Following Recruit training, Sailors in the Interior Communications Electrician rating (IC), like Sailors in several other ratings associated with electronics and electrical circuitry, attend the Advanced Technical Training school at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois. The nine-week training period covers mechanical theories, technical documentation, and the basics of electricity and electronics. Sailors in the IC rating who successfully complete this introductory course next move to the Class “A” Technical School, also at Naval Station Great Lakes, for over three months of study and hands-on work involving AC/DC circuitry, electrical schematics, solid-state technologies, electrical mathematics, and other related disciplines.
There are three jobs in the IC rating: Interior Communication (IC) Operator, Technician, and Administrator. The tasks specified for the Operator job are exclusively in the field of communications related either to shipboard communications or video broadcasts of either entertainment, information, or communications. Sailors working as IC Technicians or Administrators, on the other hand, have an incredibly broad array of duties, many of which are at best peripherally related to the typical understanding of the word “communications.” For example, Technicians configure, maintain, and repair systems such as the Damage Control Console, Ballast Control Console, Ships Control Console, and navigation systems.
Because of the expansion of the rating’s responsibilities into fields such as these, many IC Sailors who graduate from the “A” Technical School will go directly to Class “C” School for advanced training on specific systems such as gyrocompasses and visual landing aids. Others will be sent directly to a duty station where they begin to learn the intricacies of the equipment with which they’ll be working through on-the-job work.
The Interior Communications Electrician rating is sea-intensive. On average, a Sailor in the IC rating will spend two-thirds of a twenty-year Naval career assigned to fleet units.
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