The Sonar Technician rating (ST) was originally established with the designation of Sonarman in 1943. Although the technology that the Sonarmen of World War II would be working with had been in development for years—the first shipboard ASDIC systems, which were the forerunners of sonar, were installed in 1919—the name “Sonar” was not coined until 1942. (According to F.V. Ted Hunt, director of the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory, the word was invented as an intentional analog to the word “radar” and was originally intended to stand for “SOunding, NAvigation, and Ranging;” it wound up being shorthand for “SOund NAvigation and Ranging.”) The Navy changed the name of the Sonarman rating to the current Sonar Technician appellation in 1964.
Today, the ST rating is divided into two distinct service ratings, Sonar Technician Surface (STG) and Sonar Technician Submarine (STS). There is considerable overlap in the education and training that Sailors receive in the two ratings: The principles and physics of sound detection are, after all, a constant. But the two ratings diverge greatly when it comes to qualifications, length of training, and other parameters, mainly due to the stipulations that are attached to submarine service.
Both STGs and STS’s must be U.S. citizens who are eligible for security clearances, but Sailors seeking to serve in the STS service rating must also commit to an active-duty obligation of five years (four-year initial enlistment period coupled with an agreement to extend the enlistment for an additional year). Additionally, those wishing to become Sonar Technicians aboard submarines must meet the strictures set forth in MILSPERMAN 1306-402, “Qualification for Assignment to Submarine Duty.” A few of these include evaluation through the Personnel Reliability Program; an agreement to complete a three-year initial sea tour irrespective of previous time spent at sea; be in paygrade E1 through E6; under thirty years of age; and a consistent record of above-average performance.
Reflecting societal and governmental changes in attitudes toward marijuana use, pre-service experimental use pf cannabis does not automatically disqualify STS candidates.
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