That means that E-9 active-duty sailors and reservists serving as constructionman master chiefs, equipmentman master chiefs and utilities constructionman master chiefs will all fall under the new, single Seabee master chief rating.
The Navy’s objective merging these ratings into one is to allow sailors a stronger chance of promotion, the service said. The new change allows the most qualified senior chiefs to advance to Seabee master chief based on their qualifications, rather than waiting for vacancies in source ratings, according to the Navy.
“After an extensive review of current Naval Construction Force (NCF) master chief billets was conducted, it was determined that the majority of the billets can be filled by any Seabee master chief regardless of source rating,” Vice Adm. John B. Nowell Jr., said in a recent NAVADMIN.
“This initiative directly supports Sailor 2025 and Rating Modernization by creating an opportunity for the NCF to leverage a larger pool of qualified senior chiefs to advance to master chief,” Nowell said.
The change is slated to take effect on March 15, and will be done automatically. The Navy will not issue a new rating badge, but rather the existing rating badges will remain.
The single rating will be used for the first time during active duty and reserve FY2022 selection boards for E-9, which are scheduled for April and June this year.