What is the difference between stg and stg-aef?

Answer 1

Nothing really - STG (Sonar Technician Guns, or Surface Sonarman) is the same rate for both; AEF stands for Advanced Electrical Field, or a specific training pipeline in the Navy.

Essentially, one implies an enlistment with a 4-year training path; the other, AEF, a 6 year path with advanced training. The old Navy program was the Advanced Electronics Program (AEP), which is what I joined under as an STS.

All Sonar Techs, be it STG or STS, go through Basic Sonar A school, which includes basic Sonar theory, systems operation, maintenance. The difference with the "Advanced" part is that you've signed up for C school, or advanced training, in more complex systems. That extra training usually means you'll be in training/school for the first 18-24 months in the Navy, and as a result, you're required to give them minimum of a 6 year commitment when you enlist.

Advanced training means you'll literally be maintaining the more complex parts of the Sonar systems, from the main stacks in Sonar all the way to the transducers on the various Sonar arrays, both mounted and towed.

From a career standpoint, giving that extra 2 years is worth it if you really want to get anything out of a technical career in the Navy. You don't really learn anything in 4 years, and that's a waste of time if you've joined to get a return on your time in service.

Strictly speaking for the Sonar rating though, if you want to learn your rate and cutting edge technology, then an STS on a fast-attack submarine is the way to go. Surface ship Sonar is limited significantly by the environment and moving through the water; the ambient noise after a ship passes 10 or 12 knots essentially renders the main sonar useless, and for towed systems/dipping sonars/sonobuoys from aircraft, the submarine still has the tactical advantage, being able to use the ocean environment to hide in. As a result, most of the latest military technology in the field goes to submarines; people today think of micro-electronics as relatively new, but the Navy was using multipurpose micro-electronics boards on submarines in the 70's.

Surface ships also look at Sonar as an afterthought, leaving most ASW operations to aircraft (helos, P3's, etc.). With submarines, Sonar is the way submarines find their way through the water; it is arguably the most important area of the boat while underway.

Of course, Nukes will try and tell you that if it wasn't for them, the boat couldn't get underway. But the fact is that without STS's and Submarine Sonar, they wouldn't have a reason to get underway.