Quite a few different jobs exist in the modern United States Navy. One of the most interesting is the Transportation and Logistics area. Several different types of jobs exist in this area, and they have a lot of similar characteristics to one another.
Today’s Navy is a modern international military force, mobile and able to respond at short notice. It is a force that consists of aircraft, submarines, ships, and equipment. The modern Navy consists of almost three hundred and seventy five thousand men and women sailors, all constantly on the move worldwide. To be able to have a fleet ready and prepared, sailors that work in the logistics and transportation area must provide their skills working toward keeping everything at fleet readiness.
Sailors that work in the logistics and transportation field are suitably proud of their ability to organize, plan, and move equipment, supplies, and personnel in a coordinated and swift fashion. If you are a person with great organizational and planning skills, and excellent ability to troubleshoot situations, then this field may be for you.
Your job will be to get supplies, Sailors and equipment to the correct place at the correct time in the correct manner. You may have an office at an air cargo terminal in Japan, or you might have a cubicle on the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Atlantic. As a sailor in this job field you will have to be able to know currents and tides, and other things that would affect shipping, or that might prevent a landing craft from making an amphibious landing on a rocky coast. Knowledge of bearings, direction and navigation might save many critical hours, or literally protect the lives of Sailors relying on your skills.
Some of the skills that you may use are:
-Take Range and Bearing information, using vision devices or via radar.
-Keep inventory and other records for all parts of a ship, submarine or shore based storage.
-Plot courses and make course correction decisions to aid in safe navigation.
-Operate and use computer systems to provide various logistical support and information.
-Record and predict shore levels, tides, and other information used to navigate safely.
-Maintain and keep financial and fiscal records.
As a Transportation and Logistics Sailor in today’s Navy, you will acquire skills that will serve you in good stead for your whole life. After you leave the service, the skills and know that you gain will allow you to move into a variety of careers in the civilian world. Shipping materials and transportation of people by truck, train, plane or ship is a huge industry worldwide, and there are a lot of career opportunities for people with prior service skills and training.
