With the elimination of all rating titles, a new question is popping up across the fleet: Are E-7s still "chief petty officers" or just "chiefs?"
With sailors still reeling from the unpopular stripping of all these time-honored titles, the service issued conflicting guidance on the official titles for senior enlisted, which has sailors scratching their heads.
Navy officials say this is a misunderstanding and that their official title remains, chief petty officer.
"There has been no change to our E-7 and above rank titles," said Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the chief of naval personnel. "A chief petty officer is still that, and those words are still part of their formal title, that is the intent."
But the words "petty officer" are no longer to appear on any chief's formal award, according to written guidance from the CNO's awards branch now circulating in the fleet. Instead, Navy awards will refer to them as:
- E-7. "Chief," such as Chief Timmy Turner.
- E-8. "Senior Chief," such as Senior Chief Timmy Turner.
- E-9. "Master Chief," such as Master Chief Timmy Turner.
It's easy to see why there's been confusion.
The message announcing these changes, NAVADMIN 218/16, said: "E4 through E6 will be called 'Petty Officer Third/Second/First Class' as appropriate and senior enlisted paygrades of E7 through E9 will be called 'Chief, Senior Chief, or Master Chief' depending on their paygrade."
Based on the NAVADMIN, the chief of naval operation's awards office issued the new guidance on Oct. 4 that stripped these titles of "petty officer" for awards -- guidance now in the hands of deckplate leaders.
The stripped titles were also used in the Oct. 7 Navy article, " Mythbusting: Enlisted Rating Modernization Plan – Six Commonly Asked Questions." If that's not confusing enough, this same article later on referred to the title as "chief petty officer" for correspondence, evals and awards.
Navy officials say they're preparing corrected guidance that clarifies the titles as chief petty officer, senior chief petty officer and master chief petty officer and will be released in coming days.
Meanwhile, the Navy's mixed message is confusing many in the chief's mess, said one East Coast-based enlisted leader -- who asked to be referred to as a master chief petty officer.
"I hope this isn’t true, but if it is, it’s yet another hit to our traditions," the master chief petty officer said. "We are petty officers, senior petty officers, because we lead petty officers and it’s been that way since 1893."
"Our job isn't to interpret guidance, but to execute it," he added. "And what we have gotten from up the chain does not reflect the words petty officer in senior enlisted titles."
Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.
