Engineman, machinist’s mate ratings realign

In an effort to enhance surface ship readiness and improve diesel engine proficiency, a realignment has been established of Engineman (EN) rating to the Machinist's Mate (MM) rating and disestablishment of the Full-Time Support (FTS) EN rating.
    Students recently began classes in the new format at Surface Warfare Officers School Command Unit (SWOSU), Great Lakes.
    "When people think of a merger they think we're doing away with a rating. That's not what's happening," said Cmdr. Eugene R. Roberts, commanding officer, SWOSU. "It's really more of realignment, blending of different communities. In the end it's going to be better for the Navy long term."
    This realignment applies to active duty, FTS and ready reserve sailors, and is being done to improve diesel engine proficiency. The Navy has changed EN and MM occupational standards to focus diesel propulsion expertise in the EN rating; EN sailors will be responsible for diesel operation, repair and maintenance.
    Current EN sailors who have experience in diesel propulsion, as indicated by a combination of a primary Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) code and last billet filled, will remain an EN and those who have an auxiliary background will be converted to MM.
    However, based on career progression in regards to pay grade, Sea Shore Flow and billet distribution, some EN sailors with limited diesel propulsion experience will also remain EN, as determined by enlisted community managers.
     "You hear talk about putting the engine back in engineman. That's the focus: to get sailors working on the equipment that they're trained to work on," said Lt. David M. Andrews, executive officer, SWOSCU. "We want to holistically approach the entire training systems from the accession stage training to the fleet concentration area of training to the journeyman level of training that they get at the "C" School level. It should all support what we need them to do in the fleet and the fleet requirements."
    Andrews explains that OPNAV has assessed that they had a group of engineman that were working on primarily on ancillary and auxiliary equipment and the majority of enginemen in the U.S. Navy weren't working on propulsion systems and engines although they're called engineman.
    Additionally, machinist's mates were commonly working on steam propulsion systems but they weren't working on ancillary and auxiliary equipment.
    "Through an assessment of job performance and years and years of data, someone said, 'Hey, it doesn't make sense that we are providing a lot of this accession and journeyman level to engineman but then they aren't capitalizing on that knowledge when they get to the fleet,'" said Andrews.
    Along the way, the determination was made to realign the training to support realistically what engineman are going to do in the Navy and what MM are going to do.
    The realignment lengthens MM training and shortens EN training — four days removed from one course and added to another.
    In the EN accession stage that was referred to as an EN strand, there was a core that was focused around propulsion and engines and a separate section that was focused on ancillary and auxiliary systems.
    "We eliminated a large portion of that auxiliary portion from the EN strand and added that to the Engineman Strand," said Andrews. "You're talking about a change four days total from EN to MM. That's going to coincide with an increase in MM throughput and a decrease in EN throughput over the course of the next several fiscal years."
    "For the last six or seven years we have used 'strands' and that was a word that was designed to indicate that they were going to get some specialized training in a particular rating," said ENCS Eric Gereau, an instructor. "We think it's best to go back to the old way of training in this regard as there is a technical difference between a strand and an "A" School, and "A" School is going to focus on a more specific skill set for a participating rating."
    Gereau knows many enginemen who have never dealt with propulsion diesel or otherwise; they have only dealt with ancillary support systems.
    "When you say engineman to the layman, they think it's a person who works on engines. It hasn't been that way for a long time," he said. "When you think of a machinist's mate, you think of someone who works with machinery. By doing this we can say that this person is an EN and they work on engines, and this person is a MM and they're going to be largely responsible for ancillary equipment and steam propulsion."
    The FTS EN rating, which has about 280 sailors, will be disestablished Oct. 1. After an extensive review of advancement opportunity, career diversity and the reduction of FTS EN billets resulting from the EN/MM rating realignment, officials decided to remove the EN rating from the FTS program.
    These sailors can remain FTS and convert to another FTS rating that has convert-in quotas; remain in the EN rating or convert to MM and reenlist in the active component; request early separation; or if eligible, transfer to the fleet/reserve or retire by Sept. 30.
    "This is going to be a really great improvement for the Navy," said Roberts. "A lot of time and thought went into it. We're always looking at ways we can do things better and this is clearly one of things we're doing."