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The Surface Navy Association\u2019s (SNA) \u201dOld Tar\u201d designation, honoring the U.S. Navy Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) serving on active duty with the earliest qualification date, has passed to Fleet Master Chief Bill Smalts. Smalts is currently assigned as the Fleet Master Chief, Commander, United States SECOND Fleet, Norfolk, VA.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Smalts is now the 14th individual to receive the Old Tar honor having relieved Force Master Chief David B. Carter, who has recently retired.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis award is a recognition of the leadership, experience and expertise possessed by a knowledgeable mariner. Master Chief Smalts is such a Sailor and has earned the title an \u2018Old Tar,\u201d said Vice Adm. Rick Hunt, U.S. Navy (Retired), president of SNA. \u201cThis award acknowledges our lore, customs and traditions, and honors the most senior of all our active duty Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialists with the \u2018Old Tar\u2019 designation.\u201d <\/p>\n The term comes from the days of sail and wooden ships, when Sailors would board enemy ships in battle and engage in hand to hand combat. Since long hair was the fashion of the era, they would often wear it tied in a knot at the base of the neck. Before entering battle, they would dip this knot in tar that would soon harden and protect their necks from blows from behind. Sailors, therefore, became known as \u201ctars,\u201d and an \u201cOld Tar\u201d was clearly one honored and respected for his knowledge, wisdom, and long experience at sea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The honor is accompanied by a replica of \u201cThe Chief\u201d statue that stands at the Senior Enlisted Academy in Newport, Rhode Island, with all the names of the \u201cOld Tars.\u201d In a ceremony held at the awardees\u2019 command, a miniature replica of the statue was presented to CMDCM Smalts to display at his command and will be permanently retained by him upon retirement.<\/p>\n maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Surface Navy Association\u2019s (SNA) \u201dOld Tar\u201d designation, honoring the U.S. Navy Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) serving on active duty with the earliest qualification date, has passed to Fleet Master Chief Bill Smalts. Smalts is currently assigned as the Fleet Master Chief, Commander, United States SECOND Fleet, Norfolk, VA. Smalts is now the 14th …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[4924,15351,15352,15353],"class_list":["post-27093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news","tag-designated","tag-smalts","tag-snas","tag-tar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/27094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Smalts completed his qualification as an E3 aboard the USS L. Y. SPEAR (AS 36) but was not allowed to be pinned until he was a Third Class Petty Officer on 18 October 1990.<\/p>\n