The members of a ship's crew are called spacers. They have [[BTW/AWSF Ratings|various ratings]] and a pay grade based on performance and seniority. ==== Common Training ==== All spacers receive common training in procedures, communication, damage control and safety equipment use, including the use of [[BTW/Emergency Spacesuits|Emergency Spacesuits]] and working in conditions of weightlessness. Many spacers will be additionally qualified for EVA, meaning that they have had training in actually working routinely in unpressurised environments and using an Activity Spacesuit with a Personal Thruster Unit, rather than just being able to don an ES and conduct basic evacuation<> and damage control procedures while wearing it. ==== Advancement Structure ==== Seniority, peer evaluations, supervisor evaluations, and acquisition of additional skills and qualifications are factored into advancement. Spacers with interest and aptitude in leadership may advance to senior enlisted positions, facilitating and organizing the work of more junior crewmembers and working to improve the efficiency and operational readiness of the ship. The Space Force also looks for interested and qualified enlisted people to enter an academy program to become commissioned officers. Spacers are contracted to serve some term. In the Allied Worlds Space Forces and many civilian, police, and local military spacing organizations, the contract term is based on chronological time, with time in [[BTW/Hibernation|hibernation]] counting against the term the same as awake time. The Allied Worlds requires interstellar spacing organizations (i.e. those using the wormholes) to count time until retirement (or the completion of an enlistment or contract term) by calendar rather than awake time and requires at least 75% pay for hibernating spacers. (The AWSF pays 100% for hibernation time as an inducement.) Single-system spacing organizations are not necessarily subject to these requirements.