U.S. NAVY CWO SHIP REPAIR TECHNICIAN SOFT EPAULETS

us navy soft shoulder board wo2 (rt) repair technician

In 2015, the United States Navy drastically reduced the number of Chief Warrant Officer Designators, in some instances placing its emphasis on acquiring officers from enlisted personnel on the Limited Duty Officer (LDO) program. (All Bandmasters are now gained through the LDO program, for example.) At the start of the year, nearly thirty CWO Designators were listed (twenty-eight, to be precise), but by May the number had been cut to just nine. Among those that were removed was the Repair Technician (Surface) and Repair Technician (Submarine).

These included four Surface CWO Designators (Boatswain, Engineering Technician, Operations Technician, and Ordnance Technician), Combat Craft Technician, Special Warfare Technician, Data Processing Technician, Information Warfare Technician, and Intelligence Technician.

Besides leaning more heavily on its LDO program, the Navy might have found that it had acquired a more than sufficient amount of CWO Repair Technicians over the years, and that there simply was no more room for the Designator until some of these Chiefs began to retire. But the LDO program was not immune to cutbacks: it too stood at 28 Designators at the start of 2015 and was reduced to just ten by the time Spring rolled around. As of July, 2016, the number of LDO Designators is at ten, compared to just nine CWO Designators. But these Designators change on a fairly regular basis in order to accommodate the Navy’s fluctuating need for officers, so expect to see some changes—if not in increased numbers of Designators, then at least in the ones that are open for enlisted Sailors to pursue.

Important: Due to the extremely low demand on this item, it is manufactured on order. While we might have some in stock, please allow for up to 10 business days processing time.

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Rank

Price

$32.39

Quantity

USPHS

Merchant Marine

AUXILIARY

U.S. NAVY CWO SHIP REPAIR TECHNICIAN SOFT EPAULETS