In the fall of 1958 a selection board was convened at the Navy Department Annex in Arlington, Virginia. Composed of twenty commanders and lieutenant commanders under the head of the BuPers Enlisted Performance Branch, the board had a rather unusual assignment: to examine the service records of 4,500 chief petty officers (pay grade E7) and come up with the Navy’s first group of senior CPOs (pay grade E8) and master CPOs (pay grade E9). This E8/E9 Selection Board thus became the first Navy Department selection board to select men for advancement within the enlisted grades. One of the most far-reaching effects of Mr. Ralph Cordiner’s committee on Professional and Technical Compensation—by way of the Kilday Bill—was beginning to make itself known in the Navy.
Since the end of World War II, the “enlisted career Navy” has experienced several fast-breaking developments in the area of career incentive and attractiveness. But for sheer impact, none of these compares with the creation of the two new grades. It is not so much that they were created, as where they were created—which was at the very top of the existing enlisted rating structure.
Simply stated, the Navy, along with the other services, has opened up new horizons for its career enlisted men. The young recruit giving thought to a career sees not six, but seven or eight separate, steps ahead of him; each requiring more from him, and each offering more to him. In the light of daily turn-to and production, the new grades offer in foremanship and in administrative matters two new steps; in craftsmanship, two new levels, along with a definite break between the journeyman craftsman and the master craftsman. In military matters the new enlisted grades offer a means for placing some of the company top kicks in the regimental sergeant major posts, figuratively speaking.
Here are some briefing points about the Navy’s new E8/E9 grades. The first group was advanced on 16 November 1958. Of the Navy’s 47,200 active duty CPOs at that time, about 19,000 had, in August, taken a Navywide examination of 150 multiple choice questions, a different exam for each of the Navy’s 64 ratings. In order to give the board a manageable number of service records to work with (namely 4,500), cutting scores were applied. Final selection was 922 E8s (whose rating badge sports a star above the eagle’s head) and 149 E9’s (a star above each wing tip). The numbers will increase each year. By late 1962 they are expected to level off at 2,800 E9s and 8,600 E8s as contrasted with 33,700 E7s. Differentials in authority and responsibility and plans for the new billets for those selected are still being developed. But the basic pay difference started 16 November and it is not small: sixteen years’ service for E7—$340, E8—$360, E9—$420; 26 years’ service for E7—$350, E8—$380, E9—$440.1
Across the Board with 47,200 CPOs. At the time of the first E8/E9 selections, the Navy mustered 47,200 active duty CPOs. For every 100 CPOs there were 137 commissioned officers, ten warrant officers, and 1,125 bluejackets. These CPOs ranged all the way from World War I veterans with hashmarks-to-the- elbows to young fellows in their twenties who, through a combination of right rating, good timing, brainwork, and zealous application to duty, got their gold buttons in less than seven years. The entire CPO corps might be considered in three broad groups.
First were those still aiming toward warrant and commissioned grades, approximately 10,000 to 12,000 men. Though their main interests were “up and out” of the enlisted ranks, they were a distinct asset to the uniform. Being younger men, however, they lacked enough time in service (eleven years for E8; thirteen years for E9) to be candidates.
The second group formed the main body of the Navy’s corps of chiefs, numbering approximately 25,000 to 30,000. They were for the greater part carrying out their foreman- craftsman-military-man duties in a somewhat pedestrian manner. The great majority of this second group entered the Navy during the years 1939-1946 and made chief during the first quarter or third of their planned-for twenty or 22-year career. “After the first six years, what?” they had once asked themselves, and responded accordingly. Some tended to slide, some plodded along, and some produced a good deal. This whole group, of course, had its upper and its lower reaches. It is from the former that we must assume the E8/E9 Selection Board did most of its gleaning.
Then there was a third group totaling from 7,000 to 9,000. They were not, to put it briefly, producing. Perhaps at one time they had been efficient and capable producers, but at the time of the Kilday Bill’s passage, there was little production and little zeal for the Navy in this group.
Effects of the New Grades. The first major effect is the great increase in studies. Second is the re-appraisal of the evaluation of the CPO by his division officer, his department head, and his commanding officer. Third is the requirement for finding new jobs for the E8s and E9s—which in today’s Navy means designating or creating billets. A future consequence, and bound to be an interesting one, is the effect of the new grades on the warrant officer program.
Navy wide, both ashore and aboard ship, the amount of studying done by CPOs is at a new high and the number of enlisted applications at the Navy’s Correspondence Course Center is the greatest since its founding. Senior enlisted men have made an about face in this matter. Texts and manuals about enlisted ratings and general military/naval matters have always been available, but for a long time systematic, concentrated study of these texts and manuals was simply not done. This was partly due to the absence of having any higher goals in mind and also to the fact that it could be considered an open admission of insufficient knowledge of his own rating on the part of the student. Occasionally a man might pull a Naval Training Manual, or Navy Regs, or Knight’s Modern Seamanship from the book rack and look up a specific item, but making a systematic study of them was quite another matter.
Certain encouraging incidents observed recently should brighten the days of the Navy’s training officials. For instance, four CPOs from destroyers who were spending a Saturday afternoon at the local Navy beach had with them a General Training Course for Petty Officers and a Manual for Courts Martial. For close to four hours they quizzed one another on these texts. Another group of CPOs made it a practice to meet at one another’s apartment two nights a week and put in joint study efforts. And one particular local Information and Education Office had difficulty in keeping up with the demand for texts and manuals.
Evaluations Take On a New Importance. Assuming that a CPO is otherwise qualified, his first step in attaining E8/E9 grade is to receive his commanding officer’s recommendation. Commanding officers have been enjoined to be selective in making recommendations and to base them upon superior performance in all aspects of the rating—with “particular emphasis in the fields of military leadership and administrative ability.” The recommendation must be accompanied by an Enlisted Evaluation Report that contains boxes for marks in five traits: professional performance, military behavior, leadership and supervisory ability, military appearance, adaptability. The mark for each of these traits can be a point of contention between the CPO and the officer doing the marking—who almost always is either the division officer or the department head. Formerly it really did not make much difference in most cases what kind of marks were assigned in the semiannual evaluations, for most CPOs did not have any advancements in mind. But that has all changed. Now a considerable advancement opportunity beckons. Standing between the aspirant and his goal are a division officer and a department head. The Commanding Officer is very much in evidence, too, for he sets the local standards and does the final screening.
New Jobs for the New E8s and E9s. Up to this point the subject has been mainly the effects of the new grades on the men of the CPO corps. There is, however, a larger effect to be considered—the effect of the new grades on the personnel organization and structure of the Navy. The Kilday Bill said, “Here are two new pay grades.” The Navy then began selecting the particular men for those grades, but the triad had to be rounded out. The third step remained—designating billets, or identifying jobs, for the new E8s and E9s. The process has only just started.
Billet engineering this type work has been called. It involves, over-all, an exceptionally detailed knowledge of the multitudinous jobs of the enlisted Navy. Steps are now being taken to create the following types of job billets:
• Rating—Billets that demand the maximum in supervisory qualifications and require the talents of a specified rating for the proper execution of the duties involved. Only a senior or master CPO of the specified rating can fill the bill. Examples: A Senior Chief Quartermaster in a SOPA plans and operations office or in a hydrographic survey ship; a Master Electronics Technician in an Electronics Repair Facility.
• General—Billets that demand the maximum in leadership qualifications and general knowledge of the naval service, with virtually no demand for the talents of the specified rating. These can be filled by any senior or master CPO. Examples: Chief-in-Charge at a Permanent Shore Patrol activity; Leading instructor at a Recruit Training Command; Chief-in-Charge of a Naval Station’s Special Services program.
• Organizational—Billets that require both professional supervisory and general leadership qualifications of a superior nature. These are billets in divisions, departments or other naval components—and in ships—which include the traditional “leading chief” functions in addition to the regular rating type duties. An example is a single department of a major activity that currently has a large number of E7 billets. One of these billets would be up-graded to an E8 billet to provide for the additional leading chief function that now is being done by the CPO who currently has seniority.
Even from the few examples listed above, it appears that most of the new E8/E9 billets will be created from those already designated as E7 billets. Which is another way of saying that there are, in fact, some E7 billets that are a cut or two above other E7 billets. Authority does exist, however, to request new billets and it is, in part, dependent upon a reorganization in which an E7 billet must be surrendered.
Into the Realm of the Warrant Officer. Thus on the one hand there will be those billets created by up-grading many of the present E7 billets. On the other hand will be those created where none had previously existed. Many of the latter type will be those that would normally be filled by a warrant officer. Up to this point little mention has been made of the warrant officers. The issue has to be faced, though, and in matters too important to be disregarded, it is almost certain that the E8s and E9s will be cutting in on the area of the warrants. Some considerations are:
• First, stiffer service requirements—A mere six years’ total naval service is required for promotion to warrant, which is five years less than that needed for promotion to E8 and less than half the service needed for promotion to E9. A PO1/c may be promoted directly to warrant.
• Second, strengthened career paths—The two new grades opened a fourth path of advancement from the E6/E7 levels. (The other three: commissioned officer integration program; limited duty officer program; warrant officer program.) The official statement on this matter is: “While men in pay grades E8 and E9 are not precluded from the officer and warrant programs, they will normally remain in a career enlisted status.”
• Third, lengthier careers—“It is to be emphasized that under the intent of the law, these are considered to be 30-year career enlisted pay grades which do not normally lead to warrant or commissioned status. Pay grades E7 and below are normally considered to be 20-year career plans.” That is the official statement on the subject of service for E8s and E9s. (The upshot of the second and third factors is that a considerable body of long-service men is soon going to be quite substantially established.)
• Fourth, basic pay and numbers—The basic pay for an E9 averages out higher than that for the first two grades of warrant. In numbers, by late 1962 the E8/E9 count will be more than double that of all four grades of warrant.
• Fifth, no cutting-in downward—. . . there is no change in qualifications, titles or prestige in the existing lower pay grades, and the responsibilities and authority assigned to personnel in pay grade E7 (chief petty officers) will not be diminished.” Again, the official statement on the subject.
The sum total of these factors is that “there is no place for the super chiefs to go but up.” Some have said that they foresee no area of conflict here—and that the senior and master chiefs need not cut in on the area of the warrants. But all the facts seem to indicate otherwise. They may not cut in lower and they can not hold a neutral position.
A Creed for the Super Chiefs. As one goes about his duties in the Navy—one who has read the Proceedings over the years—it is interesting indeed to observe how the points made in an article will often “come home.” A case in point is an article published in the Proceedings soon after the end of World War IE The author was a captain who had failed of selection for rear admiral. In his article he philosophized that those who had been selected were not selected as a reward for past service . . . though their past service had demonstrated that they had what the Navy requires of its flag officers. Instead he believed that their being selected meant that they must make even more efforts in the future than in the past. The captain’s idea seems to be fairly widespread among those who have won promotion to E8/E9. “A wonderful break, yes,” these chiefs agree, “but no license to retire to the CPOs’ quarters and the acey-deucey game.”
Now comes the challenge of setting the standards of performance for the Navy’s “super chiefs.” All those E8s/E9s of the future will be judged against the reputations established by the first group.
1. For a further breakdown of numbers and a brief overview of the new pay grades, see “The New Look in Chief Petty Officers—Master and Senior,” page 129, January, 1959 Proceedings.