Ignoring Current Foolishness

Last year, I put together a fairly long post on assigning rates in the Imperial Navy, and now there is this piece of insanity to abolish the rating system. I am not much of a fan of this for a variety of reasons. It also does not change my vision of the Imperial Navy's enlisted personnel.

Found via other social media

First, the ratings system is and was evolutionary. It has changed over time, if one looks at lists over time, the different professions have come and gone. Boatswain, Gunner, Quartermaster, and Yeoman (it doesn't matter if they are wearing short red skirts) are long standing titles that I see never disappearing as they directly relate to work being done and have vital roles. Some, like Sailmaker, have gone over time. Others may come back.

Second, it's an incredibly unpopular personnel decision. This reminds me a bit of the 1970's change to put everyone in Officer/CPO style uniforms. Those were gone within a decade. There was nobody really asking to change the system for the ratings, and the push back at this point with a petition already available tells me this will only last until there is enough time to find out how little people like the idea.

Third, it's in My Traveller Universe. I can run it any way I want. Enough for you? And I wanted to say something about the current mess we're in.

Even Obi-Wan feels it.

Just as an FYI, I am still interested in how the Royal Navy and similarly organized fleets have their divisions set up.