E2
The regular Navy - meaning folks who weren't in the aviation (Airdales!) end of things - was dichotomised into the Deck Apes & the Engineers. If you were headed into engineering, you came out of basic as a Fireman Apprentice or a Fireman with red stripes. If not, you were a Seaman Apprentice or a Seaman and wore white stripes.
The engineering department ran all the basic systems of the ship - hydraulic/pneumatic/steam/electrical/propulsion/AC/etc systems. Folks in that department all wore red insignia and usually had greasy knuckles. (In the Merchant Marine, years ago, they called such folks the "black gang" for obvious reasons.)
Everyone else from cooks to radarmen to bos'n mates wore white insignia and usually had clean hands.
The Navy tested us for everything from STD's to Morse Code and from meningitis to typing skill trying to figure out what to do with us. There were really just two paths after you made it through Basic, into the fleet or into a school, and the tests helped determine which one they sent you on.
Without a school you went into the fleet and started at the bottom, scraping paint and mopping until you either showed an unexpected aptitude, got a benefactor who helped you along or lucked into a job important enough for the ship to send you to school.
Part of my enlistment package, because I'd had over two years of college, was a guaranteed school if I made it through Basic and a step up in pay grade. The pay thing meant I went in as an E2 and became an E3 after Boot Camp graduation while most recruits went in as E1's and graduated as E2's.
The money deal was pretty cut & dried, but as you can imagine, there were a few strings attached to the schooling, little things like aptitude and job openings and school openings.
I did well enough overall that the main things I did NOT qualify for were typing jobs and being a radioman. Too many thumbs for typing and too slow a brain for the Morse code needed to run a radio. This was okay with me - I didn't want a desk job.
I wanted to learn a trade I could use as a civilian, but the choices were a bit limited. I really wanted to learn to run a lathe & be a machinist like Grampa Handcock, but there were no openings. No openings in photography either. Cooking didn't appeal to me. Gunner's Mate would have been interesting but not in great demand on Civvy Street. Electronics Technician really appealed but that required six years active duty & I didn't want that.
The job I least wanted was Corpsman - most of them were sent straight to the Marines as medics and then into combat - unarmed. A boot camp buddy from Spokane named Mark was handed that assignment over his strenuous objections. I dunno if he survived or not, but at the time - the Tet offensive - they told him medics usually had less than a 90 day life expectancy.
I listed my top three choices and took my chances. When I got my orders I found I'd drawn one of them - Electrician's Mate. Don't recall what my other choices were, but on graduation day I had three red stripes on my sleeve. I was a Fireman and had some schools coming up after I got back from leave.
TBC
(Me) (Home)
E2 
The regular Navy - meaning folks who weren't in the aviation (Airdales!) end of things - was dichotomised into the Deck Apes & the Engineers. If you were headed into engineering, you came out of basic as a Fireman Apprentice or a Fireman with red stripes. If not, you were a Seaman Apprentice or a Seaman and wore white stripes.
The engineering department ran all the basic systems of the ship - hydraulic/pneumatic/steam/electrical/propulsion/AC/etc systems. Folks in that department all wore red insignia and usually had greasy knuckles. (In the Merchant Marine, years ago, they called such folks the "black gang" for obvious reasons.)
Everyone else from cooks to radarmen to bos'n mates wore white insignia and usually had clean hands.
The Navy tested us for everything from STD's to Morse Code and from meningitis to typing skill trying to figure out what to do with us. There were really just two paths after you made it through Basic, into the fleet or into a school, and the tests helped determine which one they sent you on.
Without a school you went into the fleet and started at the bottom, scraping paint and mopping until you either showed an unexpected aptitude, got a benefactor who helped you along or lucked into a job important enough for the ship to send you to school.
Part of my enlistment package, because I'd had over two years of college, was a guaranteed school if I made it through Basic and a step up in pay grade. The pay thing meant I went in as an E2 and became an E3 after Boot Camp graduation while most recruits went in as E1's and graduated as E2's.
The money deal was pretty cut & dried, but as you can imagine, there were a few strings attached to the schooling, little things like aptitude and job openings and school openings.
I did well enough overall that the main things I did NOT qualify for were typing jobs and being a radioman. Too many thumbs for typing and too slow a brain for the Morse code needed to run a radio. This was okay with me - I didn't want a desk job.
I wanted to learn a trade I could use as a civilian, but the choices were a bit limited. I really wanted to learn to run a lathe & be a machinist like Grampa Handcock, but there were no openings. No openings in photography either. Cooking didn't appeal to me. Gunner's Mate would have been interesting but not in great demand on Civvy Street. Electronics Technician really appealed but that required six years active duty & I didn't want that.
The job I least wanted was Corpsman - most of them were sent straight to the Marines as medics and then into combat - unarmed. A boot camp buddy from Spokane named Mark was handed that assignment over his strenuous objections. I dunno if he survived or not, but at the time - the Tet offensive - they told him medics usually had less than a 90 day life expectancy.
I listed my top three choices and took my chances. When I got my orders I found I'd drawn one of them - Electrician's Mate. Don't recall what my other choices were, but on graduation day I had three red stripes on my sleeve. I was a Fireman and had some schools coming up after I got back from leave.
TBC
(Me) (Home)
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