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MNE5

Mineman

E-5 (Sergeant) · Navy

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

MN2 is where the mine rate's dual identity becomes real: you are the senior technician who diagnoses and resolves, and you are also the section trainer who keeps the MN3s progressing. In a small rating with a small section, those roles are not sequential — you do both at the same time, every day. The Chief conversation is not yet formal, but the MN2 who will make MNC is already identifiable to the senior Minemen in the mess by the end of this tour.

The Honest MOS Read
Petty Officer Second Class Mineman (MN2) is the rank where you become the senior technical voice on your section's work and the de facto trainer for the MN3s and MNFNs working under your oversight. The formal LPO title may still belong to the MN1, but in a small community the MN2 with the strongest record and the most current NEC carries real section authority before the title says so. Technically, MN2 is the rank where you are expected to resolve — not just report. A fuzing-system test failure that the MN3 has been working around is yours to own: fault-isolation from the technical manual, component-level diagnosis, resolution timeline, and a brief to the Weapons Officer or Mine Warfare Officer in terms they can carry up the chain. The LCPO does not want a symptom report from the MN2; he wants a diagnosis and a fix schedule. Building the technical confidence to deliver that — consistently, not just when the failure is obvious — is the work of the MN2 tour. The AA&E accountability role at MN2 expands. You are now the section's senior custodian: lot-number and component-count reconciliation for all of your section's components, access-list control for the magazine space your section uses, custody turnovers run to standard with the next watch, and the no-notice spot count the LCPO or the Weapons Officer runs without warning. In a community this small, the MN2 whose section has a clean accountability record over a full deployment cycle is the MN2 the Mine Warfare Officer brings up by name in the wardroom conversation about the next advancement slate. The mentoring load is real and meaningful. The two to four MN3s and MNFNs in your section are building the habits and the technical foundation that will carry them through MN1 and MNC. The way you answer questions, review documentation, and walk them through fault-isolation procedures is the training they receive. The MN3 who rubber-stamps documentation instead of reviewing it passes the quality problem to QA, and the QA return lands under your initials. The MN3 who learns from you to do the fault isolation before replacing components becomes the MN2 who makes MNC in twelve years. Both of those outcomes trace to the quality of the example you set at MN2. The eEVAL ranking at MN2 in a small rating is consequential for the advancement to MN1 and eventually for the Chief board packet. The LCPO and the Mine Warfare Officer know the MN2 section by name and work quality. The ranking is not a surprise at EVAL time — it is the accumulated record of accountability, technical quality, and section training output over the full evaluation period.
Career Arc
  • 01MN2 pin-on via NWAE advancement — exam score, service-record review, NLE completion.
  • 02Section senior-custodian role on AA&E custody record — lot-number and component-count reconciliation at the section level, not just individual watches.
  • 03Section training plan ownership — MN3 and MNFN PQS progress, NWAE study plans, NEC pipeline conversations.
  • 04Mine assembly and maintenance work as the senior technician — fault isolation, anomaly resolution, QA-clean documentation without return-for-rework becoming a section pattern.
  • 05NEC awarded or in-pipeline; Surface Warfare or Expeditionary Warfare device pinned where the billet qualifies.
  • 06NWAE BIB study for MN1 advancement cycle.
  • 07eEVAL ranking the Mine Warfare Officer and the LCPO both know before the EVAL board reads it.
Common Screwups
  • ×Rubber-stamping MN3 assembly or custody documentation without actually reading it. The initials are the quality standard; if QA or the AA&E inspection finds the error on a closed action, the MN2 who signed is the technician who failed the review step. The MN3 learns that the MN2's signature means nothing, and the section's documentation quality erodes over the full tour.
  • ×Chasing a fuzing-system anomaly with component replacement instead of the technical manual fault-isolation procedure. A recurring test failure that keeps coming back because the fault isolation was abbreviated wastes supply, drags the readiness brief, and lands the section in a QA review — with the MN2 as the senior technician of record on the fault history.
  • ×Letting AA&E access lists or custody turnovers drift because everyone in the section knows each other. The access list is a security control and an accountability document. A stale list is the OPNAVINST 5530.13 finding the AA&E inspection reads first, regardless of how well the section knows each other.
  • ×Going around the LCPO to the Weapons Officer or Mine Warfare Officer. The mine-warfare leadership chain runs through the chief; the command master chief hears about it the same watch rotation, and the next eEVAL ranking absorbs the read. The Weapons Officer sends the question back to the MN1 anyway.
  • ×DUI / NJP / financial mismanagement at MN2. The mine community is too small for any serious disciplinary event to be absorbed quietly. The Chief board packet at MN1 will not survive a misdemeanor DUI or an NJP for financial misconduct, and the detailer knows before you do that the pipeline conversations need to change.

A Day in the Life

  • 0500-0530Wake. Check overnight command traffic and any section-specific issues from the duty section — an equipment anomaly, a custody discrepancy, a sailor issue the duty officer flagged.
  • 0530-0630PT formation. Same standard as at MN3 — Good Medium floor, consistent performance expected. The MN2 who cannot keep pace with the MN3s in the section on run days is noticed.
  • 0630-0700Shower, uniform, chow.
  • 0700-0730Quarters. LCPO passes the day's section priorities. MN2 confirms section accountability and previews the day's assembly and maintenance assignments for the section.
  • 0730-0800Magazine check if required. Walk it personally — not because someone is watching, but because the access-list and custody-record reconciliation that starts the day at a correct baseline prevents the 1500 accounting scramble.
  • 0800-1100Main work period. Senior technician role on the section's assembly and maintenance work — MN3s assigned to the actions, MN2 available for fault isolation, documentation review, and technical questions. Section MN3 documentation reviewed before QA submission. Any anomaly diagnosed and briefed to MN1 or Weapons Officer during this window.
  • 1100-1200Lunch. Section training check during the week — did the MN3s cover the assigned BIB chapters? PQS milestone status for the week. These conversations happen at lunch, informally, and they are the section training in practice.
  • 1200-1500Afternoon work period. Continue assembly or maintenance work. Section training documentation updated. NEC pipeline conversation with an MN3 if scheduled. Access list audit if a section composition change occurred this week.
  • 1500-1530Tool count, documentation closure, work-center cleanup. No open 3-M actions carried into the next day if preventable.
  • 1530-1600End-of-day muster. Section accountability confirmed. Overnight duty section confirmed.
  • 1600-1800Liberty or duty section. MN2 may have section-level duty responsibilities at some billets.
  • 1800-2100BIB study if in the advancement window. Leadership development reading — CPO 365 material, MILPERSMAN, OPNAV policy relevant to the section's mission. The MN2 who is preparing to be an MNC reads the chief-level material before pinning the anchors.
  • 2100-2200Close out the day. On an MCM ship underway, the watch bill absorbs part of this time.

Weekly Cadence

The MN2's week is built around the section's assembly schedule, the LCPO's weekly training milestones, and the mine-warfare readiness inputs the Mine Warfare Officer needs for the maintenance management board. Monday sets the week: LCPO muster, section priorities, and a check on whether the previous week's 3-M documentation and AA&E custody status are clean heading into the new cycle. Mid-week, the section assembly and maintenance work is running; the MN2 is moving between the MN3 work stations, reviewing documentation, fielding technical questions, and pushing the BIB study conversations with the section during the natural breaks in the day. When the unit enters a workup or pre-deployment cycle, the MN2's section weight increases significantly. More assembly actions on tighter timelines, more handling evolutions, more documentation that needs to be QA-clean before the operational commitment. The Mine Warfare Command or Type Commander inspection preparation starts with the section training plan and the documentation review the MN2 has been running all year — sections that have been accountable throughout do not need special preparation. Sections that have been sloppy spend the inspection preparation period scrambling and the scramble is visible. The NWAE advancement window adds study load on top of the section management load. The MN2 who has been reading the MILPERSMAN and Navy personnel regulation material throughout the year — not waiting for the window — covers the BIB faster and scores better. The section training the MN2 runs all year is also the content knowledge the advancement exam tests; the two reinforce each other if the MN2 treats both as the same job.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Own a complex mine assembly or fuzing-system anomaly from write-up through fault isolation through corrective action — assembly back in serviceable status with 3-M documentation closing clean before the next operational commitment.
    The technical manual fault-isolation procedure is the only legitimate path. Do not start replacing components because replacement is faster — if the failure recurs, the failure history is yours. Work the tree: what does the functional test show, what does that indicate at the component level, what does the component-level check find, what does that tell you about the root cause. Brief the MN1 or the Weapons Officer with the diagnosis and the ETC before you start turning wrenches. The MN2 who brings a diagnosis and a fix schedule earns technical credibility; the one who brings a replaced component and a hope earns a supervisor.
  2. 02
    Run the section's AA&E accountability as senior custodian: lot-number and component reconciliation, access-list control, custody turnover, no-notice spot counts — and own the report-it-now reflex the instant a discrepancy surfaces.
    The spot count is not an event to prepare for — it is a state you maintain. Build the section's reconciliation discipline so that the count is current at every watch relief, every custody transfer, and every time a component is handled. When the Weapons Officer or LCPO walks in for a no-notice count, the answer should be 'here is the custody record, the count reconciles to lot number' without any scrambling. The MN2 section that is always at this state never needs to scramble, because the discipline that produces it is identical to the discipline that produces a clean AA&E inspection.
  3. 03
    Run a section training plan that keeps MN3s progressing on PQS, NWAE study, and hands-on assembly proficiency without requiring the LCPO to track every milestone.
    Build a simple tracker — PQS completion percentages, NWAE BIB chapter coverage, NEC pipeline status — and brief the LCPO on section training status at the weekly sync without being asked. The MN3 who has been in the section for six months and has not had the NEC pipeline conversation is not the MN3's fault if the MN2 never had it. The section training plan is the MN2's responsibility. The LCPO who has to chase training status is the LCPO who eventually stops trusting the MN2 with the section.
  4. 04
    Review MN3 assembly, maintenance, and custody documentation before QA sees it — catch the missed torque step, the wrong lot number, the unreconciled component — so the section's rework rate stays at or below command average.
    The review is not a rubber stamp. Read the 3-M documentation against the MRC sequence. Check the lot number against the custody record. Verify the signature chain is complete and correct. If the documentation has an error, give it back to the MN3 with a specific explanation of what is wrong and why — not a vague 'this is wrong.' The MN3 who understands what the MN2 caught learns to prevent it; the MN3 who gets a returned form without explanation just fixes the specific error and makes a different one next time.
  5. 05
    Brief a fuzing-system anomaly, magazine safety issue, or handling-equipment failure to the Weapons Officer or Mine Warfare Officer in terms the watch-section officer understands: what the system was doing, what the anomaly indicates, the resolution timeline, and the safety implication.
    The Weapons Officer brief is structured: BLUF, what the system was doing before the anomaly, what the anomaly indicates at the component level, what the resolution is and the ETC, and whether there is a safety implication that changes the magazine posture or the operational commitment schedule. Practice the structure before you need it at speed. The MN2 who briefs with that structure is the one the Weapons Officer writes as technically credible in the EVAL period narrative.
  6. 06
    Mentor an MN3's NWAE cycle, NEC pipeline packet, or MCM shipboard billet preference from idea to selection — and counsel honestly when the path is wrong for the sailor.
    The honest counseling part is what separates good mentorship from cheerleading. An MN3 with a history of AA&E documentation issues who wants to pursue a mine countermeasures NEC that requires clean accountability history needs to hear, honestly, what needs to change before that conversation is viable. The MN3 who hears the honest version and improves is the sailor who makes MN2 on schedule; the one who hears the cheerleading version and does not improve is the one who is surprised by the detailing outcome and blames the system.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • NAVSEA OP-2173 — Mine Assembly and Handling Manual
    At MN2 you own the technical content, not just the procedure steps your MN3 follows. The fault-isolation sections are the ones that distinguish the section senior technician from the section worker. Read them before you need them in a pressured timeline.
  • OPNAVINST 8000.16 series — Mine Warfare Policy
    You are the section voice in the mine-warfare readiness brief at MN2. Understanding the policy context — why mine warfare is prioritized the way it is, what the operational employment authority looks like — makes your section input more than a data readout. The Mine Warfare Officer notices the MN2 who understands context versus the one who reads numbers.
  • OPNAVINST 8020.14B — Navy Explosives Safety Management Program, with NAVSEA OP 4 and NAVSEA OP 5
    The explosives-safety governance you are accountable to at the section-senior-technician level. Read the self-assessment provisions and the incident-reporting requirements specifically. The LCPO cites these by number when the section's magazine or handling program is audited.
  • OPNAVINST 5530.13 series — Navy AA&E Physical Security
    At MN2 you own the custody program including the access-list and reconciliation provisions you enforce on your MN3s. The inspection finds discrepancies under the senior custodian's name; that is you.
  • OPNAVINST 4790.4 series — Ships' 3-M Systems Procedures Manual
    The QA provisions in this instruction define what you enforce when you review MN3 documentation. Know the return-for-rework criteria specifically — not so you can identify what to send back, but so the MN3 documentation you review never needs to go back.
  • NAVPERS 18068 Vol II and the current NEC source-rating NAVADMIN; NWAE BIB for MN1 cycle
    You mentor packets from this reference and you build your own study plan from the BIB. The NAVADMIN version matters — NEC pipelines and quota structures change. Do not counsel an MN3 from documentation that is a cycle old.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • NWAE for MN1 prep on the LCPO's timeline; BIB study log the chief can defend at the advancement worksheet review.
    At MN2, the study load is heavier because the technical content is deeper and the administrative content (MILPERSMAN, Navy personnel regulations, leadership material) expands. The LCPO expects to see a study plan, not just a study intention. Build the BIB chapter tracker on week one of the advancement window; update it weekly. The advancement worksheet review at the LCPO or Mine Warfare Officer level is a conversation the MN2 has a position in — having the study log ready is the baseline.
  • Zero AA&E accountability discrepancies attributable to your section over a custody cycle.
    The section-level standard, not just the individual watch standard. The MN2 who has a clean personal record but lets an MN3 run a sloppy custody turnover owns the finding when it surfaces at the AA&E inspection. The section accountability standard is produced by the training the MN2 provides to the MN3s. Train the standard and enforce it; the outcome follows.
  • Section QA rework rate at or below command average — your initials are on the documentation your MN3s produce after you review it.
    Pull the command's QA rework metrics quarterly. If your section is above average, identify whether the source is MN3 documentation quality, MRC interpretation errors, or signature-chain gaps — then address the specific problem in the section training plan. The MN2 who addresses QA rework specifically is the MN2 whose section is below average by the end of the evaluation period.
  • NEC awarded or in-pipeline; Surface Warfare or Expeditionary Warfare device pinned where the billet qualifies.
    NEC currency matters for advancement and for EVAL differentiation. A Surface Warfare device on an MN2 who has completed the qualification program at a surface warfare billet is a visible credential the Mine Warfare Officer notes in the EVAL narrative. Verify the current warfare device qualification requirements at your command; the shortcuts others took in prior years may not be available now.
  • eEVAL trait average and ranking that supports EP or MP recommendation; LCPO knows your number before the EVAL board reads it.
    The 'LCPO knows your number' standard means the EVAL ranking should not be a surprise to either of you. The MN2 who has ongoing feedback conversations with the LCPO — not just at EVAL time — knows where they stand in the section ranking throughout the year. The one who is surprised by their ranking at EVAL time was not having those conversations.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Rubber-stamping MN3 assembly or custody documentation without actually reading it.
    The QA return or the AA&E inspection finding lands under your initials. The section learns, from watching you do this, that the review step is performative — and the documentation quality of the section drifts to reflect that lesson over the evaluation period. The LCPO who audits the section's QA rework rate traces the drift to the MN2 who made the review step routine.
  • Chasing a fuzing-system anomaly with component replacement instead of fault-isolation procedure.
    The failure recurs under the same component after the next deployment cycle because the root cause was never addressed. The fault history on that assembly now shows multiple replacement cycles without a sustained fix. The Mine Warfare Command inspection team reads fault histories; the section senior technician's name is on the history. The supply cost of the replaced components is a secondary concern — the operational reliability of the mine assembly is the primary one.
  • Letting AA&E access lists or custody turnovers drift because everyone in the section knows each other.
    When the section composition changes — a transfer, a TAD, a new MN3 assigned — the access list that reflected the old section composition is now a security control gap. The AA&E inspection finds it under the senior custodian's name regardless of how long ago the list drifted. The fix is the same as the prevention: update the access list on the day the composition changes, not at the next inspection.
  • Cutting corners on explosives-handling procedure during an ordnance transfer because the schedule is tight.
    The OPNAVINST 8020.14B assessment find under your section's name. The ordnance transfer that cuts the safety brief or the stowage verification creates a condition that either results in a near-miss that generates a safety report or in an incident that generates more. The mine rate has no mechanism for absorbing handling procedure shortcuts — the consequence curve is vertical, not gradual.
  • Going around the LCPO to the Weapons Officer.
    The leadership chain in the mine rate runs through the chief because the mine rate is a community where the chief's authority over technical and safety decisions is the quality-control mechanism for the entire program. The MN2 who bypasses the chain signals to the goat locker that the MN2 does not understand this — and the Chief board packet is read through the lens of whether this petty officer understands how the chain works. The Weapons Officer sends the answer back through the LCPO anyway.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • Building and timing the Chief board packet
    Making Chief is the defining milestone in the Mineman rate. The Chief board packet starts being built at MN2 — the eEVAL ranking record, the NEC depth, the section training output, the AA&E accountability history. The MN2 who understands that the packet is assembled over three to four years, not written in the year before the board, is the MN2 who arrives at MN1 with a board-competitive record already established. The LCPO and the Mine Warfare Officer will tell the MN2 honestly where the packet stands; the MN2 who listens to and acts on that feedback is the one who pins anchors. The one who hears it as reassurance does not.
  • Pursuing a commissioning program (LDO — Limited Duty Officer, CWO — Chief Warrant Officer)
    The LDO and CWO ordnance programs are the mine rate's officer pathways for senior enlisted. LDO Ordnance (621X) requires a minimum of 8 years active duty and E-6 paygrade or above for application; CWO Ordnance requires similar credentials. The application timeline means MN2 is when the conversation starts — building the record that will be evaluated. The mine rate's small size means LDO/CWO competition is not large, but the record required is still strong: performance marks, educational credentials, community recommendations. The MN2 who genuinely wants to commission starts the education and record-building at this rank, not at MN1.
  • Advanced NEC deepening vs. broadening assignment at second or third sea/shore rotation
    At MN2, a second NEC or a broadening assignment (joint duty, shore duty with a different mission focus, instructor duty) adds career diversity but may reduce the technical depth that makes the mine rate's Senior Chief and Master Chief billets accessible. The mine rate is small enough that depth is typically valued over breadth at the senior enlisted level; a MNCM with two or three deep mine-rate NECs is more valuable to the Mine Warfare Command than one with a shallow mine rate credential and a broad administrative background. Get the advice of an MNC who recently went through the senior chief selection process before making this choice.

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • MCM Ship (Minesweeper/Minehunter)
    At MN2 on an MCM ship, the section you run is smaller and the operational exposure is direct. You may be the senior Mineman in a small section that includes one or two MN3s and an MNFN. The Mine Warfare Officer and the Weapons Officer both know your work quality within weeks. Sea-duty credit continues to accumulate and the operational mine-warfare mission employment is real.
  • MINWARCOM Detachment / Mine Assembly Facility
    At MN2 in a MINWARCOM detachment, the section is larger and the senior-enlisted density higher. The technical challenge is deep — mine assembly and maintenance work at the production level, with Mine Warfare Command and Type Commander inspection pressure. More MN2 peers to compare against in the eEVAL pool, which makes the ranking visibility more competitive.
  • Instructor Duty (CEODD Yorktown)
    Some MN2s with strong technical records and teaching ability receive instructor duty orders at CEODD Yorktown. Instructor duty at the mine warfare schoolhouse provides direct exposure to the next generation of Minemen and builds a training credential that is useful for the Chief board packet. The technical depth stays current because the instruction is current. The operational exposure pauses while on instructor duty, so the calculus is: does the Chief packet benefit more from another operational tour or from an instructor-duty credential? An MNC or the LCPO who went through instructor duty can answer that for the specific record in question.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The good MN2 is the technician the Weapons Officer calls when a fuzing-system test failure surfaces forty-eight hours before a scheduled mine-laying exercise and the clock is running. The response from this MN2 is not 'I will check into it' — it is 'the fault isolation shows this component, the technical manual replacement procedure is X hours, I can have the assembly back in serviceable status by 1600 tomorrow, and here is the safe-stop condition if the test fails again.' The Mine Warfare Officer takes that answer to the wardroom brief without editing it. The LCPO's Monday morning walkthrough of the section finds the magazine access list current, the custody record reconciled, the 3-M documentation closed from the previous week, and the section training plan updated with the previous week's progress. The LCPO does not need to ask for these — the MN2 produces them without being chased. The two MN3s in the section know their PQS line items, know their BIB chapter assignments for the week, and can explain the fault-isolation procedure for the fuzing systems they work with. That last fact traces directly to the quality of the section training the MN2 is running. The eEVAL ranking conversation at the end of the year is not a surprise. The Mine Warfare Officer has been watching this MN2's work quality, accountability record, and section training output throughout the evaluation period. The Early Promote or Must Promote recommendation is the documented conclusion of that accumulated observation — not a judgment call at the end of the year. The MN2 who performs at this level throughout the tour does not need to make the case for the recommendation at EVAL time; the record makes it.

Preview — The Next Rank

MN1 is the LPO rank — the first class petty officer leading a section of Minemen, owning the mine-warfare readiness metrics at the division board, and preparing the Chief packet the LCPO is helping build. The formal authority that MN2 carries informally becomes official at MN1 pin-on, and the Mine Warfare Officer's expectation of the MN1 is qualitatively different from what was expected of the MN2. At MN1, the AA&E accountability burden does not get lighter — it gets wider. The MN1 LPO is the senior custodian on the entire section's record, not just the components assigned to the MN1's own watch. A discrepancy anywhere in the section's custody structure reflects on the LPO. The mine-warfare readiness metrics the MN2 input to the weekly brief become the numbers the MN1 defends at the maintenance management board. And the eEVAL rankings the MN2 received are now the eEVALs the MN1 writes — for the MN3s and the MNFN who will eventually be in the same position relative to their juniors. The Chief packet is the horizon at MN1. The LCPO is running the packet conversation actively — every eEVAL, every NEC milestone, every commissioning packet the MN1 supports adds to or detracts from the board read. The MN1 who arrives at the Chief board with a clean AA&E accountability history, a documented section training record, a board-competitive eEVAL profile, and the Mine Warfare Officer's unequivocal recommendation is the MN1 who pins anchors. That record started at MN2.
FAQ

MN E5 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E5 MN (Mineman) actually do?
You run a section of the unit's mine assembly and maintenance workload — the fuze-bench and assembly line, the magazine and AA&E custody program, the handling-equipment maintenance section, or the test-and-inspection cell — and you are the senior technician who either diagnoses the anomaly or reviews the MN3's work before it goes to QA.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E5 MN?
MN2 is where the mine rate's dual identity becomes real: you are the senior technician who diagnoses and resolves, and you are also the section trainer who keeps the MN3s progressing.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E5 MN?
Time-blocked day at the E5 MN rank tier: 0500-0530 Wake. Check overnight command traffic and any section-specific issues from the duty section — an equipment anomaly, a custody discrepancy, a sailor issue the duty officer flagged, 0530-0630 PT formation. Same standard as at MN3 — Good Medium floor, consistent performance expected. The MN2 who cannot keep pace with the MN3s in the section on run days is noticed, 0630-0700 Shower, uniform, chow, 0700-0730 Quarters. LCPO passes the day's section priorities.…
Q04What mistakes get E5 MN soldiers fired or relieved?
Rubber-stamping MN3 assembly or custody documentation without actually reading it. The initials are the quality standard; if QA or the AA&E inspection finds the error on a closed action, the MN2 who signed is the technician who failed the review step. The MN3 learns that the MN2's signature means nothing, and the section's documentation quality erodes over the full tour; Chasing a fuzing-system anomaly with component replacement instead of the technical manual fault-isolation procedure.…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E5 MN rank tier?
Building and timing the Chief board packet — Making Chief is the defining milestone in the Mineman rate. The Chief board packet starts being built at MN2 — the eEVAL ranking record, the NEC depth, the section training output, the AA&E accountability history. The MN2 who understands that the packet is assembled over three to four years, not written in the year before the board, is the MN2 who arrives at MN1 with a board-competitive record already established. The LCPO and the Mine Warfare Officer will tell the MN2 honestly where the packet stands;…
Q06What's next after E5 for a MN (Mineman) in the Navy?
MN1 is the LPO rank — the first class petty officer leading a section of Minemen, owning the mine-warfare readiness metrics at the division board, and preparing the Chief packet the LCPO is helping build.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E5 MN need to know cold?
NAVSEA OP-2173 — Mine Assembly and Handling Manual; at MN2 you own the technical content, not just the procedure steps your MN3 follows.; OPNAVINST 8000.16 series — Mine Warfare Policy; you are the section voice in the mine-warfare readiness brief.; OPNAVINST 8020.14B — Navy Explosives Safety Management Program, with NAVSEA OP 4 and NAVSEA OP 5; the explosives-safety governance you are accountable to at the section level.

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