I have mixed feelings about it, none of the other services have job specific I.D.'s on their ensignia, but it is what made the U.S. Navy unique. The officers don't have job specific ensignia on their uniforms unless they were Warrant officers and even then it was generalized.

I'm not sure if the purpose it to really simplify things and broaden a sailor's skill set or is it to tear down another American tradition/heritage. People always asked what the symbol on my patch meant anyway, it was a conversation starter if nothing else.

They even got rid of the class designation such as no more green airman, red fireman, or blue contructionman for the E-2's and E-3's, now they'll all just be seaman..........

As a non Navy guy, it makes sense to me.  A Petty officer first class is  a petty officer first class instead of an HM2 etc.

Army officers got rid of branch designation on uniforms about 10 years ago.  An officer is an officer no matter what branch (I think it was designed by the non combat arms guys to get more respect)

That being said, I do understand tradition

Every branch is emulating the Marine Corps!

Glad I am no longer in.

I'll stick with calling myself an AT1.  They already took away my AX rating (and advancement chances) a long time ago when they merged AX and AQ into AT.

The Army has survived 200 years without Artillery Sergeants, Personnel Management Corporals, or Culinary Specialist Privates.  The Navy will survive.  

If the only reason you're doing something is tradition, you probably don't need to be doing it.

Kinda sad.  :-(

Sort of.  The army used to use different colored chevrons to denote the branch.  Now they still have all those silly color coded do-dads.

Really?  I'm looking at pictures of the current blue uniform and it has branch insignia.