US Navy panel to weigh creating new senior chief rating
The Navy plans to assemble a panel made up of master chiefs to consider if expanding the command senior chief petty officer program should include giving some E-8s their own rating, the Navy Times reports.
The effort to develop command-level senior enlisted personnel earlier than normal simply is meant to increase the Navy's pool, the Times reported.
Fleet Master Chief Scott Benning, senior enlisted adviser to the Chief of Naval Personnel, was quoted as saying the expansion isn't about duplicating the “chief of the boat program” now in used on submarines, but said the program under consideration could borrow parts from that program that could be used across the Navy.
The existing process often leaves command senior chief billets vacant. That could especially a problem down the road because the number of slots in the command senior chief program is due to increase in the coming years as more littoral combat ships join the fleet, the Navy Times reported.
The bottom line is to develop more senior enlisted leaders earlier, but that the process will take time, the Navy Times quoted Benning.
Source: The Navy Times
