) I was on, cranking was a different term for FSA, aka the folks who worked for/under the oppressive thumb of the cooks. Good part of cranking was they did not generally stand in-port watches.

Just looked it up and you're right. I was always under the impression that cranking was when you worked with the engineering guys and FSA was something totally different. Perhaps I was getting that confused with ESWS or some kind of quals you have to get early on.
Learn something new every day! :thumbsup:
 
SkrewzLoose said:
Just looked it up and you're right. I was always under the impression that cranking was when you worked with the engineering guys and FSA was something totally different. Perhaps I was getting that confused with ESWS or some kind of quals you have to get early on.
Learn something new every day! :thumbsup:

I pray you do not have to work with the Engineers. Though not the most glorious job, theirs is one of the hardest.

If you do not mind my asking, what rate did you come in as? I doubt I'll be able to put my two cents in on your job, but I'm curious as I don't know which ones qualify for the auto-advancement.
 
I came in with a SWCC contract, so my original plan was to be SB3 by this time and have a shiny warfare device complete with a MKV/enlisted cutlass/flintlock pistol. I got a huge case of Vag-itis in Coronado and when it came time to reclassify, I chose FC. So now, I'm FC3.

FC, ET, IC (6 year contract), Nukes all qualify for push button E4 as far as big Navy goes. There might be others, but these are the ones that I know of only because of my exposure to them on the base here.
 
Well, another congratulations on making it through FC "A" School! Certainly not for the faint of heart.

The Navy does anything, shy of extreme public displays of affection, to keep Nukes in.
 
When I made 3rd class, my arm was black & blue for a week. I've heard now things have changed though. :thumbsdown:

Just wait to you get your pin, go through Shellback, Chief's initiation, etc. Man, those were good times. No other service carries on tradition like the Navy does.
 
When I made 3rd class, my arm was black & blue for a week. I've heard now things have changed though. :thumbsdown:

Just wait to you get your pin, go through Shellback, Chief's initiation, etc. Man, those were good times. No other service carries on tradition like the Navy does.

Yeah, hazing is highly frowned upon now and no real chance to get my crows "tacked on" here in my whites. From what I've heard, all the other traditions you've listed still live on. :thumbsup:
 
Oh, I remember getting my pin... People went easy on me, I assume it's because I could take down their Unclass Internet/email. But when they take the frog legs off and give it a nice, solid punch, you'll feel even better about your accomplishment. Or bleed to death, one of the two. Lucky for you, the two hardest parts of ESWS for me were Engineering, and your multi-faceted world so you'll have a good inside look at the latter.

Sadly, I never achieved Shellback status and, damn my luck, the ship went a few months after I departed.

Any idea where you're heading now?
 
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