Sailors aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) continue to earn warfare pins during the ship’s planned incremental availability (PIA) period.

In a shipyard environment, there is a misconception among Sailors that it is impossible to earn an Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) or Enlisted Air Warfare Specialist (EAWS) pin. However, 50 Lincoln Sailors have earned their warfare pins to date.

“If you work around the production schedule, utilize off duty time, and duty days, it takes effort, but it can be done,” said Senior Chief Electronics Technician Darren Taylor, the ship’s ESWS coordinator.

“Some people just think there’s not enough time, you just have to be creative in finding the time to do it.”

Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Ashley Snodgrass, of Raymond, Wash., is one Sailor who earned a warfare pin during PIA. Snodgrass, a general duty corpsman with Lincoln’s Health Services Department said getting her EAWS pin while Lincoln was in the yards took some extra effort.

“I have a family, so I couldn’t study after work. I had to get it all done during the day,” she said. “During lunch, and on duty days, that’s when I got a lot of the work done.”

Snodgrass said she is proud of earning her warfare qualifications during PIA. “It is more challenging, tracking people down and everything. So I am even more proud that I got the pin,” she said.

Some of the signatures needed for a pin require observing things that won’t take place until after the ship departs the yards, such as flight operations and observing an anchoring. Taylor said Sailors should still work on the other aspects.

“If you can get 90 percent of it done while we are here, then you could finish it very soon after we leave,” he said.

“If you’re at a sea command then your ESWS pin will be required at some point in the future,” said Taylor.

“Why wait on rules to get passed to get started?”

Sailors have 18 months from the time they begin to earn a warfare qualification. Sailors have 12 months to become re-qualified. There are many resources available such as study guides and shipmates. Sailors can also meet with their department coordinator for a list of signers, Taylor said.

Earning warfare pin can help make a Sailor more competitive for promotion, according to Taylor.

“Don’t wait, get rolling, get started,” Taylor advised.