In order to further the cause of "Jointness" (getting the different services to work more effectively with each other), enlisted specialists are being sent on tours of duty with other services. Many military jobs are pretty much the same from service to service, if only because the different services use a lot of the same equipment. So army truck or tank mechanics can go work for the marines for a year, or a marine armorer can go take care of infantry weapons in an army unit for a year. The men and women being swapped are senior NCOs, so they will be supervising troops from the different service, as well as doing some of the work. The services have long exchanged officers, and this has helped make jointness work. But the day to day operations in any military organization are supervised by NCOs. In addition to getting to know how the other services operate, the NCOs will probably also pick up different, and sometimes better, ways of doing the same jobs. The current exchange program is a test. If it shows signs of working, it will be continued.
