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ICE5

Interior Communications Electrician

E-5 (Sergeant) · Navy

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

IC2 (E-5) is the rating's first real senior-petty-officer tier. The chief is already forming a read on whether you have the technical authority and the people instincts to be a chief someday. The LPO title may be informal right now — the eEVAL you build this year and the CSMP you run will determine whether it becomes permanent with anchors attached.

The Honest MOS Read
Interior Communications Second Class (IC2, Petty Officer Second Class) is the rank where the IC rate starts to separate people. You are either the IC2 the LPO trusts with the hard casualty at 0200 — the one who shows up with a diagnosis, a TM citation, and a resolution timeline — or you are the IC2 who still needs the LPO in the space before he is confident in his own assessment. The gap between those two IC2s is not training-pipeline-dependent. It is built by the daily habit of working the fault-isolation tree completely, documenting honestly, and training the IC3s under you so that the work center runs at a higher standard than it did before you owned it. The technical scope at IC2 is the full IC suite for the section you own: 1MC/2MC/5MC announcing systems, gyrocompasses and all repeater circuits, battle lanterns on the decks in your assigned zones, sound-powered phone circuits, IC switchboard segments, course recorders, and rudder angle indicators. You execute and supervise corrective maintenance on any of these systems at the IC3 diagnostic level — but now you also review the IC3's work before it goes to the LPO. Your CSMP entries and your IC3's CSMP entries carry your signature at two levels: author and reviewer. The LPO billet, formally held by the IC1, is informally tested on the IC2 at every sea deployment, every TSTA evolution, and every ISIC visit. When the LPO is on leave and the division officer needs the IC system status briefed at the combat systems officer's morning sync, the IC2 who can walk in and run that brief without the LPO's notes is the one the LCPO remembers for the next advancement cycle. The NEC picture at IC2 should be resolved or in-pipeline. An IC2 without a visible NEC pathway — advanced IC course, gyrocompass school, or applicable cross-system NEC — reads cautiously to the advancement board and to the chief who writes the eEVAL. The post-service market for IC2s with NEC 2785 and the gyrocompass advanced qualification is real: marine electronics integrators, NAVSEASYSCOM contractor positions, and commercial ship systems maintenance companies all hire from the IC pipeline. The NEC is not just an advancement credential — it is the first line of the second-career resume. The eEVAL at IC2 feeds the Final Multiple Score for IC1 advancement more heavily than earlier cycles because the pool of IC2 competitors is smaller and the advancement rate for IC1 is historically tighter than IC3-to-IC2. An IC2 who has specific, measurable EVAL bullets — CSMP closure rates, battle-lantern operability by zone, NEC pipeline output, underway casualty response results — is better positioned than one whose EVAL reads as generic maintenance filler. The LPO who writes the eEVAL drafts it from the IC2's accomplishment input. Feed the LPO the input before he asks for it.
Career Arc
  • 01IC2 advancement via NWAE — FMS combining exam, eEVAL grade, TIR, awards, education.
  • 02Work-center section ownership: CSMP, PMS schedule, parts pipeline, OMMS-NG records for assigned IC systems.
  • 03IC3/ICFN training and PQS sign-off authority: formal training leadership, not just informal mentorship.
  • 04NEC pipeline active: NEC 2785 advanced course, gyrocompass school, or applicable advanced NEC in-pipeline or awarded.
  • 05Surface Warfare device pinned and backed by a real qualification record — visible at every command event.
  • 06NWAE for IC1 study plan on the LCPO's table before the cycle opens.
  • 07eEVAL profile building toward EP/MP recommendation — accomplishment input fed to the LPO, not waited for.
Common Screwups
  • ×Letting an IC3 close a CSMP discrepancy as repaired without verifying system operability end-to-end with your signature. When the 1MC fails the next GQ drill, the damage-control assistant comes to you first — because your review signature is the last entry before 'closed.'
  • ×Accepting a verbal 'exception to PMS' from the division officer without documenting it in the 3-M coordinator's log. Four months later the ISIC inspector asks why the quarterly gyrocompass accuracy check was deferred, and 'the DivO said it was okay' is not a documented authorization.
  • ×Running IC switchboard corrective maintenance at full load during a maintenance evolution because the watch team wanted the announcing circuits restored faster. Arc flash hazards per NSTM Chapter 300 exist at full-load conditions on the IC distribution bus — the ESWP tag-out is not negotiable.
  • ×Treating the Surface Warfare qualification board as a checkbox exercise. The chief asks hard technical questions about the IC systems you maintain at the board, and an IC2 who walks in unprepared embarrasses the work center and demonstrates that the device on the blouse is decorative.
  • ×Going around the LCPO to the division officer when you disagree with a maintenance call. Make the argument in the chain, walk out aligned. The goat locker hears about the shortcut the same watch.

A Day in the Life

  • 0530Reveille. Personal PT or ship's 0600 formation depending on homeport schedule. Underway: IC room watch turnover if on rotation.
  • 0630Breakfast. Review OMMS-NG for any overnight discrepancy entries or watch-log notes from the night IC room watch.
  • 0730Work-center muster. LPO runs CSMP status check. You brief your section status: open items, parts outstanding, upcoming PMS milestones.
  • 0800Gyrocompass accuracy check: IC2 runs the full TM procedure, IC3 documents under supervision. Results logged in MDS before the navigator's morning brief.
  • 09001MC system PMS: amplifier output verification across the assigned zones. IC3 executes; IC2 reviews and signs the card.
  • 1000Corrective maintenance on open CSMP item. ESWP tag-out initiated. IC2 leads; ICFN assists. Repair per TM procedure; operability verified end-to-end before tag-out cleared.
  • 1100OMMS-NG update: new CSMP entries, closed items verified, parts requests submitted. Brief format for division officer's afternoon sync drafted.
  • 1130Noon meal.
  • 1230NWAE study: IC1 BIB reading on schedule. Current week: NSTM Chapter 430 multi-zone fault isolation and gyrocompass calibration sections.
  • 1330IC3 training: walk the IC3 through the LPO-brief format for CSMP status. Review his OMMS-NG entries from the morning.
  • 1500Battle lantern zone inspection of assigned decks, or IC switchboard visual check per weekly PMS schedule.
  • 1600Pre-liberty checklist: all tools stowed, all open MRCs annotated, OMMS-NG current, CSMP entries reviewed.
  • 1700Evening meal. Liberty call in port per duty rotation.
  • 1900-2100NWAE study and eEVAL accomplishment log update — record specific measurable results from the day's maintenance actions.

Weekly Cadence

The IC2's week is organized by the LPO's Monday CSMP review and the Friday pre-liberty accountability check that bookend it. Monday you leave with a specific tasking list for your section. Friday you verify every item is complete or documented. The days between are determined by the ship's operational schedule — in port, the tempo is planned PMS and corrective maintenance; underway, the maintenance windows compress around watch rotations, GQ drills, and evolution support. Mid-week is when the leadership weight of the IC2 billet becomes most visible. The IC3 who got stuck on a fault-isolation step mid-morning is going to call you before he calls the LPO — whether your calendar has room for that conversation or not. The ICFN who has a personal problem that is making him a liability on the work center is going to surface it mid-week because that is when people surface things. Your ability to handle both in the same afternoon without letting either one drop is the observable measure of whether you are ready for the LPO billet. When there is a major evolution — TSTA, INSURV workup, POM inspection — the week's cadence inverts: the maintenance window shrinks, the operability check frequency increases, and the LPO expects the IC2 to have the division's technical status briefed on 30 minutes' notice at any point during the evolution. The IC2 who can hand the LPO a current CSMP snapshot from memory during an INSURV approach is the one the LCPO remembers on the IC1 advancement recommendation.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Troubleshoot a multi-system casualty — 1MC amplifier failure cascading into dead announcing in three damage-control zones — without calling the LPO for the first three diagnostic steps.
    A cascading IC casualty typically traces to one of three sources: power distribution (IC switchboard fault affecting multiple amplifier zones), a main cable run (ground fault taking out a whole announcing circuit branch), or a control-signal fault (the amplifier is powered but not receiving the correct control input). Start at the power distribution level before working toward individual components. The NSTM Chapter 430 fault-isolation tree for multi-zone failures assumes you have eliminated the IC switchboard as the fault origin in the first step. Document every step — what you checked, what you found, what you ruled out — so the LPO can pick up the diagnostic without retracing your work.
  2. 02
    Run a work-center PMS review: current CSMP status, deferred MRCs with reasons, parts on order, upcoming 3-M quarterly coordinator visit — presented to the division officer in a format the combat systems officer can brief without rewriting.
    The brief format that works: one page, three sections. Section 1: systems status by work-center area (IC room, gyrocompass, announcing suite, battle lanterns). Section 2: open CSMP items — system, fault, parts status, estimated closure. Section 3: upcoming 3-M milestones and ISIC/INSURV liabilities. The division officer should be able to read it in three minutes and brief it accurately without you in the room. If he has to call you for clarification before every wardroom sync, the brief is not ready.
  3. 03
    Execute an IC switchboard isolation evolution involving multiple connected systems — tag-out initiation, application, clearance — per the ESWP and NSTM Chapter 300, with the log entry the safety petty officer reviews.
    Multi-system IC switchboard evolutions require a more detailed tag-out authorization because more than one circuit is affected and the interrelation between them can create re-energization risk during clearance. Before initiating, draw the affected circuit block on the tag-out form — identify every feed, every return path, and every interlock. The clearance sequence is the reverse of the application sequence, and the safety petty officer verifies each cleared tag against the initiation form. A log with a sequence gap is a safety discrepancy.
  4. 04
    Mentor an IC3's NEC or advanced course packet from idea to submission — and be honest about pipeline commitment and sea-tour implications.
    The advanced IC course or gyrocompass school changes an IC3's advancement trajectory, but it also requires a service commitment and a sea-tour or shore-tour timing alignment. Walk the IC3 through the actual pipeline: school length, follow-on billet implications, impact on the current sea tour, and what the NEC adds to the advancement FMS. Then be honest about whether the timing fits the IC3's family and career situation. A mentor who only tells junior sailors what they want to hear is not mentoring.
  5. 05
    Write the 3-M/CSMP section of a department-level readiness message or SITREP input clean enough that the division officer does not rephrase it.
    Readiness message language has a specific format: system nomenclature, equipment identification code, material condition code (FMC/PMCM/PMCS/NMC), fault description, corrective action status, estimated repair completion date. The division officer does not translate maintenance jargon — he passes what you wrote. A SITREP input that uses vague condition language ('partially operational') instead of specific material condition codes will get rephrased and you will not like the rephrasing.
  6. 06
    Run battle lantern operability inspections across the ship's full inventory before a major evolution — log every discrepancy, prioritize by damage-control zone criticality, report to the damage-control assistant with a resolution timeline.
    Zone criticality follows the ship's damage-control organization: the spaces where flooding, fire, and smoke are most likely to cut main power during a casualty are the highest-priority lantern zones. Run the inspection in zone-criticality order, not sequential deck order. When you report to the damage-control assistant, lead with the zones that have deficiencies — the DCA does not want to hear the clean zones first.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • NSTM Chapter 430 — Interior Communications
    At IC2 you are the technical reference your IC3s consult before they call the LPO. Know which chapter sections cover multi-zone announcing system fault isolation (not just single-component faults), gyrocompass and repeater calibration for your specific installed equipment class, IC switchboard isolation evolutions under multi-system conditions, and battle-lantern zone inspection standards. The section you quote on a casualty brief is the one the division officer passes to the combat systems officer.
  • NAVSEA system-specific TMs for the gyrocompass, IC switchboard, and 1MC/2MC/5MC announcing systems on your ship
    The LPO should not need to hand you the right manual on a casualty — you should know which TM covers which system and which section covers which fault class before the casualty. The IC2 who pulls the wrong TM on a gyrocompass fault because he grabbed the installation manual instead of the maintenance manual delays his own repair and loses the division officer's confidence in the process.
  • OPNAVINST 4790.4 — Ships 3-M Systems Procedures
    You are now the petty officer defending the work center's 3-M posture to the ISIC coordinator when the LPO is not present. Know the deferral authorization chain, the CSMP entry update requirements, and the difference between a scheduled maintenance deferral and a missed maintenance action — the inspector treats them very differently.
  • MIL-STD-461 — EMC Requirements for Equipment and Subsystems
    IC system modifications — new cable runs, amplifier replacements with different models, IC switchboard configuration changes — require EMC compliance documentation. The combat systems officer asks about EMC compliance at the pre-INSURV brief; at IC2 you should be able to explain what EMC compliance means for the IC suite, even if the detailed verification is handled by the NAVSEA technical representative.
  • NAVPERS 18068F — IC Rate Occupational Standards and NEC catalog
    Mentor IC3 NEC packets off the current source-rating NAVADMIN, not the NAVPERS version that has been on the shared drive since the last deployment. The occupational standards section defines exactly what the advancement board expects an IC2 to demonstrate — read it as a self-assessment tool, not just a career-counselor reference.
  • NWAE BIB for IC1 cycle — current, from MyNavyHR
    The IC1 advancement cycle is historically the tightest advancement gate in the rate. Build the study plan before the cycle opens — NSTM Chapter 430 depth, the applicable NEC technical manual sections, and the occupational standards for IC1. The sailors who walk into the IC1 NWAE with a 20-week study log are competing against the ones who crammed for two months; the exam scores reflect it.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • NWAE for IC1 prep documented on the LCPO's timeline — EAW clean, BIB study log defensible when the chief asks.
    The Enlisted Advancement Worksheet (EAW) at IC2 should reflect a growing service record: NEC awarded or in-pipeline, Surface Warfare device, positive eEVAL trend, schools completed, awards documented. The BIB study log the chief reviews is not just an accountability mechanism — it is the data point the LCPO uses to recommend you for the STEP-1 nomination slot.
  • Work-center PMS completion rate defensible at department-head level every cycle — your section's numbers without caveats in the monthly 3-M report.
    Run a pre-submission self-audit before the 3-M coordinator's monthly report: every open MRC has a status (in-work, deferred with authorization, parts on order), every CSMP entry is current. The monthly 3-M report goes to the department head, and the division officer's job is to pass your numbers without having to add caveats. Make his job easy.
  • PRT Good High or better; BCA in standard; Surface Warfare device pinned and current.
    The Physical Readiness Test standard at IC2 is Good High — that is the score that keeps the eEVAL trait block clean and does not generate a PRT-failure flag the chief sees before writing the EVAL. The Surface Warfare device matters more at IC2 than most ICs realize — at the IC1 board and the chief board, a device with a real qualification record behind it is visible; an IC2 without it has to explain the gap.
  • NEC awarded or in-pipeline — IC advanced course, gyrocompass school, or applicable advanced NEC.
    The IC2 without a visible NEC pathway is the one the advancement board reads cautiously. The NEC pipeline conversation with the LCPO and career counselor should be complete before the IC1 NWAE cycle — not because the NEC produces advancement points directly, but because the EVAL narrative and the chief's recommendation reflect the sailor who is investing in technical depth.
  • eEVAL trait average and ranking supporting EP/MP recommendation.
    The EVAL trait block is the product of the accomplishment input you feed the LPO all year. Specific, measurable bullets — '100% battle-lantern operability across 12 DC zones during pre-deployment INSURV' — outperform generic maintenance language every cycle. Build an accomplishment log throughout the year, not a memory exercise in October.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Letting an IC3 close a CSMP discrepancy as repaired without verifying system operability with your signature on the review.
    The division officer's CSMP brief shows the item closed. The 1MC fails the next GQ drill. The damage-control assistant asks who verified the repair. The last two signatures on the CSMP entry are the IC3 who executed and the IC2 who reviewed — and the review signature carries the same accountability weight as the execution signature.
  • Accepting a verbal exception to PMS from the division officer without documenting it in the 3-M coordinator's log.
    The ISIC inspector finds a quarterly gyrocompass accuracy check deferred for four months with no documented authorization. The investigation produces two findings: the maintenance gap and the authorization gap. 'The DivO said it was okay' is hearsay that the 3-M coordinator cannot validate, and the discrepancy resolves to the IC2 whose name is on the work center's PMS record.
  • Running IC switchboard corrective maintenance at full load because the watch team wanted the announcing circuits restored faster.
    Arc flash energy at the IC switchboard distribution bus under full load is not theoretical — it is an NSTM Chapter 300 design condition that produces plasma temperatures high enough to cause fatal burns through standard coveralls. The 20-minute ESWP evolution is not optional because the watch team is impatient.
  • Treating the Surface Warfare qualification board as a checkbox exercise and walking in underprepared.
    The chief who sits the SWS board asks IC-specific technical questions about the ship's IC suite and its integration with the damage-control system. An IC2 who cannot answer those questions in front of the board does not receive a recommendation — and the chief's next impression of that IC2 is that the device on the blouse is decorative.
  • Going around the LCPO to the division officer over a maintenance decision disagreement.
    The LPO hears about it from the division officer before the watch is over. The chief's mess hears it from the LPO before the week ends. The next eEVAL is written by the LPO. The chain of command is not a suggestion — it is the structure that makes the work center function when the ship is at GQ and the LPO is managing four casualties simultaneously.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • LDO/CWO packet — start building it now or wait until IC1.
    The IC rate feeds the 620X Ship's Electrical LDO and CWO designators. The minimum eligibility is roughly six years of service, but the competitive selection pool is built from records that show a trajectory of technical leadership starting at IC2/IC1. If you wait until IC1 to think about this, you are competing with IC1s who started at IC2. The EVAL narrative the LPO writes this year is the first data point on a record the LDO board will read in three or four years. Talk to the LCPO now — not to decide, but to understand what the board looks for and whether your current record is moving in that direction.
  • STA-21 commissioning program — viable option for IC2s with a degree or significant credits.
    STA-21 is the Navy's active-duty commissioning program that funds a bachelor's degree and commissions enlisted sailors as surface warfare officers. IC2s with two-plus years of service and 30-plus college credits are competitively eligible. The trade-off is significant: you leave the fleet for up to two years of full-time degree completion, then commission as an ENS with an ADSO. The IC technical pedigree does not follow you to the SWO community in any formal way. If you want to be an officer and you have the academic record, the time to apply is now — the STA-21 window for competitive IC2 candidates is shorter than most people believe.
  • Re-enlistment for the NEC pipeline vs. ETS and civilian transition.
    An IC2 with NEC 2785 and the gyrocompass advanced qualification holds a credential that the marine electronics contracting market pays for — NASSCO, Bath Iron Works, Huntington Ingalls, L3 Technologies, and the NAVSEASYSCOM contractor base all hire from the IC pipeline. The DoD contracting market at the IC2 level pays less than waiting to IC1 and separating with 8-10 years of experience — if staying to IC1/ICC makes sense given your life situation, the compound value of the seniority and NEC depth is significant. If the sea-to-shore rotation and family situation do not support another 4-6 years, separate at IC2 with the NEC and let the civilian market find you — the transition is easier at 25 with a specific technical credential than at 35 with a senior enlisted record that takes longer to translate.
  • Shore tour priorities: FTSC / school / recruiting / independent duty vs. sea billet for advancement.
    Shore billets advance the advancement FMS in some configurations (shore-duty eEVAL profiles can produce EP blocks that are harder to achieve in large-division sea billets) but delay the operational experience that the chief board looks for. FTSC detachment tours give cross-platform IC system exposure that is genuinely distinctive. Recruiting duty gives leadership breadth that the LDO/CWO board reads positively. Independent duty (small command as the only IC) accelerates responsibility but can slow NEC access. None of these is universally right — the right answer depends on what you are building the record toward.

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • Surface Combatant (DDG, CG)
    The most technically demanding IC environment: full IC switchboard, multiple gyrocompass systems, dozens of 1MC zones, hundreds of battle lanterns. An IC2 on a DDG is the senior petty officer in a work center of four-to-eight ICs with daily high-tempo maintenance, watch rotations, and GQ drill cycles. The operational pace is high but the advancement visibility from a DDG sea tour is the clearest in the surface fleet.
  • Fleet Technical Support Center (FTSC) Detachment
    The shore-duty IC2 at FTSC works with field-service teams that travel to ships for technical support, casualty repairs, and maintenance beyond the ship work center's organic capability. Exposure to IC system variants across multiple ship classes in a single tour is unusual and genuinely builds the technical depth the IC advanced course teaches in a classroom. The trade-off is less operational sea time on a single platform and a slightly different eEVAL profile.
  • Amphibious Ship (LHD, LPD)
    Larger hull, larger IC suite, and the specific operational load of amphibious operations. Well-deck operations create additional 1MC and 5MC demand. The work center may have more ICs than a DDG work center, which means the IC2 is one of two or three E-5s rather than the senior petty officer. The advancement visibility from an amphibious tour is comparable to a DDG tour for eEVAL purposes.
  • Reserve Component
    The advancement math is identical to active duty; the sea-time accumulation and NEC pipeline access are significantly more constrained. An IC2 in a reserve component unit who maintains technical currency between drills — self-study on NSTM Chapter 430, access to the rate training manual — may arrive for mobilization more technically current than the mobilizing command expects. The NWAE competition is the same pool as active duty.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The good IC2 is the petty officer the LCPO names when the combat systems officer asks who is running the IC room during the port visit with the NAVSEASYSCOM repair team aboard. His CSMP is clean before the team arrives — not cleaned up the morning of their visit, but routinely clean because his IC3 was trained to enter discrepancies honestly and he verifies the entries before the work center closes every Friday. His eEVAL bullets are specific enough that the LCPO can defend them to the senior rater without calling for context. 'Maintained 100% battle-lantern operability across all 14 assigned DC zones through a 7-month deployment; zero zone failures during 22 GQ evolutions' is the kind of bullet that writes itself from a year of running the zone inspection honestly. The IC2 who trades that habit for a cursory inspection gets a generic EVAL because there is nothing specific to write. The IC3 he trained two quarters ago can now run the NSTM Chapter 430 fault-isolation tree on a 1MC casualty without calling for help in the first three steps. That training output is visible to the chief and the division officer in the simplest way: the work center runs better when the IC2 is on leave than it did before he owned it. That is the standard the chief is measuring against when the IC1 advancement recommendation goes to the commanding officer.

Preview — The Next Rank

IC1 (E-6) is the LPO billet — formally. You run the work center: four-to-eight ICs, the full CSMP, the 3-M program, the parts pipeline, and four-to-six eEVALs per cycle that shape the next advancement slate. The transition from IC2 to IC1 is not a continuation of what you were doing — it is a change in who you are accountable to and how. At IC2 you were accountable to the LPO. At IC1 you are accountable to the division officer, the department head, and the LCPO simultaneously. The 0200 call from the OOD about the 1MC goes to you now, not to the LPO. The ISIC inspector's first conversation when he steps aboard is with you, not with the IC2. The eEVAL narrative the IC2s remember when they talk to the next IC3 about who shaped their career — that is also you. The Chief board conversation starts at IC1, not at ICC. The LCPO is already forming a read based on how you ran the division as an IC1. The sailors who walk into the IC1 billet knowing they are building a Chief board record from day one produce different eEVAL profiles, different pipeline output numbers, and different INSURV results than the ones who figure that out after their first LCPO counseling session.
FAQ

IC E5 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E5 IC (Interior Communications Electrician) actually do?
You run a section or a watch team — senior IC in the IC room on a surface combatant, the lead IC on a smaller platform where you are the only E-5 with the rate, or the senior interior communications technician on a shore-side technical department.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E5 IC?
IC2 (E-5) is the rating's first real senior-petty-officer tier.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E5 IC?
Time-blocked day at the E5 IC rank tier: 0530 Reveille. Personal PT or ship's 0600 formation depending on homeport schedule. Underway: IC room watch turnover if on rotation, 0630 Breakfast. Review OMMS-NG for any overnight discrepancy entries or watch-log notes from the night IC room watch, 0730 Work-center muster. LPO runs CSMP status check. You brief your section status: open items, parts outstanding, upcoming PMS milestones, 0800 Gyrocompass accuracy check: IC2 runs the full TM procedure, IC3 documents under supervision. Results logged in MDS before the navigator's morning brief,…
Q04What mistakes get E5 IC soldiers fired or relieved?
Letting an IC3 close a CSMP discrepancy as repaired without verifying system operability end-to-end with your signature. When the 1MC fails the next GQ drill, the damage-control assistant comes to you first — because your review signature is the last entry before 'closed.'; Accepting a verbal 'exception to PMS' from the division officer without documenting it in the 3-M coordinator's log. Four months later the ISIC inspector asks why the quarterly gyrocompass accuracy check was deferred,…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E5 IC rank tier?
LDO/CWO packet — start building it now or wait until IC1 — The IC rate feeds the 620X Ship's Electrical LDO and CWO designators. The minimum eligibility is roughly six years of service, but the competitive selection pool is built from records that show a trajectory of technical leadership starting at IC2/IC1. If you wait until IC1 to think about this, you are competing with IC1s who started at IC2. The EVAL narrative the LPO writes this year is the first data point on a record the LDO board will read in three or four years. Talk to the LCPO now — not to decide,…
Q06What's next after E5 for a IC (Interior Communications Electrician) in the Navy?
IC1 (E-6) is the LPO billet — formally.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E5 IC need to know cold?
NSTM Chapter 430 — Interior Communications: the technical governance you quote on every casualty; know which section covers each system class in depth, not just the index.; NAVSEA system-specific TMs for the gyrocompass, IC switchboard, and 1MC/2MC/5MC announcing systems on your ship — the TM number on the nameplate is your starting point; the LCPO should not have to hand you the right manual.;…

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