What rating (specialty) is he? How quickly did he make E5?
I asked because not all ratings in the Navy promote at the same frequency; advancing to E5 first time up as a Crypto Tech is impressive; not as impressive as advancing first time up as a Boatswain's Mate, or a Hospital Corpsman, but impressive, nonetheless (I was neither, in case you think I was throwing shade. I wasn't; I also served in one of those "quick advancement" ratings). That's actually half the reason why I got out of the Navy: I advanced to E6 very quickly, which is as high up as you can go on technical knowledge alone. To put on khakis, you have to be at least a little political, and I wasn't; the thought of spending thirteen years in the same paygrade did not appeal to me. But, yeah, propers to your nephew for putting on Second: Crypto Tech is a tough rate to get into. To be a CT, you not only have to score in, like, the ninety-seventh percentile on the ASVAB, you also have to be able to get a TS clearance, so it sounds like your nephew's got a lot going for him.
Also, I don't want to be that guy, but ESWS isn't a big deal anymore. It used to be, once upon a time, back when only the most highly motivated sailors would get surface warfare qualified, but it hasn't been that way in nearly two decades. In fact, getting ESWS qualified is one of the prerequisites for eligibility for advancement. If your nephew is stationed on a ship, and wasn't ESWS qualified, they wouldn't even have allowed him to take the exam.
Not that that takes anything away from his achievement. I still had to take the E5 exam twice before I made it, and I'm a pretty smart guy, if I do say so, myself.
I didn't mean to imply that chief petty officers don't earn their anchors, but I may have to push back a little bit.
Granted, I don't have any first hand experience with becoming a chief, but I wasn't just speaking of my own experience. I'm actually third generation military: I got out before I was actually eligible for chief, my dad retired as a first class, my biological father made chief, and chose get out before he was eligible to retire, and my mom was a chief, who was medically discharged. I've had conversations with each of them, in groups and separately, and I think it would be fair to say that they don't necessarily have the same perspective about the process being apolitical.
With that said, I will stipulate that, based on my, admittedly, limited experience with Yeomen, I have the impression that a Radioman's sense of 'politics' probably differs greatly from a Yeoman. My aunt (father's sister), who retired as a YNCS, also seems to feel as though the process was not particularly political, FWIW. She and my mom (HMC) do not get along much.
I'll have to take your word for it on that, Chief. I knew early that I didn't have what it takes to put on khakis. That's why I got out at my ten-year mark, even though I made first in less than eight years; I wasn't exactly the most well-rounded sailor in the fleet. I was in the 99th percentile as a technician, if I do say so myself, but I hardly had the sharpest military bearing, and I may not have been the most professional sailor in the world.Everybody is going to have a different perspective. I would be a fool to say that there is ZERO politics, particularly when it comes to evaluations. I guess from my own perspective, the politics is FAR more pervasive within the CPO Mess, but again that's another story.
I'll have to take your word for it on that, Chief. I knew early that I didn't have what it takes to put on khakis. That's why I got out at my ten-year mark, even though I made first in less than eight years; I wasn't exactly the most well-rounded sailor in the fleet. I was in the 99th percentile as a technician, if I do say so myself, but I hardly had the sharpest military bearing, and I may not have been the most professional sailor in the world.
You know what's really ****ed up? I got out, in part, so that I could spend more time with my son. And I haven't lived within six hundred miles of him, in nearly four years.
I don't get it. If it's not meant to be satiric, why do they feel like they need to do it more than once an hour? Is there more than one Morgan Ragan on the radio in Sacramento?
You know, I may have been told that once or twice.
The reason I asked is because I'm so accustomed to watching WNBA games and hearing Nancy Lieberman, Rebecca Lobo and Ann Meyers-Dreysdale referred to as "The Hall of Famer..." whenever their names are mentioned by the play-by-play person, no matter how many times it's been said already, during the course of the broadcast. I also hear it in NBA games a lot: basically, whenever Bill Walton is doing a game. Also, Kevin Harlan is notorious for doing it. I just wanted to know if they were doing it to mock play-by-play announcers who list off their broadcast partners' credentials at every opportunity?
BT3 when I got out in 93.We must have quite a few Navy folk on this forum.
I guess this is as good of a place as any to post this question, but what's the deal with the forum point system?
How many points before I am eligible for a Kings' toaster? Can I trade them in for airline miles?
How do I earn them? Do they expire?