Jeremy is hard at work on his ship studying and completing PQSs for ESWS qualification. What that means is he has a spiral book called Personnel Qualification Standard which has in it a bunch of topics on what he’s trying to qualify for and a bunch of signature lines for someone to sign once he’s demonstrated he knows that topic. What he’s trying to qualify for is Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist. By the way, ESWS is pronounced “ees-swas.” He was able to complete the damage control (just what it sounds like–fighting fires, keeping the ship from flooding, that sort of thing–every sailor has to learn this) portion on his last ship and now, if he has time he will work on the ship specific portion. It all depends on how long he is on this ship, which he doesn’t know yet. If he is able to work on the book and get it all signed off, then he has to study for the test. After he takes and passes the test, then he has to study for the board. This is where he and anyone else who’s also “taking ESWS board” goes into a room that has a bunch of chiefs, which is a scary thing. Chiefs are E-7 and above and are senior enlisted members and are subject area experts in their field. Their purpose in the board is to ask the sailor a bunch of questions, hard questions, and decide who gets qualified and who, in their opinion, isn’t ready yet. So if he passes the board, then he is considered surface warfare qualified, and is presented with a certificate and a pin.
The pin is the important part. You wear that with all your uniforms (working uniforms have a sewn-on version) and it lets everyone know you’re warfare qualified and is rather a status symbol. Plus, new Navy policy is that all E-5s and above have to be warfare qualified.
I’m working on my EEXWS (pronounced EXW), that is, Enlisted Expeditionary Warfare Specialist. I have two spiral books to complete (general and specific to my command). After I get both signed off, I study for and take a test and then study for and pass a board. The procedure is very much the same. The pin looks different, though.
The EXW pin is a new one. In fact, the whole idea of expeditionary warfare as such in the Navy is a post 9-11 one. My command, whose job is to protect high-value assets around the globe (but for us, specifically here in the Middle East) was formed post 9-11. The idea is mobile groups of sailors who can act like soldiers and go anywhere they’re needed to do the mission they need to do. We protect the supply train while it is on the water (in big ships–not an actual train, of course). It’s as simple as that.
Most of the people involved in expeditionary warfare are the MAs and GMs that I work with (Master-at-arms (formerly the Navy’s “policemen”) and Gunner’s Mates–they take care of weapons–important job) and Seabees (construction ratings–they go into hostile places (like Iraq) and build things–basically the idea of a hammer in one hand and a gun in the other). So far there’s only been 1 OS (Operations Specialist–my rate–knowing the operational environment of the ship–using radar and other systems to constantly moniter the area around the ship to include other ships, aircraft, and even submarines–very interesting–you always know exactly where you are and what’s going on around you) who has gotten the pin. And that is OS1 Marcus Green, who used to be at my command and who was my boss for a month before his replacement came. I was at his pinning ceremony. So what this means is, there’s room for other OSs to become EXW qualified. And it also means that NO female OSs have gotten their EXW pin. So, do you think I could be the first one? Maybe. There is another female OS here–OS1 Smith, my boss. She’s studying for EXW too. We’ll just have to wait and see, right? But either way, it’d be cool to have it. When I go to my next command no other OS will have it. Chances are they won’t have heard of it, since it’s so new, so they’ll be asking me, “What’s that pin?” And I’ll tell them. But then they’ll probably start bugging me to get my surface pin, since that’s the important one for OSs. Oh, well…. At least I’ll have one.
But I’ll have to earn it first of course. At least now that we’ve started having formal training it will be easier. Having somebody explain something, even lecture you, is easier to learn from than trying to get the information from reading a document or powerpoint.
In other news I lost my ID card yesterday and had to get a new one. My old one was starting to fall apart, so I needed a new one anyway. But there were issues with taking my picture due to my glasses glaring. The one I ended up with was fine but then in making it the machine turned it a sickly yellow-green. So it looks like I have some terminal disease. And I had to tip my head down in order to keep my glasses from glaring so I look like I have a weird expression on my face too. So my picture is rather on the ghastly side. Why “official photo” machines mangle photos is a question I cannot answer. But it is well known that driver’s license and other ID photos always look bad. You’re probably telling me, “Just look at mine,” right? At least yours doesn’t look like you’ve caught the Plague. Or something worse. My only comfort is that there are others with bad photos too…. Misery does love company after all.