Quote:
Originally Posted by Agemegos
IN ratings do the work of, and enjoy the pay of, USN warrant officers. Robots and machines do the work of USN enlisted men.
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To me it makes sense for professional personnel who aren't normally in the chain of command to be Warrants, even if in today's Navies those people often get commissions for pay reasons alone.
That way if the bridge crew gets toasted no one bats an eye when the Petty Officer takes command of the ship, while the medical officers continue to work in sick-bay, the engineers continue to work in engineering, and the pilots continue to control their charges.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Agemegos
Well, I'm not very fond of "astronaut", but to me "spacer" sounds too informal to be a good title. Naval ratings have been called "sailors" and that's a current general term including non-military seamen, but the ratings' military titles are such as "Able Seamen" and "Leading Seaman", not "Sailor" or "Able Sailor".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Agemegos
What about "rating", without it being a placeholder for any of a long list of specialist titles?
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I like that, "Leading Rate Munson to the loading dock, Able Rating Silva to engineering.", sounds better on the ear to me.