Former ship’s servicemen (SH) assigned to Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) embraced their rating change to retail services specialist (RS) by continuing to deliver excellence in customer service, just as they did the day before.

Naval Administrative Message (NAVADMIN) 226/19 officially changed the SH rating to RS, Oct. 1. The rating change directly translates the skills and expertise of the work performed by the Sailors in the rating to work performed in the civilian sector.

“As an SH, I worked on the loading docks receiving and processing medical parts to be delivered around the hospital,” said Retail Services Specialist 3rd Class Giovanni Palmer-Finley, a material handler assigned to NMCSD. “Changing my rating name to RS won’t change what I do. I will just keeping doing my job as I did before the change.”

Retail services specialists assigned to NMCSD work in the hospital’s warehouse, on the loading docks, in stock control and in different administrative positions.

“The change is just keeping up with the times,” said Chief Retail Services Specialist Telehia Sutherland. “Now as people outside of the Navy see our rating in the civilian sector, they will know what we do as Sailors.”

The retail services specialist rating was the last of the original supply ratings to change their name to better align with what the Sailor would do in the civilian sector.

“They saved the best for last,” said Senior Chief Retail Services Specialist Antonio Jordan. “The logistics specialists (LS) changed two times before becoming the LS rating it is now. The postal clerks became LSs, and the disbursing clerks became personnel specialists. It was only due for our rate to change to align with what we would do outside of the Navy.” 

RSs assigned to NMCSD view this change as a win for them, as it will help both Sailors, other service members and civilians understand their job better.

NMCSD’s mission is to prepare service members to deploy in support of operational forces, deliver high-quality healthcare services, and shape the future of military medicine through education, training and research. NMCSD employs more than 6,000 active duty military personnel, civilians and contractors in Southern California to provide patients with world-class care anytime, anywhere.

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