The Navy’s proposed merger of eight engineering ratings into three has been delayed pending further review. The change would have created one new rating to include hull maintenance technician (HT), damage controlman (DC), and machinery repairman (MR); another would combine electrician’s mate (EM) and gas turbine system technician-electrical (GSE); a third would combine machinist’s mate (MM), engineman (EN), and gas turbine system technician-mechanical (GSM). “I believe an engineering rating merger makes sense, but when we do it, we’ll do it right,” said Vice Adm. John Harvey, the chief of Naval Personnel, in a press release. Two other proposed changes, which would have merged the operations specialist (OS) rating with quartermaster (QM), and interior communications electrician (IC) with electronics technician (EC), have been rejected. “The bottom line is ICs and ETs are just too unique to merge,” said Harvey. “They have unique skills, and the equipment they operate and repair requires individualized training. Things are working well now and it makes sense to keep them that way.”