Ranks and Ratings
Commissioned officers have ranks; enlisted men have ratings. One can tell the rank of an officer by looking at the number of gold stripes on his sleeve, more stripes mean higher rank. One can tell the rating of an enlisted man by looking at the patch on his left arm; more stripes mean a higher rating. The presence of an eagle on the shoulder of an enlisted man means he is a petty officer, also called a “non-commissioned officer”. Some sailors refer to becoming a petty officer as “getting a crow on my shoulder”. The bird is, of course, an eagle, not a crow, but this minor amount of disrespect is always tolerated. Underneath the talons of the eagle is a symbol of the rating. For example the symbol for a boatswain mate (BM) is two crossed eighteenth century anchors.
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