Petty officer second class
Petty officer second class is a rank found in some navies and maritime organizations.
Canada
Petty officer, 2nd class, ''', is a Naval non-commissioned member rank of the Canadian Forces. It is senior to the rank of master sailor and its equivalents, and junior to petty officer 1st-class and its equivalents. Its Army and Air Force equivalent is sergeant ; together, Sgts and PO 2s make up the cadre of senior non-commissioned officers.
The rank insignia of the PO 2 is three gold chevrons, point down, surmounted by a gold maple leaf. A PO 2 is generally initially addressed as “Petty Officer ” or "PO ", and thereafter as "PO", although in correspondence the full rank or abbreviation is used before the member's name. The full appellation Petty Officer 2nd Class or PO 2 in speech is generally used only when the second-class distinction must be made, such as to distinguish between members with similar names but differing ranks, or on promotion parades. The corresponding NATO rank is OR-6—however, a PO 2 with less than 3 years seniority are considered OR-5
PO 2s generally mess and billet with chief petty officers and other petty officers, and their army and air-force equivalents, warrant officers and sergeant. Their mess on naval bases or installations is generally named the "Chiefs and POs Mess".
Petty officer second class is the fifth enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, just above petty officer third class and below petty officer first class, and is a non-commissioned officer. It is equivalent to the rank of sergeant in the Army and Marine Corps, and staff sergeant in the Air Force. It is the most commonly held rank in the United States Navy, with around 25% of active-duty Navy enlisted personnel and 20% of all active duty Navy personnel holding that rank.
Overview
Promotion to petty officer second class is dependent on time in service, performance evaluations by superiors, and rate examinations. Advancement to E-5 in the Navy is through a program known as the Billet Based Advancement System. Eligible E-4 sailors compete for a billet with the highest ranked sailors getting promoted first.
Job description
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 and rating. A Petty Officer's full title is a combination of the two. Thus, a Petty Officer Second Class, who has the rating of interior communications electrician would properly be called an Interior Communications Electrician, Second Class.
Rate abbreviations
Each rating has an official abbreviation, such as GM for gunner's mate, BU for builder, or BM for boatswain's mate. When combined with the petty officer level, this gives the shorthand for the petty officer's rate, such as IT2 for "information systems technician second class". It is common practice to refer to the petty officer by this shorthand in all but the most formal correspondence. Unlike most rates, the Aircrew survival equipmentman rate uses their former title of parachute rigger for abbreviation and are still referred as PRs and parachute riggers in the military community after undergoing a rating name change in 1986.
Insignia color
All U.S. Coast Guard petty officers wear red chevrons and red service stripes, until the rate of chief petty officer, where both chevrons and service stripes are gold. In the US Navy, all petty officers wear red stripes and chevrons until they reach 12 consecutive years of service since 2019. Prior to 2019, Gold stripes indicated 12 or more uninterrupted years of "Good Conduct" service.