Naming on modern RN medals.........

[The Monkey God]

Hi Guys,

Can anyone shine any light on modern namings on Royal Navy medals...........

I`ve seen an Iraq medal named OM(W)1 with the name & number of the guy, but I`m unsure how you ascertain what rank he was, can anyone assist?

[hucks216]

OM(W)1 is (or rather, was) the equivalent rank of an Ableseaman. OM (W) = Operator Maintainer (Warfare). The Navy brought in the OM branch around 1993 to combine the Weapon Engineering & Operations branches. It wasn't a success and in the past few years it has reverted back to being two separate trade branches, Warfare Specialist and Engineering Technician (Weapons Engineering).

Edited September 11, 2010 by hucks216

[The Monkey God]

OM(W)1 is (or rather, was) the equivalent rank of an Ableseaman. OM (W) = Operator Maintainer (Warfare). The Navy brought in the OM branch around 1993 to combine the Weapon Engineering & Operations branches. It wasn't a success and in the past few years it has reverted back to being two separate trade branches, Warfare Specialist and Engineering Technician (Weapons Engineering).

Thanks Huck, so the various letter would mean something to a navy person, how does a none navy guy decode them all I assume they don`t use the Ableseaman, Leading Hand, Petty Officer, etc any more?

[The Monkey God]

Also if a Navy bod leaves the service then gets recalled, would the medal be named RN or RNR? & do RNVR guys have there medals named such or would it be RN?

Edited September 16, 2010 by The Monkey God

[hucks216]

The ranks of Ableseaman, Leading Seaman & Petty Officer still exist. For the first two it just depends on the trade of the person for their version of the rank. For example, a Warfare Specialist would be AB & LS but the equivalent for engineers would be ET & LET (Engineering Technician & Leading Engineer Technician), whereas for Petty Officer they would all carry that rank with the trade following afterwards so a Petty Officer in an engineering branch would be Petty Officer (ET) rather than a Petty Engineering Technician. The Rate of Ordinary Seaman no longer exists, it is AB 2 now with an Ableseaman (as you would understand it) being AB 1.

As for the RNR branch, I am not sure as I haven't seen any. The only time I have come across RNR's that were recalled from civilian life in time of conflict were all posted into shore billets so that the regular sailors in those billets could be assigned to ships. I am sure there are exceptions to that rule, especially in the Mine Warfare role, but an ex-Radar or Electronic Warfare operator (for example) being recalled to the fleet after 5,6 or whatever years in civilian life would be very very rusty, out of date of current procedures and possibly not trained on the current equipment so it would be easier (and cheaper) to stick him (or her) into a shore billet where there is a regular sailor who does have those current knowledge & skills and assign that said sailor to a ship.

Edited September 16, 2010 by hucks216

[The Monkey God]

Cheers Huck, thats been of great help & interest!!!