Storekeepers, postal clerks might merge

[unhappycamper]

Postal Clerk 1st Class (SW/AW) Milagritos Pastrana and PCC (SW/AW) Michael Beando sort mail in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk on June 4. Pastrana and Beando both say a merger with the much larger storekeeper rating would expand career opportunity for PCs.


Storekeepers, postal clerks might merge
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 9, 2008 8:10:20 EDT

ABOARD THE CARRIER KITTY HAWK IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN — Navy officials have a plan on the table to merge the postal clerk and storekeeper ratings into a new logistics specialist rating.

If approved, the move would go into effect Oct. 1, 2009, and affect more than 9,000 sailors in the two career fields. The new rating would have the abbreviation LS, though no word yet if the SK badge would be used or if a new badge will be created.

The merger still requires the approval of Vice Adm. Mark Ferguson, chief of naval personnel, and ultimately Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead.

“It’s necessary and will give postal clerks a much better shot at advancement and career options,” said Chief Postal Clerk (SW/AW) Michael Beando, the senior postal clerk in the Kitty Hawk Strike Group. “It really does make a lot of sense.”

In Beando’s case, it means a much better shot at advancing to E-8 and E-9, he said, since the PC rating has only 10 senior chiefs and six master chiefs. In the SK rating, those numbers are 271 and 68, respectively.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/06/navy_merger_060708w/