Military History of the Chief Essay

In April of 1893, petty officers were reclassified and the ranking of chief petty officer was established. Until 1949 ranking badges were worn on the right or left sleeve, depending on whether the person in question was on the starboard or port watch. Since February 1948, all unique marks have been worn on the left sleeve between the shoulder and elbow (Navy Uniform History, 2010).

The command at sea pin was established in 1960 to recognize the responsibilities placed on those officers of the Navy who are in command, or who have effectively commanded, ships and aircraft squadrons of the fleet. The element parts, a commission pennant, an anchor, and the line star, were determined to be perfectly suited for a design which would be symbolic in the ready recognition of those officers who have attained the highly coveted and accountable title of Commanding Officer of our commissioned units at sea (Navy Uniform History, 2010).

Currently the service khaki uniform is the sole area of officers and Chief Petty Officers. It is a khaki button-up shirt and trousers, worn with a gold belt buckle. The shirt features two front flap pockets and a pointed collar. Ribbons are to be worn above the left pocket of the shirt, with the warfare insignia over them. A nametag may be worn on top of the right pocket, and rank insignia is worn on the collar. The rules and regulations for ribbons state the highest three, or all ribbons can be worn at once. There are three kinds of headgear that are authorized. Regularly, a khaki garrison cap or command ball cap is worn, but a khaki combination cover is also allowed (United States Navy Uniform Regulations NAVPERS 1566, 2009). The official shoes for this uniform are black oxfords, but customarily, brown shoes are worn by aviation connected officers and Chief Petty Officers. The black shoes are worn with black socks, and the brown with khaki socks (Shoes, 2005).

Chief petty officers wear a Navy 5/8-inch by on inch black metal insignia of grade on each collar point of the khaki long sleeve shirt in the same manner as the officers' insignia and also on the khaki short sleeve shirt. The black metal 1-1/4-inch device of the size worn with the garrison cap is to be worn on each collar point of the utility uniform, in the same manner as worn on the short sleeve khaki shirt (Chapter 8: Uniforms for Navy Personnel, Reserve/Retired Marines, MCJROTC and Civilians, n.d.). Recently announced in the NAVADMIN, are modifications to the occasion of wear of the Navy and command ball caps. The ball caps are certified for wear with the following uniforms: wash khaki, utilities, physical training uniform, coveralls, and flight suit (Uniform Changes Include CPO Cutlass, Ball Caps, 2010).

References

Chapter 8: Uniforms for Navy Personnel, Reserve/Retired Marines, MCJROTC and Civilians.

(n.d.). Retrieved August 26, 2010, from Web site:

http://www.marcorsyscom.usmc.mil/sites/mcub/library/MCUR/URCH8.htm

Navy Uniform History. (2010). Retrieved August 25, 2010, from About Web site:

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/navy/l/bluniformhist.htm

Shoes. (2005). Retrieved August 26, 2010, from Navy Department Library Web site:

http://www.webcitation.org/5kYkWigee.

Uniform Changes Include CPO Cutlass, Ball Caps. (2010). Retrieved August 26, 2010, from Navy Newsstand Web site:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2010/04/mil-100402-nns07.htm

United States Navy Uniform Regulations NAVPERS 1566. (2009). Retrieved August 26, 2010,

from Navy Personnel Command Web site:

http://www.npc.navy.mil/CommandSupport/USNavyUniforms/UniformRegulations/…