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Letters

No need for new uniform

I have been in the Navy for 16 years. I served my first eight years in the fleet and the last eight in the Seabees. I have been all over the world. I have felt all extremes of cold, hot, humid, and just plain nasty weather and have had to PT in it all, and I tell you the truth: The sweats they currently sell in the Navy exchanges are about as good as they’re going to get.

They are simply designed for one function, and you can do just that. The Navy coming up with a fitness suit is a real waste of time. Anyone who has had to do command PT knows that you are up and down on the ground and grass. You have to run no matter what the weather is. How long will this uniform really last under those conditions?

The sweats are perfect for this. You can pull them on and off, no problem. You can get them dirty. All you have to do is throw them in the washer, and they come out clean.

They’re inexpensive to replace, and they’re comfortable.

The Navy Uniform Matters Office should change the Navy logo on the sweats to the new Navy logo on the new PT shirts and shorts, and then require every sailor to have a pair.

-- EO1 (SCW) James G. Florez, Port Hueneme, Calif.

Left, right or both?

The “Here’s why” item [June 1] stated that it is unknown why, prior to 1947, some sailors wore rating badges on the left arm and others on the right.

Originally, when petty officer rating badges were established in the 1886 uniform regulations, rating badges were worn on the arm indicating the watch: Right arm for the starboard watch, left arm for the port watch.

In the 1913 uniform regulations, this was changed: The seaman ratings (boatswain’s mate, fire controlman, gunner’s mate, mineman, quartermaster, signalman, torpedoman and turret captain) wore their rating badges on the right sleeve while others (artificer branch, engineering force, and all others) wore them on the left sleeve. Finally, in 1948’s change to the 1947 uniform regulations, “Right Arm Ratings” were eliminated so that everyone wore their rating badges on the left arm.

A one-year grace period allowed for the wearing of right-arm badges on the left arm (this meant the eagle would face toward the back instead of the front and was done to allow for stocks on hand to be used up).

This information is documented in “U.S. Navy Rating Badges, Specialty Marks, and Distinguishing Marks, 1885-1982” by John A. Stacey.

-- Cmdr. Dianne Daniels (ret.), Gold Beach, Ore.

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Right-arm rates had better basic seaman skills than staff, supply and engineering. In certain situations, right-arm rates “outranked” left-arm rates and all nonline officers; the rule was “right over left.”

In a lifeboat situation involving a Supply Corps rear admiral, a boiler tender chief, a third-class quartermaster and nine seamen, the QM3 would be in command of the life boat and all aboard until they were either rescued or they rescued someone with a higher right-arm rate or a line officer.

I learned the above from my old chief quartermaster, who was my instructor when I was a quartermaster striker. I think the chief forgot more about the sea than Neptune ever knew. I can still determine a line of position to this day, and he taught me some 45 years ago.

-- Army Lt. Col. Robert Rossow (ret.), Las Cruces, N.M.

Take differences seriously

Navy Times makes light of a Taliban spokesman suggesting in-theater female American service members are a source of rising tension in Pakistan [“True story,” May 18]. The comment: “What he’s really afraid of: How that might inspire Pakistan’s 85 million women.”

But ignoring cultural differences has hurt our efforts to build relationships. Our faux pas, including using women at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee facility, have been employed in rousing opposition and recruiting. Religious sensibilities and morals different from our own are very strong in many parts of the world.

We cannot afford to ignore such cultural differences and expect to be successful.

-- Ronald S. Sheinson, Silver Spring, Md.

True meaning of ‘shipmate’

There was an article last year in the Navy Times about how chiefs ruined the word “shipmate” [“‘Shipmate’ turns sour,” Aug. 4]. I read the article, and like many I spoke with, I was saddened and a bit perplexed. “Shipmate” is and always has been a sacred word.

Even though several months have passed since that particular article, it was the first thing I thought about after recent events in my life.

I have been stationed at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on an unaccompanied tour for the past 10 months. My wife, Jodi, has been in and out of the hospital with our 2-year-old son, who had occasional bloody noses, flulike symptoms and numerous ear infections to the point where we were waiting for a surgery consultation.

One weekend while Jodi was doing spring cleaning, she noticed strips of mold along the baseboard. Housing maintenance came in that Sunday, then again on Monday, and determined there was a water leak inside the wall. They estimated there was 30 square feet of mold inside the wall — a huge factor in my son getting sick.

Because of the toxins, housing immediately found a new place for us to live; however, a funded move wouldn’t be possible for a minimum of two weeks. Jodi, pressing to get our three sons out, began the tireless efforts to arrange such a large short-notice move. The housing office was especially helpful.

I contacted my former command and spoke with a chief I had worked for a year prior. I requested assistance, knowing I still had a few friends stationed there. Within two hours, a senior chief I had never met contacted Jodi and informed her that the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., security department would assist her with all available resources and move her on Friday, three days from then.

At 10 a.m., approximately 25 to 30 security department personnel showed up with a 5-ton flatbed truck and numerous other personal trucks. Within two hours, the majority of the house had been moved, all tackled by many who simply knew me as “a shipmate.”

I am grateful for NAS Whidbey Island’s security department and for the support of all those shipmates who have helped me when it mattered most throughout my naval career.

The word “shipmate” means mentor, friend and family.

-- MA1 (SW) Jason M. Stewart, Riverside, Calif.