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STSE6

Sonar Technician (Submarine)

E-6 (Staff Sergeant) · Navy

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

STS1 is the LPO seat and every watchstander qualification, eEVAL, PMS compliance number, and classified material accounting result carries your name to the Chief board. The Senior Sonar Supervisor qualification and the first Chief board package are running in parallel from day one — the LCPO is already reading the trajectory.

The Honest MOS Read
STS1 (Petty Officer First Class) is the Lead Petty Officer of the sonar division on an attack submarine. The daily load is larger than the STS2 watch lead's by an order of magnitude: watch scheduling for 6-15 sailors, PMS compliance ownership for the division, watchstander qualification tracking for every STS in the section, classified material accountability for the sonar spaces, four to six eEVAL submissions per cycle that drive the next advancement slate, and the Senior Sonar Supervisor watchstation on contact prosecutions and torpedo-evasion events. You are the sonar chief's daily operating arm on the deckplate and the department head's readiness reporting interface at the LPO level. The Senior Sonar Supervisor watchstation is the senior technical watchstation in the sonar division and the one the Chief selection board reads. On a fast-attack the SSS owns the sonar picture during high-value contact prosecutions, ASW exercises, torpedo-evasion training events, and CSG-level acoustic assessments. The brief you give the OOD and the fire-control coordinator when a contact develops is the brief the department head will hear discussed in the wardroom afterward. The STS1 who is not qualified as Senior Sonar Supervisor on a hull where the billet is open is carrying the wrong flag into the Chief board. The eEVAL is the output the next rank tier filters through. Every STS3 and STS2 in your division has a professional trajectory that the eEVAL either advances or delays. The department head signs it, but the professional assessment is yours. Writing an eEVAL that inflates performance because the sailor is likable or because you want the sailor to advance gives the board a false input; the STS3 who advances into a billet that a better-performing petty officer needed because of an inflated eEVAL — and the board eventually reads the performance at the next billet — is the evidence the department head uses to recalibrate your judgment. Write to standard, rank honest, and explain the ranking to the LCPO before the department head reads it. Classified material accountability in the sonar spaces is a Chief-board-level credibility item. The sonar spaces carry classified publications, acoustic libraries, and tonal data that are among the most sensitive the submarine force handles. At STS1 you own the classified material log — access controls, accountability records, no unauthorized reproduction, no access-log gaps. A classified-material discrepancy found by an outside inspection rather than LPO proactive disclosure is a career-level credibility event; a discrepancy that you found, reported, and corrected before the inspection is an LPO managing his material accountability correctly. The Chief selection board sees the complete picture: every eEVAL from your division, every classified material outcome, every PMS compliance number, every watchstander qualification that was earned on schedule and every one that was not. The LCPO who watches the STS1 LPO run the division does not wait for the board to read the picture; he writes his input based on what he observed for 18-24 months before the board convenes. The STS1 who builds the LPO seat on a weekly cadence the LCPO can predict and depend on is the STS1 the LCPO's input advocates for. Mentoring STS2s through NWAE preparation and commissioning program packets — honestly, including when the path does not fit the sailor — is a Chief-board-level skill the board reads in outcomes. The STS1 whose STS2s advance on schedule and whose commissioning candidates select is the LPO the LCPO is describing to the Chief board as ready.
Career Arc
  • 01STS1 pin-on; LPO seat assumed for the sonar division.
  • 02Senior Sonar Supervisor watchstation qualification — earned or formally in-progress within the first 30 days at STS1.
  • 03First eEVAL cycle as LPO — four to six eEVALs written, ranked, and defended to the department head.
  • 04Chief selection board package under active construction — LCPO reviewing the trajectory from the first month.
  • 05Sonar division through at least one COMSUBRON operational assessment or CSG ASW exercise as LPO.
  • 06Classified material accountability for the sonar spaces through at least one external inspection cycle.
  • 07Shore tour eligibility after the first sea tour at STS1 — SUBRON staff, schoolhouse instructor, NUWC technical billet.
Common Screwups
  • ×Writing an eEVAL that inflates an STS2's or STS3's performance because they are personally likable. The sailor who advances into a billet based on an inflated eEVAL performs to their actual level — not the level you described. The next LPO who writes the honest eEVAL at the next billet shows the board the gap. The department head who reads the divergence traces it back to your professional judgment permanently.
  • ×Letting the classified material accounting slip because the operational tempo is high. Classified-material discrepancies on a submarine are not administrative inconveniences — they are command-level investigations. The STS1 who discovers the discrepancy and reports it to the LCPO and department head before the inspection cycle surfaces it is managing material accountability. The one who does not discover it until the inspector does is in a different conversation.
  • ×Treating the Senior Sonar Supervisor qualification as something to pursue after LPO duties are organized. The Chief board reads what you hold. If the SSS billet is open on the hull and you are not qualified, that is the visible gap in a package the board will notice. Brief the sonar chief your SSS qualification plan in the first week at STS1.
  • ×Going around the LCPO to the department head or XO on a sonar readiness or personnel concern. The chiefs talk. The goat locker knows how the LPO managed his chain before the wardroom discusses it, and the Chief selection board feels the result in the LCPO's input. Take the concern to the LCPO first, walk the chain in sequence, and brief the department head only when the LCPO has authorized the brief or when safety requires immediate escalation.
  • ×Failing to counsel an STS2 or STS3 honestly when they are not on a competitive advancement or commissioning program track. The sailor who arrives at the next milestone underprepared because the LPO gave encouraging non-answers rather than honest assessments is the sailor who holds the LPO accountable for the advice. Honest counseling — including 'this path may not be the right fit' — is the LPO's professional obligation.

A Day in the Life

  • 0500Reveille at sea. Check the overnight watch log summary before leaving berthing — any contact prosecution developments, any PMS discrepancies, any personnel situations the duty section handled.
  • 0530-0600Morning walk of the sonar spaces — classified material log current and countersigned, PMS status against the day's schedule, watchstander accountability. The LPO who walks the spaces before the sonar chief is the LPO who finds the discrepancy first.
  • 0600-0700LPO section sync with the sonar chief — daily status brief: watchbill status, PMS schedule, any personnel or readiness issues from the overnight period. The sonar chief should hear nothing in this brief that surprises him.
  • 0700-1200Senior Sonar Supervisor watchstation if on-watch rotation. Broadband monitoring, contact prosecution ownership, SSS brief to the OOD, contact track continuity management across the watch team. Between active prosecutions: PMS spot-check of the section, watchstander coaching for STS3s on contact format and TMA procedures.
  • 1200-1300Lunch. Review eEVAL drafts in progress if the next submission is within 30 days — the department head who reviews an eEVAL draft with the LPO the week before submission produces a better document than one reviewed the day before.
  • 1300-1600LPO administrative block: eEVAL drafting, classified material accounting updates, watchstander qualification tracking, PMS completion log maintenance. The STS2s and STS3s see the LPO doing this work — it is the visible modeling of the administrative discipline the division inherits.
  • 1600-1700Mentoring session with one STS2 or STS3 — advancement preparation review, commissioning program counseling, or qualification walk-through. The LPO who schedules a one-on-one with each sailor in the division every two to three weeks is the one who knows the division's actual state, not its assumed state.
  • 1700-1800Dinner. End-of-day self-inspection of classified material log — any gap identified before the next watch section is a gap found by the LPO, not the sonar chief.
  • 1800-2200Off-watch: rack time if needed, eEVAL continuation, Chief board package review (current eEVAL profile, SSS qualification log, PMS compliance trend). The LCPO who sees the LPO working the package before being asked is the LCPO who writes the specific positive input.
  • 2200+Watch rotation resumes per the watchbill. The SSS watchstation during the mid-watch is not a reduced-intensity watch — contact prosecution and torpedo-evasion training events happen at 0200 when the submarine force is testing watchstander alertness.
  • In portDepartment sync on Monday; LPO weekly planning with the sonar chief on Tuesday morning. PMS execution and watchstander qualification walk-throughs through the week. Friday section sync with advancement preparation status, classified material audit, and next-week plan briefed to the sonar chief before end of the work day. Shore tour orders at STS1 open the schoolhouse instructor, SUBRON staff, and NUWC billet options — the detailer conversation is more productive when the STS1 has a stated preference and a record the detailer can use.

Weekly Cadence

At sea the LPO's week is driven by the watch rotation, the PMS schedule, and the sonar chief's section sync. Monday sync is where the week's priorities are set — PMS assignments, qualification walk-throughs, eEVAL submission deadlines, and any operational events requiring specific sonar watchstander preparation. The LPO who shows up to Monday sync with the week's inputs already organized — who is on what watch section, which PMS items are due this week, what qualification walk-throughs are scheduled — is the one the sonar chief trusts to run the week without daily check-ins. Tuesday through Thursday are the execution core. PMS evolutions run per the schedule; watchstander qualification walk-throughs happen in the watch section breaks when the spaces are accessible; eEVAL drafts progress toward the submission deadline. The LPO who has visible outputs at the mid-week section sync — PMS completion percentage updated, one qual walk-through completed, one eEVAL draft reviewed by the LCPO — is the one the sonar chief can brief the department head from without revision. Friday is the plan-of-next-week briefing to the sonar chief and the weekly classified material audit. The classified material log should balance against the inventory count before the weekend begins — not 'I will check it Monday morning.' The LPO who closes the Friday work day with the classified material log verified and the next week's plan briefed is the one whose weekend section duty days run without calls to the sonar chief.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Run the sonar division PMS program through a deployment cycle with no discrepancies the department head learns about from an inspection finding.
    Own the section's completion percentage against the maintenance schedule. Know the deferred items list without looking it up. Brief the LPO on any item that cannot be completed before the next readiness milestone — not at the next section sync, but the same day the constraint is identified. The department head who learns about deferred maintenance from an outside inspection rather than from the LPO's advance reporting treats the gap as a readiness failure, regardless of the operational reason. Pre-brief the discrepancy, explain the constraint, propose the correction plan.
  2. 02
    Stand the Senior Sonar Supervisor watchstation during contact prosecutions, torpedo-evasion events, and ASW exercises.
    The SSS watchstation is the senior acoustic technical qualification on the deckplate — the sonar picture during a high-value event goes to the OOD through you. Brief the sonar picture in the format the department head will recognize and the OOD can act on immediately: contact, bearing, classification, confidence, developing TMA solution, recommendation. Do not brief uncertainty as confidence and do not brief confidence when the picture is developing. The debrief that follows every significant event is where the sonar chief and the department head assess whether the SSS brief was accurate, timely, and actionable.
  3. 03
    Manage classified material handling for the sonar division — publications, access logs, accountability records — in posture for a no-notice inspection.
    Run a self-inspection of the classified material log against the accountability requirements every Monday morning. Identify any gap — missing access signature, unsigned out-card, discrepancy between the inventory and the access log — before the week's operations begin. The inventory count happens on a scheduled and randomized basis; the LPO who runs his own count against the scheduled count is the one who finds the discrepancy before the outside inspection does. Nothing in the classified material management process should wait for the inspector to find it.
  4. 04
    Write an eEVAL block the department head can defend at a wardroom board.
    The eEVAL is a professional document with a specific format and a specific audience: the advancement and selection boards that read it alongside every other eEVAL from the fleet. The language that the board recognizes — measurable acoustic and readiness accomplishments, named safety and PMS outcomes, specific qualification achievements — is different from the language of a performance narrative. The LPO who writes in recognizable board language produces eEVALs the department head presents without revision; the one who writes in generic superlatives produces eEVALs the department head has to translate before presenting them.
  5. 05
    Mentor an STS2 through NWAE preparation and a commissioning-program packet, and counsel honestly when the path does not fit the sailor.
    The mentoring conversation that matters is the honest one — not the encouraging one. The STS2 who is not competitive for LDO because the eEVAL profile is not strong enough deserves an honest assessment of why and what can be done, not a reassurance that the next board will be different. The STS2 who is on a commissioning-program track deserves a realistic timeline for college completion, the CO recommendation conversation, and the ADSO math before signing the application. Honest counseling is an LPO skill that the Chief board reads in the outcomes — who advanced, who selected, and who received honest advice and acted on it.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • NSTM Chapter 565 — Sonar Systems
    The LPO is the technical reference the STS3s check before they approach the sonar chief. The STS1 who can answer the technical question without opening the manual is the LPO the division trusts. Know the applicable chapter sections for your installed suite well enough to brief them; if a system configuration has changed since your last hull, read the updated section before the first inspection cycle.
  • NWP 3-21 series — Anti-Submarine Warfare
    The SSS watchstation operates within the NWP 3-21 doctrine framework on every contact prosecution and ASW exercise. The STS1 who can explain the doctrine basis for a procedure — not just execute it — is the LPO the department head calls when an unusual prosecution scenario arises during a CSG exercise. The sonar chief should not be the only person on the deckplate who can brief the doctrine.
  • On-board hull-specific classified acoustic doctrine and sonar system publications
    The LPO sets the standard for how the division engages the hull's classified acoustic materials. Know which procedure applies before the department head asks; know the current edition of the classified system publications because the sonar chief will reference them in the SSS debrief. The LPO who is fluent in the hull's acoustic doctrine is the one the sonar chief trusts to run the division without daily supervision.
  • MILPERSMAN — enlisted personnel administration at LPO visibility
    At STS1 you are writing eEVALs, processing administrative actions, counseling sailors on commissioning programs, and managing retention decisions. MILPERSMAN is the procedural authority for all of these. The LPO who knows the MILPERSMAN article governing the action before calling JAG is the one the sonar chief trusts to execute personnel actions without administrative errors that create additional work up the chain.
  • CPO 365 / Chief Petty Officer Initiation program guidance
    The STS1 who has reviewed the CPO 365 program and understands what the initiation process involves is the LPO who can mentor STS2s on the Chief package timeline with honesty. The Chief board does not want to see an STS1 who is surprised by the initiation process; they want to see an STS1 who managed the LPO seat in a way that built toward the Chief qualification over the entire tour.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • Chief board package under construction with the LCPO's eye on every line.
    Brief the LCPO your Chief board preparation plan in the first week at STS1 — not when the board announcement drops. The plan includes the SSS qualification timeline, the eEVAL ranking targets for the division, the classified material accountability schedule, and any educational or professional development milestones. The LCPO who has seen the plan in writing, who has reviewed the eEVAL drafts before they go to the department head, and who has observed the LPO running the division on a predictable weekly cadence is the LCPO whose input to the Chief board is specific and positive. The one who has not seen the plan writes a general assessment.
  • Sonar division PMS completion and deferred maintenance defensible at department head level.
    The numbers are yours. Know them without looking them up. Brief them to the LPO before the department head sync without revision. The LPO who pre-briefs his own discrepancies with a correction plan is the LPO the department head trusts. The one who is surprised by his own numbers at the readiness brief is the one the department head stops trusting to manage the section.
  • Senior Sonar Supervisor qualification held and current.
    Brief the sonar chief the SSS qualification plan in the first week at STS1. The qualification requires live watchstation demonstration during a real or exercise event — get the applicable PQS sections, identify the watch events you will use for the evaluation, and brief the timeline. The sonar chief who sees the plan briefed before he asked for it schedules the evaluation events; the one who hears 'I am working on getting there' three months into the STS1 tour has a different read on the LPO's initiative.
  • Zero eEVAL-attributable advancement failures.
    The STS2s and STS3s you ranked and recommended should advance on the cycle following your eEVAL. If they do not, the department head asks the sonar chief why — and the sonar chief asks you. The answer 'the exam score was lower than expected' is acceptable when the study log and the preparation you observed supported a higher score. The answer 'I did not track their preparation closely' is the answer that changes the relationship. Own the advancement preparation of the sailors in your division as a division-level outcome, not an individual sailor outcome.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Briefing PMS or watchstander qualification numbers that you have not personally validated.
    The department head spot-checks. An inconsistency between the numbers you briefed and the numbers in the maintenance log — discovered during an operational readiness assessment, a COMSUBRON inspection, or a CSG evaluation — carries your name. The discrepancy is not a maintenance failure; it is an integrity question about whether the LPO knows what is actually in his spaces. That question is answered in the debrief and in the next eEVAL ranking board.
  • Letting the classified material accounting drift because the patrol operational tasking is heavy.
    A classified-material discrepancy on a submarine is a command-level administrative action regardless of the operational tempo that created the conditions. The LPO who finds the discrepancy through his own self-inspection and reports it before the outside inspection is managing his spaces. The LPO whose discrepancy is found by the inspector during the COMSUBRON visit is explaining a process failure to the XO and JAG within 24 hours. The patrol tempo is not a mitigating factor in the investigation.
  • Going around the LCPO to the department head or XO on a sonar division readiness concern.
    The goat locker enforces the chain without the wardroom asking. The sonar chief who learns that his LPO went to the department head with a readiness concern before briefing the chief is the chief whose LPO recommendation changes. The department head and the XO both know that the LPO went around the chief; they do not view this as initiative — they view it as a chain management failure. Take it to the chief, walk out aligned, and brief the department head with the chief's knowledge.
  • Treating the Senior Sonar Supervisor qualification as lower priority than LPO administrative duties.
    The Chief selection board reads what you hold. An STS1 who is not qualified as SSS on a hull where the billet is open is carrying a visible gap into the board. The board's logic is direct: if the LPO cannot hold the senior technical watchstation on the hull he runs, the board has a question about his technical authority over the division. Administrative load is real, but the SSS qualification is the technical credential the Chief board associates with the STS1 paygrade.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • Chief board — package readiness and timing
    The Chief Petty Officer selection board reads the complete performance record: every eEVAL from the STS1 tour, the watchstander qualification profile, the classified material accountability record, and the LCPO's input. The package is not something you build the six months before the board — it is the result of 18-24 months of LPO performance that the LCPO has been observing since month one. The STS1 who asks 'what does my Chief package look like' at the 12-month mark is asking too late. Brief the LCPO at month one on the preparation plan and revisit the trajectory every quarter.
  • Shore tour vs. second sea tour at STS1
    The shore-tour option at STS1 opens after the first sea tour: SUBRON staff, Naval Submarine School instructor at Groton, NUWC technical billet, or other submarine-support shore assignments. The shore tour provides family stabilization time and professional development in a different context than deckplate watchstander management. The tradeoff: a second sea tour at STS1 builds the Chief board package with another deployment and another eEVAL cycle from a sea command. The detailer conversation is the leverage point — the STS1 with a stated preference and a strong record gets more of the decision than the one who says 'whatever the Navy needs.'
  • LDO application — technical submarine officer track
    The STS1 who has been building toward LDO since STS2 — college coursework in progress, strong eEVAL profile, CO who knows the name — has a competitive package. The STS1 who is first considering it at STS1 may be behind the timeline depending on the educational requirement status. Read the current LDO application instruction for time-in-service windows and educational requirements. The ADSO for LDO commissioning is significant — factor it into the family and career planning conversation before committing, not after receiving a selection letter.
  • Reenlistment for Chief board eligibility vs. ETS at STS1
    The STS1 who is competitive for the Chief board has strong reason to reenlist through the board opportunity. The STS1 who is not competitive — based on the LCPO's honest assessment — deserves an honest reenlistment conversation: the SRB is not the same as a Chief selection, and a reenlistment motivated by the bonus alone delays a transition the eEVAL profile has already predicted. Pull the current SRB NAVADMIN, run the retention math, and have the LCPO's honest assessment before signing the paperwork.

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • Fast-attack SSN as LPO — the primary STS community assignment
    The LPO seat on an SSN is the STS community's proving ground for the Chief board. The sonar division is the primary mission element; the PMS, the classified material accounting, the watchstander qualifications, and the eEVAL outputs are all visible to the CO, XO, department head, and the squadron commander during assessment events. The STS1 who runs the LPO seat on a fast-attack through a deployment and a COMSUBRON assessment has the most relevant Chief board inputs in the community.
  • Shore tour — SUBRON staff, Naval Submarine School instructor, NUWC technical billet
    The Naval Submarine School instructor billet at Groton puts the STS1 in the pipeline shaping the next generation of STSSN sailors. The instructional skill and the curriculum development work are visible career inputs that differ from deckplate watchstander management. SUBRON staff billets build operational staff experience. NUWC technical billets are available for STS1s with advanced NEC pipelines and put the petty officer at the interface between the fleet and the acoustic research and development community.
  • SSGN as LPO
    The sonar LPO on an Ohio-class SSGN manages the same classified material accountability, PMS compliance, and watchstander qualification responsibilities as a fast-attack LPO, in a mission context where ASW is secondary to strike and SOF support. The Chief board does not distinguish; the inputs from an SSGN LPO billet are equivalent to a fast-attack LPO billet provided the performance record reflects the same level of division management rigor.
  • Joint and inter-agency billets (rare at STS1)
    Some STS1s in advanced NEC pipelines serve in joint or inter-agency assignments that leverage the acoustic technical background. These billets are competitive and the assignment is driven by NEC qualification and performance record. The STS1 selected for a joint billet builds a career input that differs from traditional deckplate management and is generally viewed positively by the Chief board when the STS performance record is otherwise strong.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The good STS1 is the LPO the department head briefs from without a rehearsal. His PMS completion numbers are current in his memory, not on a clipboard he checked that morning; the deferred items are pre-briefed with correction plans; the watchstander qualification status for every STS in the division is on a schedule the sonar chief reviewed before the department head asked. The sonar shack during the STS1's watch section runs on the same standard whether the sonar chief is walking through or at rest — because the STS3s in the section build habits off what they see the LPO do, not off what the LPO says. His classified material log holds up to a no-notice inspection because he ran his own self-inspection every Monday morning for eighteen months. The access log has no gaps. The accountability count matches the inventory. The last external inspection finding attributable to classified material management in the sonar spaces was before his time as LPO — and if one develops during his tour, the chain hears about it from him before the inspector finds it. The STS2s in his division advance on the NWAE cycle following his eEVAL because the study logs he reviewed at section sync for six months reflected actual preparation. The eEVALs he wrote are in the language the board recognizes: measurable acoustic outcomes, named qualification achievements, specific PMS compliance results. The department head presented them without revision. The LCPO reviewed the draft before the department head saw it and had one comment — good to go. The Chief board package is not something he is building the year before the board; it is something the LCPO has been watching grow since month one at STS1. The SSS qualification went on the watchbill before the sonar chief had to ask for the plan. The commissioning-program sailors he counseled either selected or received honest assessments of why the package was not competitive and what could be done about it — not encouragement that led to a disappointed sailor at the results announcement.

Preview — The Next Rank

STSC (Chief Petty Officer) is the most consequential promotion in the STS community — and in the Navy enlisted structure generally. Making Chief changes the job more than any other promotion. You move from the LPO seat — running the sonar division for the sonar chief — to the LCPO seat where you are the sonar chief, and the CO and XO look to you as the senior enlisted acoustic technical authority on a submarine where the sonar picture is one of the most operationally consequential products the crew generates. The goat locker is a different institution than the PO mess. The CPO Initiation program and the Chief's Mess transition are not social rituals — they are professional onboarding into the enlisted leadership structure that the submarine force runs on. The sonar division watches the new STSC's transition and reads whether the anchors changed the person or just the collar. The sonar division that sees a new Chief who is present in the spaces, who holds the watchstander qualification standard personally, and who writes eEVALs the department head presents without revision is the division that performs to the Chief's standard. The one that sees a new Chief who is suddenly managing from a distance learns a different standard. At STSC you own the senior enlisted STS seat on a submarine where the CO and XO make operational decisions based on the sonar picture your division produces. The relationship with the department head changes from LPO-reporting to Chief-to-wardroom interface — the department head briefs up what you brief him. Build the LCPO relationship early, develop the next LPO from the first month, and run the sonar division training program personally, not through delegation, because the deckplate watches whether your qualification standards match your leadership demands.
FAQ

STS E6 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E6 STS (Sonar Technician (Submarine)) actually do?
You are the Lead Petty Officer (LPO) of the sonar division aboard an SSN or SSGN — the senior enlisted daily manager of watch scheduling, PMS compliance, watchstander qualification, training program execution, and personnel readiness for 6-15 STSs depending on hull and manning.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E6 STS?
STS1 is the LPO seat and every watchstander qualification, eEVAL, PMS compliance number, and classified material accounting result carries your name to the Chief board.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E6 STS?
Time-blocked day at the E6 STS rank tier: 0500 Reveille at sea. Check the overnight watch log summary before leaving berthing — any contact prosecution developments, any PMS discrepancies, any personnel situations the duty section handled, 0530-0600 Morning walk of the sonar spaces — classified material log current and countersigned, PMS status against the day's schedule, watchstander accountability. The LPO who walks the spaces before the sonar chief is the LPO who finds the discrepancy first, 0600-0700 LPO section sync with the sonar chief — daily status brief: watchbill status,…
Q04What mistakes get E6 STS soldiers fired or relieved?
Writing an eEVAL that inflates an STS2's or STS3's performance because they are personally likable. The sailor who advances into a billet based on an inflated eEVAL performs to their actual level — not the level you described. The next LPO who writes the honest eEVAL at the next billet shows the board the gap. The department head who reads the divergence traces it back to your professional judgment permanently;…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E6 STS rank tier?
Chief board — package readiness and timing — The Chief Petty Officer selection board reads the complete performance record: every eEVAL from the STS1 tour, the watchstander qualification profile, the classified material accountability record, and the LCPO's input. The package is not something you build the six months before the board — it is the result of 18-24 months of LPO performance that the LCPO has been observing since month one. The STS1 who asks 'what does my Chief package look like' at the 12-month mark is asking too late.…
Q06What's next after E6 for a STS (Sonar Technician (Submarine)) in the Navy?
STSC (Chief Petty Officer) is the most consequential promotion in the STS community — and in the Navy enlisted structure generally.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E6 STS need to know cold?
NSTM Chapter 565 — Sonar Systems; the LPO is the technical reference point the STS3s check before asking the chief.; NWP 3-21 series — ASW doctrine; the Senior Sonar Supervisor who knows the doctrine framework is the one the OOD calls first when an unusual contact presentation surfaces.; On-board Sonar Acoustic Doctrine and hull-specific classified technical manuals — the LPO knows which publication and which section applies before the department head asks.

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Published by the Honest MOS Editorial DeskVerified against DoD/.gov sourcesUpdated May 2026Editorial standards