Created on 1 October 2018 through the renaming of the Ship's Serviceman (SH) rating, the Retail Services Specialist (RS) rating comprises four jobs/services: Barber, Laundry Operator, Postal Clerk, and Retail Operator. While Sailors obviously avail themselves of the services provided by all three, Laundry Operators come under particular scrutiny because of the consequences that befall a Sailor wearing a uniform that has been improperly pressed or folded. And it goes without saying that Sailors whose laundry is returned still dirty or perhaps burned or scorched due to improper pressing or ironing will have a few choice words for the Laundry Operators responsible.
It’s easy to dismiss the Laundry Operator’s work as simple, but as with any service-oriented task the complexities of delivering quality work increase dramatically when the process is scaled up to the size of a Naval ship’s crew, along with the fact that each Sailor’s laundry is done twice a week.
Ship’s Servicmen working in the Laundry were probably excited when the Navy announced the introduction of its new Navy Working Uniform Type I, a blue, digital camouflage design made from a permanent-press material called NYCO that required no ironing. Even better, the blue-gray camouflage proved remarkably effective at hiding paint stains, the bane of Sailors and Laundry Operators alike.
But when it was discovered that the NYCO was prone to catch fire and melt when exposed to flames for relatively short periods of time, the death knell began to sound for the NWU Type I, which had been dubbed “aquaflage” because the digital camouflage made Sailors hard to spot in the event they fell overboard.
That doesn’t mean that Laundry Operators will have to start ironing and pressing working uniforms again, though: Higher-ups have made it clear that ease of care is a top priority when settling on a new design.
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