Petty Officer Third Class

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Petty Officer Third Class is the fourth enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, just above Seaman and below Petty Officer Second Class, and is the lowest form of non-commissioned officer, equivalent to a Corporal in the U.S. Army and Marines or the now-obsolete rank of Sergeant (now Senior Airman) in the Air Force.

Unlike the Seaman and lower ranks, advancement to Petty Officer Third Class is not automatic given time in service, but is also contingent on performance evaluations by their superiors and rate examinations (test of specialty knowledge), except for certain technical ratings which carry automatic advancement to PO3, after successful completion of the rating's "A" school and fufillment of time in rate requirements. The advancement cycle is currently every 6 months. Only a certain number of billets (job openings for this rank) open up biannually and all Seamen compete. The top scorers are chosen for advancement, but only in sufficient quantities to fill the billets available.

Petty Officers serve a dual role as both technical experts and as leaders. Unlike the sailors below them, there is no such thing as an "undesignated Petty Officer." Every petty officer has both a rate (rank) and rating (job, similar to an MOS or AFSC in other branches). A petty officer's full title is a combination of the two. Thus, a Petty Officer Third Class who has the rating of Fire Control Technican is called a Fire Control Technician Third Class. The term petty officer is, then, only used in abstract, the general sense, when referring to a group of petty officers of different ratings, or when the petty officer's rating is unknown.

Each rating has an official abbreviation, such as FT for Fire Control Techinican, STS for Sonar Technician Submarines, or ET for Electronics Technician. When combined with the petty officer level, this gives the short-hand for the petty officer's rank, such as FT3 for Fire Control Technician Third Class. It is common practice to refer to the petty officer by this short hand in all but the most formal correspondence (such as printing and inscription on awards). Often, the petty officer is just referred to by the short hand designation, without using the surname. Thus FT3 Shearer would just be called FT3.

The rating insignia for a Petty Officer Third Class is a white eagle with spread wings above a cheveron. On more formal uniforms (summer whites and winter working blues or above), the symbol for the petty officer's rating will be placed between the two. On white uniforms, the eagle, rating, and cheveron will be black (this has lead to the eagle being referred to as the "crow" in common practice, and often the entire rating badge is simply referred to as the crow). On navy blue, the crow and rating are white, and the cheveron is red. Working uniforms and metal rank devices have the rating symbol omitted.

[edit] High Year Tenure

The Navy's new High Year Tenure policy has made the good conduct variation for a Petty Officer Third Class all but obsolete. Among enlisted sailors, 12 consecutive years of good conduct (categorized as no convictions by Non-Judicial Punishment or Courts-Martial) entitles the sailor to wear a good conduct variation of their rank insignia: The normally red chevrons under the specialty mark and perched eagle are worn as gold and the eagle is worn as silver. However, the High Year Tenure initiative mandates that a Petty Officer Third Class may only have 8 years of service. If a PO3 fails to make Petty Officer Second Class within those 8 years, the Petty Officer is administratively separated for not meeting advancement requirements. This same restriction has recently been placed upon the rank of Petty Officer Second Class, allowing for only 14 years of service before advancement must be attained, and imposing a maximum enlistment of 20 years to a Petty Officer First Class. All of these initiatives, however, may be waived in the event the sailor holds critical training, NEC's or clearances. Today, the few instances when a PO3 has gold chevrons are usually when a sailor has previous military service.

[edit] Royal Navy

In the British Royal Navy and navies of many other Commonwealth counties, the equivalent rank is Leading Rate, although this is considered junior to the nearest equivalent ranks of Corporal or Bombardier in the other military branches.

[edit] See also

• Petty Officer
• U.S. Navy enlisted rate insignia
• Comparative military ranks

U.S. military enlisted ranks
	E-1	E-2	E-3	E-4	E-5	E-6	E-7	E-8	E-9
Air Force:	AB	Amn	A1C	SrA	SSgt	TSgt	MSgt	SMSgt	CMSgt - CCM - CMSAF
Army:	PV1	PV2	PFC	SPC - CPL	SGT	SSG	SFC	MSG - 1SG	SGM - CSM - SMA
Marine Corps:	Pvt	PFC	LCpl	Cpl	Sgt	SSgt	GySgt	MSgt - 1st Sgt	MGySgt - SgtMaj - SMOMC
Navy:	SR	SA	SN	PO3	PO2	PO1	CPO	SCPO	MCPO - CMCPO - MCPON
Coast Guard:	SR	SA	SN	PO3	PO2	PO1	CPO	SCPO	MCPO - CMCPO - MCPOCG