Today’s Logistics Specialist rating (LS) is an amalgam of several ratings, the result of mergers that began in the early 2000s. Compared to the Chief Warrant Officer and Limited Duty Officer paths of advancement that were open to Sailors in those now-defunct ratings, however, LS Sailors have a much narrower road leading to either type of commissioning.
In 1994, there were five source ratings for commissioning as a CWO or LDO, in both cases in the Supply Corps with officer designators 751x (Supply Corps Warrant) or 651x (LDO Supply Corps). These included Disbursing Clerk, a rating changed to Personnel Specialist (PS) in 2005; Storekeeper (SK), which wound up being merged into LS in 2009; Aviation Storekeeper, which merged into SK in 2003; Ship’s Serviceman (SH), and Data Processing Technician, presumably because of the experience using ADP systems that rating provided.
Fast forward to 2009. Although the establishment of the LS rating through the merger of the SK and Postal Clerk (PC) ratings was announced in 2008 and officially began on October 1, 2009, there is no mention of the newly created rating in the 2009 Enlisted To Officer Commissioning Programs Application Administrative Manual. Also, the source ratings for the CWO 751x and LDO 651x designators had understandably had been modified to reflect ratings changes. Two of the earlier source ratings, Ship’s Serviceman and Storekeeper, were still in effect, and Disbursing Clerk was still a source but under the new name of Personnel Specialist (PS).
Culinary Specialist, which was previously Mess Management Specialist, was now a source for both 751x and 651x designators, when in the mid-1990s it had been the sole source for 752x, Food Service Warrant. (CS still remained a source for that CWO category as well). Finally, Postal Clerk (PC) had been added as a source rating for both the CWO and LDO categories; previously, the PC Sailor’s path of advancement had been 741x, Ship’s Clerk, and the LDO 641 category of Administration.
Published two years after the Logistics Specialist rating had been created, the 2011 The Limited Duty Officer And Chief Warrant Officer Professional Guidebook finally listed the path of advancement for Sailors in the new LS rating. By now, there were only two source ratings for CWO Supply Corps— Logistics Specialist and Ship’s Serviceman—and three for LDO designator 651x (CS, LS, SH). The bad news is that this publication also announced that the 751X CWO designator was being phased out and that no new accessions would be taking place.
Apparently, either that phasing-out process has been halted or someone forgot to give the memo to The Navy Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (COOL) Web Site. As of August 2016, it lists two source ratings for CWO Supply Corps, Culinary Specialist and Ship’s Serviceman. The same site also lists three source ratings for an LDO position in the Supply Corps, the same two as CWO plus Personnel Specialist.
And what about Logistics Specialists? While the Navy COOL site does not point to any CWO or LDO paths of advancement for Sailors in the LS Rating, the Logistics Specialist Learning and Development Roadmap, or LaDR, published in June 2016, specifically lists LDO as a possible promotion for Sailors who reach the paygrade of E6 (First Class Logistics Specialist) or higher.
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