On social media, the life of an undesignated sailor has been described as miserable, menial or even a mistake.
One sailor, writing in a U.S. Naval Institute publication in 2017, said that he and his undesignated shipmates were “ordered with all the purpose of the cuckoo in a clock” and that they were treated like spare parts that were unnecessary to their ship.
Wilfredo Barrera, a seaman from the destroyer USS Donald Cook, was told he would be “the dog of the Navy” as an undesignated sailor. He was among the more than 70 sailors with no assigned job, or rate, who gathered at naval bases in Jacksonville and Mayport in Florida in February with hopes of shaking off the undesignated title and finding a place in the service.
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“There's definitely a hierarchy,” Barrera said as he explained that undesignated sailors are given some of the least desirable jobs on the ship.
Sailors can't continue in the Navy without a rate. If a sailor doesn't find a job by the time they finish their first tour, they're separated from the service.
Among the many traditions, quirks and…
