YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Thousands of sailors may face separation or reassignment within the Navy if they can’t prove their worth, according to a Navy message released Thursday.
Starting June 1, the Navy’s Perform to Serve program will expand to include sailors E-6 and below with more than 10 years of service but less than 14.
The move is the Navy’s latest effort to trim the force. According to the message, Perform to Serve, or PTS, "is a vital part of the Navy’s total force strategy and provides an opportunity to keep the best and brightest sailors in order to meet future fleet and manpower requirements."
Every sailor in this group whose end of obligated service falls on or after Feb. 1, 2010, will be required to submit an application, regardless of their re-enlistment intentions, the message stated.
"Sailors can request to remain in their current rating, convert to another rating or stay in their current rating but be willing to convert," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Johannes Gonzales, Yokosuka’s regional career counselor.
According to a Navy Personnel Command news release Thursday, "the expansion of the PTS program allows the Navy greater flexibility to control the number of sailors in specific ratings and provides better advancement opportunities for sailors, while helping the Navy manage manpower requirements."
The release also said that almost 90 percent of sailors who applied for PTS in 2008 remained in their current rating. Quality sailors who hold ratings in overmanned fields may be offered re-enlistment in an undermanned rating, officials said. However, sailors with a poor performance history might not be granted permission to re-enlist.
Gonzales said a sailor’s end result will be based upon the needs of the Navy. But, he added, "I don’t see performing sailors being sent home."
Gonzales stressed that sailors need to be aware of their records and personal development. "If you’re asked to change ratings, you need to make sure that your ASVAB scores qualify you for the new rating."
Gonzales said sailors are eligible to retake their armed services vocational aptitude and battery tests at any point in their career.
Exemptions to the program include E-6 and below sailors whose obligated service ends before Feb. 1, 2010, those currently under permanent-change-of-station orders, those approved for a selective re-enlistment bonus and those selected for the rank of E-7.
