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SERVICE SPECIALTY NUMBERS

Discussion in 'Information Requests' started by obxgyrene, Sep 30, 2009.

  1. obxgyrene

    obxgyrene Member

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    Greetings. I am new to this forum and had a question pertaining to Service Specialty Numbers (predecessor of Military Occupational Specialties) used during the Second World War. Does anyone have a good reference that provides a listing? After going over a few thousand muster rolls, I have complied a list of quite a few of them, however there are some I wanted to verify and a lineal listing would be most helpful.

    Any help anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated.
     
  2. sniper1946

    sniper1946 Expert

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  3. obxgyrene

    obxgyrene Member

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    Thanks for the reply, but that's not what I am looking for. I'm interested in a listing of Service Specialty Numbers that were used in WW-II. These preceded MOSs (I think MOSs came out between 1948 and 1952) and were the same for all the branches. The link provided modern Army MOSs, as far as I could tell. I'm doing work on Marine Corps aviation units and some of them are:

    013 Diesel Mechanic
    014 Auto Mechanic
    017 Baker
    022 Barber
    038 Cabinetmaker
    555 Metalsmith, Aviation
    560 Mechanic-Turret Gunner, Aviation
    563 Armorer-Turret Gunner, Aviation
    747 Mechanic, Aircraft
    748 Mechanic-Gunner, Aviation
    750 Leading Chief, Aviation
    751 Engineering Chief, Aviation
    752 Line Chief, Aviation

    1022 Pilot, Twin-Engine Aircraft
     
  4. formerjughead

    formerjughead The Cooler King

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  5. formerjughead

    formerjughead The Cooler King

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    Found this on b24.net:

    AAF: Military Occupation Specialties

    It's a list of Air Corps Service Specialties. It's 26 pages so I am thinking it might be pretty inclusive. There must be one for Ground forces somewhere.
     
  6. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Good Ol' Boy Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I've seen a good listing, not sure it was complete. Finding it is going to be the trick. I'll start looking.
     
  7. obxgyrene

    obxgyrene Member

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    The list that formerjughead supplied had 505 SSNs. It is the same exact list that is on the website of the 380th BG. The list is only a partial list, so I'm still in the hunt.
     
  8. R Leonard

    R Leonard Member

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    Go to http://www.90thidpg.us/Reference/Manuals/TM 12-427.pdf Maybe that will help. I note that this 1944 manual does refer to the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) and defines same on page 1, Section 1. Looking at your list, some match, some don't. Some of the difference may be navy-speak vs army-speak such as "aviation" vs "airplane".

    There are other copies available, Military Documents for example, but this particular link includes about 50 pages of changes and updates which the whs.mil version does not.
     
  9. obxgyrene

    obxgyrene Member

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    R Leonard,

    Thanks very much. That is EXACTLY what I was looking for. The first link provided the SSNs for enlisted men. The lineal listing begins on page 59. The link for officer SSNs I found at the second link (http://www.whs.mil/library/TM/TM12-4051943.pdf). The difference is some of the titles, as you mentioned, were just due to my use of Navy nomenclature (I still call a DC-3/C-47 an R4D) I can't thank you enough.

    Semper Fi,
    Robert
     
  10. R Leonard

    R Leonard Member

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    My pleasure. I saw the Officer & Warrant info, too, but since the numbers in your for instance were enlisted, I thought that was all you were looking for.

    Welcome aboard, by the way.

    I, too, tend to use naval-speak as opposed to army-speak. As with your specialty, I think PBJ before I think B-25.
     

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