Personnelmen — PN ratings — maintained service records, processed personnel actions, and managed enlisted personnel administration for Navy commands at shore stations and aboard ships. PN billets were primarily at shore commands — naval personnel offices, personnel support detachments, district personnel offices, and ship’s personnel offices at naval stations — with additional billets aboard carriers and larger combatants maintaining ship’s company records.

Shore Personnel Office and Asbestos

PN ratings working in naval shore command personnel offices accumulated secondary asbestos exposure:

  • Shore command administrative building stock — the personnel offices and MILPERS offices at naval stations, naval air stations, and district commands were located in administrative building complexes of the WWII-era or early Cold War construction using standard period building materials including asbestos ceiling tile, asbestos floor tile, and asbestos pipe insulation in the building mechanical systems. PN ratings spending entire duty tours in these administrative spaces were in proximity to the building’s deteriorating asbestos-containing construction materials throughout their assignment
  • Navy recruiting office buildings — Personnelmen assigned to Navy recruiting commands and recruiting offices worked in commercial building space that was often older construction using asbestos-containing building products from the commercial building stock of the period
  • Building renovation and maintenance exposure — renovation and maintenance of occupied Navy administrative buildings periodically disturbed asbestos-containing ceiling tile, floor tile, and pipe insulation in the working spaces occupied by personnel office staff, creating secondary exposure from ongoing facility maintenance

Shipboard PN Billets

PN ratings serving in carrier and ship personnel offices accumulated shipboard asbestos exposure:

  • Carrier ship’s personnel office — PN ratings serving in the ship’s personnel office aboard Essex class, Midway class, and Forrestal class carriers worked in the asbestos-containing interior of these WWII-era and 1950s-1960s-era vessels throughout their sea duty assignments
  • Surface combatant personnel administration — PN ratings aboard destroyers and cruisers maintained service records and processed personnel actions in the asbestos-containing interior spaces of these vessels throughout sea duty tours

VA Claims for PN Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval shore facilities and aboard Navy vessels. Personnelmen who served in shore commands with WWII-era or early Cold War building stock or aboard pre-1980 ships and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.