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More sailors to join new AW rating in October

It’s official: All enlisted aircrew will fall under one general rating — and five subratings — after the consolidation effort wraps up in 2009.

Final approval has been given to merge all 1,600 active and 550 full-time support fixed-wing aircrewmen into the AW consolidated rating, where they will join their 2,800 helicopter aircrew counterparts on Oct. 1 of this year.

The new rating will be labeled “naval aircrewman” but still will be abbreviated “AW” despite the fact that its members no longer will be referred to as aviation warfare systems operators. Sailors will continue to wear the AW insignia.

All E-6 through E-9 selected reservists will convert to the rating Oct. 1. E-5 and below drilling reservists and those in the Individual Ready Reserve will convert April 1, 2009, completing the process.

“Really [no other abbreviation] was available,” said Mike Otten, the avionics and aircrew enlisted community manager for Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tenn. “AC would have made sense, but that’s already taken.”

The move finishes a process that began in 2005, when all helicopter enlisted aircrew were moved from the nine aviation source ratings into AW. At the time, the fixed-wing sailors were left out as officials discussed how best to complete the merger.

“Now they’ll all be in the AW rating, but everyone will fall into one of five service ratings,” Otten said.

The aircrew qualification pin will continue to be worn by sailors, but it soon could become a full-fledged warfare pin, similar to the enlisted surface warfare pin, for AW sailors.

A proposal is working its way through the system that would create a complete warfare program along the lines of the Expeditionary Warfare Specialist program. Approved in 2006, the qualification that sailors complete is directly related to their job.

For example, a P-3 Orion flight engineer would do a separate warfare qualification course than a helicopter anti-submarine warfare sailor. Though officials are optimistic this will become part of the AW career path, it is not a done deal.

The reason for the five subratings, Otten said, was to better manage the community, detail sailors into the correct job for their requisite skills, and make sure they are tested and advanced based on those skills.

The move will be automatic for E-6 sailors and below. Those who do not wish to stay aircrew must say so in writing and will be kept in a flying status until they transfer, when they will then fall under their old source rating detailer.

It’s a little different for chiefs and up. They will be required to notify their detailers of their intention to stay aircrew or revert to their source rating by Oct. 1.

All of those who opt out of the merger will still be allowed to wear their aircrew qualification pin — but they’ll have to pay back a prorated portion of any re-enlistment bonus they received based on an aircrew NEC.

Those who convert will be allowed to wear their source rating badges until their next advancement or two years from their conversion date. The lower paygrades in the rating will be wide open, and there’s opportunity for nonaircrew sailors to convert into the rating, officials say.

“We’re a little undermanned in the lower paygrades but slightly overmanned in the khaki grades,” Otten said. “We won’t know the full extent of that until we complete the merger and all the khaki state their intentions.”

This fall’s petty officer exams for sailors in the old source ratings will be separate and will be merged by next spring. For those going up for E-7, the first combined chiefs’ exam will be early next year.

All of next year’s active and reserve E-8 and E-9 selection boards also will be merged.

Ratings and NECs

Sailors in the new naval aircrewman rating (AW) will be assigned a subrating based on their naval enlisted classifications. How those NECs will translate:

* AWR (naval aircrewman tac-helicopter): 7873, H-60B; 7876, H-60F; 7875, H-60R.

* AWS (naval aircrewman tac-helicopter): 7805, H-60S; 7807, HH-60H utility; 7815, SAR; 7885 H-53 utility; 7886, H-53 AMCM.

* AWO (naval aircrewman operator): 7835, TSC operator; 7841, P-3 acoustic; 7861, P-3 nonacoustic.

* AWF (naval aircrewman mechanical): 8206, C-130 mech; 8208, C-130 2nd LM; 8209, C-40 crew chief; 8220, C-130 LM; 8227, E-6B reel operator; 8235, E-6B FE; 8241, C-12 utility; 8245, C-20 crew chief; 8250, C-9 crew chief; 8251, P-3 FE; 8252, C-130 FE; 8278, C-130 LM; 8279, C-2 LM; 8289, TSS head.

* AWV (naval aircrewman avionics): 8228, E-6B comm; 8229, E-6B IFT; 8265, P-3 comm; 8284, EP-3 EW operator; 9401, EP-3 IFT; 9402, P-3C AIP IFT.

Source: Navy Personnel Command