The
master-at-arms rating is not a modern innovation. Naval records show that these "sheriffs of the sea" were keeping order as early as the reign of
Charles I of England. At that time they were charged with keeping the swords, pistols, carbines and muskets in good working order as well as ensuring that the bandoliers were filled with fresh powder before combat. Besides being chiefs of police at sea, the “ship’s corporals”, as they were called in the British Navy, they had to be qualified in close order fighting under arms and able to train seamen in hand-to-hand combat. In the days of sail, the master-at-arms were truly "masters at arms."
Early years The navy of the united colonies of the 1775 era offered only a few different jobs above the able seaman level. These included boatswain's mate, quartermaster, gunner's mate, master-at-arms, cook, armorer, ship’s corporal, sailmaker's mate, cooper, coxswain, carpenter's yeoman, and yeoman of the gun room. These were titles of the jobs that individuals were actually performing and thus became the basis for petty officers and ratings. Also, there were ordinary seaman,
loblolly boy, and boy, but these are more related to our apprentices of today. The Master-at-Arms rating officially started after the
American Revolutionary War on board the ships of the United States' early navy. Taking on many customs and traditions of the Royal Navy, the existence of the rating did not take effect until the Naval Act of 1 July 1797, was enacted, which called for every ship to have, among other job positions a master-at-arms. Because of this Congressional act, the Master-at-Arms rating is recognized as one of the "oldest" ratings still existing in today's modern U.S. Navy, which includes
boatswain's mate,
gunner's mate,
quartermaster, and
yeoman. From 1885 to 1893, a Master-at-Arms was a petty officer 1st class, who wore a rating badge consisting of three stripes forming an arc over the three chevrons, and a star specialty mark with an eagle perched on the arc. A ship's corporal wore a standard rating badge for a petty officer 2nd class with the star as the specialty mark. The Master-at-Arms rating is formally disestablished in accordance with BNCL 9–21 March 24, 1921, and made effective 1 July 1921.
Master-at-Arms circa 1970s According to the
Naval History and Heritage Command, the Master-at-Arms rating was officially established in 1797, disestablished in 1921, only to be re-established by the
Chief of Naval Personnel on 1 August 1973 in BUPERSNOTE 1440 Change 1, thereby making that date "1 August" as the official birthday of the modern U.S. Navy Master-at-Arms. This formal creation of the Master-at-Arms rating was the result of a recommendation made by the Special Subcommittee of Congress on Disciplinary Problems in the US Navy, because of riots that occurred on and in 1972 because of racial tensions. According to the archived reports, the findings of the committee concluded that there was no formal training for the Master-at-Arms force on the ships, the U.S. Marine Detachment was not effectively utilized by the chief master-at-arms of the ships, and that a separate rating be established to perform law enforcement duties similar to the other military services. After being re-established on 1 August 1973, the rating would only receive sailors who wanted to "cross-rate" (a rating conversion in the U.S. Navy) and submitted a conversion package to BUPERS after concurrence from NCIS. This conversion package was unique in that it required a letter of endorsement from rated master-at-arms in the community who observed the sailor first-hand in the performance of their assigned NSF duties. Along with the pre-requisites required at the time, these sailors must have been frocked as a second class petty officer or above. The conversion process used the procedures and requirements listed in Military Personnel Manual (MILPERSMAN) 1440-010. In 1982, the
Naval Criminal Investigative Service, then known as the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), assumed responsibility for managing the Navy's Law Enforcement and Physical Security Program and the Navy's Information and Personnel Security Program. This effectively made NCIS the program manager for the Master-at-Arms community, responsible for program management, manning, training, and equipping.
Post 9/11 and the expeditionary era (2000–2011) The period between the 1980s and the 2000s saw very few changes in the rating after its formation, in terms of tactics, techniques and procedures. Masters-at-Arms were performing law enforcement and ATFP duties. Concurrently, for those naval shore installation with a nuclear weapons mission and a collocated nuclear weapons storage areas (primarily naval submarine bases and select
naval air stations, the Marine Corps Security Force assigned to that installation's Marine Barracks, held responsibility for access gates/gate guards, perimeter security, and security of stored nuclear weapons. A similar function was held by the Marine Detachment, essentially a reinforced infantry company, aboard major warships that had both nuclear weapons storage facilities and functioned as flagships (e.g., aircraft carriers and battleships). But the majority of Navy MAAs, especially those assigned to ships, still performed archaic duties such as berthing inspections, restricted barracks supervision, linen issue, and seabag locker management. However, the increased terrorist threat changed the way the Navy thought and operated. In the mid and late 1980s, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, in agreement with the Chief of Naval Operations, began removing Marine Corps enlisted personnel from gate guard duties at the naval installations they were assigned to in order to place greater emphasis on the nuclear weapons security role, with Navy enlisted personnel assuming gate guard and perimeter security duties. However, most of the junior enlisted personnel assigned to these functions were not part of the MA rating and had little formal training in security duties. With the end of the
Cold War, Marine Detachments were also removed from aircraft carriers in the early 1990s, the four
Iowa-class battleships having been concurrently decommissioned at the same time. However, with the
USS Cole bombing in 2000, followed by the events of
9/11, the U.S. Navy began to realize its personnel, equipment and infrastructure were grossly under protected because of a lack of specially-trained personnel, especially the Master-at-Arms. As terrorism became a real threat, the Navy's leadership was forced to change how the master-at-arms was viewed, used, and task organized, leading to serious changes in force protection tactics, techniques and procedures. This led to the establishment of the Antiterrorism/Force Protection Warfare Development Center (ATFPWDC), the precursor to the current Center for Security Forces and an increase in Master-at-Arms manning, which in the year 2000 was barely 1,800 to over 11,000 by the year 2007. In addition, in 2003 the
Navy Recruiting Command increased recruiting efforts tremendously help fill the billet requirements being demanded by the various type commanders (TYCOM) to combat the terrorist threats within their area of responsibility. This demand increased sharply when the CNO authorized the formation of the
Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), which serves as the single functional command for the Navy's expeditionary forces and as central management for the readiness, resources, manning, training and equipping of those forces. The biggest change to the rating came after 9/11 in the form of Master-at-Arms sailors being assigned to other military units as an
Individual Augmentee in support of combat support and non-combat support roles in the various area of operations of the "Global War on Terrorism". Aside from the authorized billets in unconventional operational units, Master-at-Arms saw Individual Augmentee duties as early 2003 such as in the Iraq AOR with
Combined Joint Task Force 7 (the precursor unit of
Multi-National Force – Iraq), headquartered at Camp Victory. In 2006, NECC acquired the program management role from NCIS. The increased need for specialized units such as
Maritime Expeditionary Security Force (MESF) and
United States Navy Riverine Squadron (RIVRON) units and the manning of several forward deployed locations such as Bahrain saw the need to increase the number of Masters-at-Arms. It was also during this period, for the first and only time, that Master-at-Arms were considered a source rating for
U.S. Navy SEAL and were allowed to attend Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training. Then again in 2011, this changed with U.S. Fleet Forces Command assuming responsibility as the Master-at-Arms community sponsor. This shift is indicative of the "drawdown" the entire U.S. military was seeing from its departure from combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This move marks the change from combat and combat support roles that Masters-at-Arms participated in the various expeditionary and SOF units, and back to more traditional law enforcement roles with U.S. Fleet Forces Command as the community's functional commander. This move still exasperates the existing issue that has plagued the community from its beginning. The issue of the Navy Security Force not having a single
chain of command, or type commander, similar to how the U.S. Army, and U.S. Marine Corps Military Police Corps, or U.S. Air Force Security Forces are task organized. In each of the other services, the entire Military Police Corps are under the direction and control of their respective Military Police
Provost Marshal General.
Current (2011–2014) A proposal from within the community has been recommended, suggesting changes to how the Master-at-Arms rating and Navy Security Force personnel are organized, trai these billets for a duration of six months to a year. == Duties and functions ==