Each crew member is trained and qualified for one particular role but can fill additional roles in a tank.

Roles

There are five unique roles in a tank that need to be filled by the tank's crew to operate the tank. Each vehicle varies in the number of crew members inside it and the roles that they are assigned. Depending on the tank, a crew member may be assigned to perform multiple roles or multiple crew members may be assigned to perform the same role.

The proficiency of each crew member assigned to a specific role affects the vehicle's performance with respect to that role. If several crew members are assigned to the same role, their average training level is used.

Commander

These crewmen are responsible for spotting enemy vehicles. They affect the view range of the vehicle, with more competent Commanders able to spot enemies at a greater distance. Commanders also provide a bonus to the training level of the role and non-role-specific skills of the rest of the crew.

Driver

These crewmen are responsible for operating the driving controls of the vehicle. They affect the movement dynamics of a vehicle, with more competent Drivers able to accelerate faster due to less terrain resistance and thus also turn tighter while losing less speed.

Gunner

These tankers are responsible for aiming and firing the vehicle's gun. They affect the speed at which a gun will be aimed at its target, with more competent Gunners able to aim at a faster speed, and also aim better. In game this is reflected by the aiming circle starting out smaller, shrinking faster while your Gunners are aiming, and ultimately ending up smaller when fully aimed. Gunners also affect Turret Traverse (rotation) speed.

Loader

These crewmen are responsible for loading the next shell to fire. They affect how fast the next shell is loaded. More competent Loaders are able to load the next shell faster, resulting in a lower reload time.

Radio Operator

These crewmen are responsible for maintaining contact with allies, so that they appear on the player's minimap. They affect the radio range of the vehicle, with more competent Radio Operators able to maintain contact with allies at greater ranges.

Primary and Secondary Roles

As of 0.7.2, skills are no longer referred to as "Secondary Qualifications", so it would make more sense if it said "Role" in the Personal File instead. The terms "Primary Role" and "Major Qualification" are synonymous. "Role" refers to the primary role unless otherwise specified.

Primary Role/Major Qualification

A crew member's primary role is listed in a crew member's Personal File as their Major Qualification, and reflects one of the five roles explained above:

A crew member is originally recruited for a specific role and it cannot be changed later on. For example, a crew member recruited for the position of a Gunner can never be used to fill the position of the Commander in any tank. A crew member always fulfills the role of his Major Qualification in the tank, in addition to any other roles that may be assigned to him.

Most skills and perks can only be trained by crew members with a specific role. Gunner skills and perks can only be learned by a Gunner, etc.

Secondary Roles

Some vehicles require crew members to fulfill additional roles in addition to their Major Qualification. These additional roles are referred to as Secondary Roles.

For example, in an MS-1, the Commander also fills the secondary roles of Gunner, Radio Operator, and Loader. Skills and perks specific to the roles of Gunner, Radio Operator, or Loader are unavailable on that tank.

Unused Experience

If you do not chose a skill immediately after it becomes available, that crew member will nevertheless continue to gather experience and will apply stored experience to the proper skill once a skill is chosen. This is beneficial when purchasing a new tank with 100% crew, but not knowing what skills would benefit it. You can play some battles with that crew before selecting their skills. It can also be useful during retraining.

If a crew member's training level percentage for his role drops due to retraining, all new experience earned will go towards increased proficiency in that role until it reaches 100% again. However, any acquired skills or perks will not drop and will remain in effect.

Skills are additional proficiencies that a crew member can learn in order to improve aspects of a vehicle beyond those of the crew member's role. Training for these skills is available when a crewman reaches 100% in his role. A small plus icon will appear on the crewman's icon to indicate that he is now ready to start training a skill. Click on the icon to see which skills are available and to select one. After selecting a skill, a corresponding icon with the respective training level is shown below the crew member's name in the garage screen. After reaching 100% training level, the crew member can then start training another skill, and continue the process up to five skills. However, the experience required increases exponentially, making the acquisition of every skill and perk an unrealistic goal. Skills increase in effectiveness as the crew member's proficiency (training level) increases. Currently, skills learned can only be deleted, losing all progress in that skill. Version 0.7.2 will introduce the ability to assign the experience gained in one skill to a different one for Gold.

Perks are the same as Skills except for one thing: They don't do anything until they reach 100%. They're either "On" or "Off" with nothing in-between. A perk that is not active has a shaded icon in the garage view.

Icon	Skill Name	Role	Description
	Repair	All	This skill improves the crew member's ability to repair a module that has been knocked out, with a higher training level resulting in faster repairs. The skill bonus starts to take effect as soon as a module is damaged. Repair skills are essential for vehicles where returning to operational condition as quickly as possible is paramount, such as scouting tanks which rely on their tracks being in good shape. The effective training level is averaged across the entire crew. The skill is cumulative with a Toolbox.
	Firefighting	All	This skill improves the crew member's ability to put out a fire, should a vehicle ever be unlucky enough to be in such a situation. A higher training level results in shorter times to extinguish a fire and thus prevent it from spreading to other modules. It is noteworthy however that the amount of damage done by each tick of fire is also lowered with higher training level. This skill does not affect the chances of a vehicle catching on fire in the first place. The skill bonus takes effect as soon as the vehicle catches fire. Firefighting skills are more useful for large vehicles that can stand to take some damage before being utterly destroyed, but using Manual Fire Extinguishers or Automatic Fire Extinguishers consumables is generally more effective. The effective training level is averaged across the entire crew.
	Camouflage	All	This skill improves the crew member's ability to hide the vehicle from enemies. A higher training level lowers the chances that the vehicle will be spotted by the enemy, requiring enemies to be closer in order to detect your vehicle. The Camouflage skill is always active and the overall effect depends on the tank's inherent camouflage rating. This skill is particularly useful for Tank Destroyers, lower tier SPGs, and scouts. The effective training level is averaged across the entire crew.
	Mentor	Commander	For every 1% of this skill, all crew members except the Commander himself receive 0.1% additional experience at the end of every battle. If the Commander's training level increases during the battle, the crew will benefit from the increase.
	Recon	Commander	Provides a small bonus of 0.02% per training level to your vehicle's View Range statistic. The bonus increases to 0.2% per training level with a damaged observation device to help counteract the damage penalty. The in-game description's reference to "maximum" view range is incorrect. The skill is cumulative with the Situational Awareness skill, Coated Optics, and/or Binocular Telescope.
	Jack of All Trades	Commander	Enables the Commander to fill in for knocked-out crew members. Only primary roles can be substituted. The replacement effect starts at a 50% training level (same as a new recruit, but better than 0%) for the first knocked out crew member and diminishes with each additional crew member.
	Armorer	Gunner	This skill reduces the accuracy penalty from a damaged gun by 0.2% per training level. If two Gunners have this skill, only the higher rating is effective. The skill is cumulative with a Vertical Stabilizer.
	Snap Shot	Gunner	Reduces the accuracy penalty applied during turret rotation by 0.075% per training level. If two Gunners have this skill, only the higher rating is effective. Typically not as valuable on vehicles without turrets, but it does apply to gun movement on turret-less vehicles too. The skill is cumulative with a Vertical Stabilizer.
	Clutch Braking	Driver	Increases vehicle rotation speed by 0.05% per training level. The skill is cumulative with Additional Grousers, a Removed Speed Governor, and any speed boosting consumables (fuels).
	Smooth Ride	Driver	Reduces the accuracy penalty applied when firing on the move by 0.04% per training level. The skill is cumulative with a Vertical Stabilizer.
	Off-Road Driving	Driver	Reduces the maneuverability and acceleration penalties due to terrain resistance by 0.1% per training level on soft terrain and 0.025% per training level on average terrain. Applies pretty much everywhere other than on roads, cobblestone, and asphalt. The skill is cumulative with Additional Grousers.
	Controlled Impact	Driver	Decreases ramming damage to your vehicle and increases ramming damage to an enemy vehicle by 0.15% per training level. The skill only applies when both vehicles are in motion, and never affects allies. Unfortunately this does not work when ramming stationary enemy artillery.
	Signal Boosting	Radio Operator	This skill extends the Signal Range of your vehicle's radio by 0.2% per training level. If two Radio Operators have the skill, only the higher rating is effective.
	Situational Awareness	Radio Operator	This skill extends your vehicle's View Range statistic by 0.03% per training level. If two Radio Operators have the skill, only the higher rating is effective. The skill is cumulative with the Recon skill. This skill has a higher bonus to View Range than Recon under normal circumstances, but does nothing to counteract the penalty from a damaged observation device.
	Relaying	Radio Operator	This skill extends the Signal Range of allied communications within your vehicle's radio coverage by 0.1% per training level. It does not affect your own Signal Range. If two Radio Operators have the skill, only the higher rating is effective.

Icon	Perk Name	Role	Description
	Brothers in Arms	All	This perk increases the training level of the role and non-role specific skills of the entire crew by 5. It does not affect role-specific skills and perks (in-game description is incorrect). There is no benefit whatsoever if any of the crew do not have this trained to 100%. The bonus from this perk ceases to apply if a crew member is knocked out during battle. It will re-apply if all knocked out crew members are healed using medical kits. The perk is cumulative with Improved Ventilation and skill boosting consumables.
	Sixth Sense	Commander	Enables the Commander to identify whether the vehicle is detected by the enemy. Three seconds after you get lit up by the enemy an indicator appears on your UI. The indicator turns off after a few seconds whether you are still detected or not. There is no indicator to show whether or not you have become hidden again. Many players have mentioned they'd prefer the indicator to remain on for as long as the enemy detects you, but that is not how it currently works.
	Eagle Eye	Commander	This perk enables the Commander to identify the critical damage of targeted vehicles after a delay of 4 seconds. Indicators for each damaged module will then appear below the targeted vehicle. Does not work in a SPG's Strategic View Mode.
	Deadeye	Gunner	This perk increases the chance to critically damage enemy vehicle modules and crew with AP and APCR shells by 3%. It does not work with HE shells.
	Designated Target	Gunner	This perk makes targeted enemy vehicles within 10 degrees of your reticule remain visible for two more seconds than they normally would be. If two Gunners have the perk, the effect is not cumulative.
	Preventative Maintenance	Driver	This perk reduces the chance of engine fire by preventing gas or oil leakage in the engine compartment by 25%. The perk is cumulative with the reduced chance of fire from Automatic Fire Extinguishers.
	Call for Vengeance	Radio Operator	This perk allows a Radio Operator who survived the destruction of his vehicle to report enemy positions for an additional two seconds. If two Radio Operators have the perk, the effect is not cumulative.
	Safe Stowage	Loader	The Loader stacks the shells in such a way that they do not come into contact with each other. The result is simulated as an increase in ammo rack durability of 12.5%. If two Loaders have the perk, the effect is not cumulative. The perk is cumulative with the increased ammo rack durability that comes with using a "Wet" Ammo Rack.
	Adrenaline Rush	Loader	This perk accelerates gun loading by 9.1% if the vehicle has less than 10% of its hit points left. If two Loaders have the perk, the effect is not cumulative. The perk is cumulative with the increased loading speed from using a Gun Rammer.
	Intuition	Loader	This perk creates a 17% chance that the proper shell is already loaded when switching between shell types. The gun must be completely loaded before the perk can be used again. If two Loaders have the perk, the effect is not cumulative.

Dropping Skills and Perks

If retraining results in a crew member having less than 100% training level in his role, dropping a crew member's Skills and Perks will automatically case all free experience to automatically be assigned to the role's training level until it reaches 100% again. Any experience left over can be reassigned to Skills or Perks.)

Each crew member has a base training level for their role and skills (as shown in your garage), and certain modifiers that raise or lower this training level, resulting in the effective training level which is used to calculate your vehicle's performance.

Bonuses

The following modifiers increase the base training level of your crew members. They are cumulative.

• Commander Bonus: The tank's Commander provides 10% of his own training level as a bonus to the primary and non-role specific skills of each crew member under his command, but not to himself. So, for example, if all your crew members are at 75% base training level, the Commander will add 7.5 to each of them, resulting in an effective training level of 82.5%.
• Equipment Bonus: The Improved Ventilation equipment permanently increases the effective training level of each crew member's primary and non-role specific skills by 5.
• Consumable Bonus: The premium consumables Chocolate, Coca-Cola Box, Extra Combat Rations, Improved Combat Rations, and Hot Coffee increase each crew member's primary and non-role specific skills by 10 for a single battle.

Penalties

If a crew member is not competent to operate the tank he is placed in, or if a crew member gets injured during battle, then there is a penalty to the base training level of his primary and non-role specific skills. Penalties are always applied before Bonuses.

Lack of Competence

A crew member is always trained for a specific vehicle. Should a crewman operate a vehicle that he is not trained for, he may receive a penalty to his training level. This is indicated by the training level being colored red in the garage screen. A penalty received for the following situations:

• If a crew member is in a vehicle of the same class, and the vehicle is not a premium vehicle, he will take a 25% penalty to his current training level. So, for example, 80% base training level will be reduced to 60%, or 100% base training level will be reduced to 75%.
• If a crew member is in a vehicle of a different class, and the vehicle is a premium vehicle, he will also take a 25% penalty to his current training level.
• If a crew member is in a vehicle of a different class, and the vehicle is not a premium vehicle, he will take a 50% penalty to his current training level. So, for example, an 80% crew will be reduced to 40% base training level, while a 100% crew will reduced to 50% base training level.

Experience gain for each crew member is also reduced under these conditions.

Crew Knockout

During the course of battle, a crew member can be knocked out/killed, affecting the vehicle's performance accordingly.

Commander knockout removes the bonus given to all crew members and reduces view range.

Driver knockout reduces the top speed, traverse speed, and acceleration of the vehicle.

Loader knockout decreases reloading speed. If a shell was being loaded at the moment of the Loader's death, the process might start over.

Gunner knockout reduces aiming speed and increases dispersion. Turret traverse speed will also decrease. If the gun was in the process of zeroing in on target at the moment of the Gunner's death, the process might start over.

Radio Operator knockout reduces radio range.

Should a crew member have multiple roles, then all the roles associated with the crewman take a penalty. For example, if a crew member was responsible for loading and firing the gun, then both the Gunner and Loader injury would take effect.

Crew members who are knocked out will perform at 0% base training level for the purpose of finding the average calculations, but bonuses still apply. Having multiple members perform the same job is beneficial, because if one is knocked out during the course of battle, the effective training level will not drop to 0%.

The Small First Aid Kit and Large First Aid Kit consumables will allow knocked out crew members to return to battle without any penalties to their performance or experience gain.

Effective Training Level

The training level can be found by hovering the cursor over a crew member in the garage, but note that the display is rounded to the nearest whole number. Also, the consumable bonus is not included because it is only applied once battle starts and the consumable is consumed.

The effective training level of your crew's skills is not displayed, only the base training level is shown for those. You need to calculate the effective level.

• Maximum effective training level for your Commander is 120% (100% base training level + 5% Brothers in Arms skill + 5% Improved Ventilation equipment + 10% premium consumable bonus).
• Maximum effective training level for every other crew member is 132% (120% as above plus 10% Commander bonus).
• For tanks that do not have Improved Ventilation Equipment available to them, the maximum training level is 115% for the Commander and 126.5% for his crew.

If several crew members are assigned to the same role, the average of their training level is used to determine your crew's performance in that role. This average is the effective training level. For example, for the two Loaders on an SU-14, if one performs at 50%, and the other at 100%, their average training level of 75% is the effective training level that the SU-14 will operate at.

Non-role-specific skills are averaged across all crew members. Crew members that do not have any training in a certain skill will add a 0% to the averaging calculations. Thus, to reach a 100% effective training level in a non-role specific skill for a tank with a crew of 4, all 4 crew members must reach 100% in that specific skill.

Role-specific skills/perks are not averaged. If multiple crewmen train in the same role-specific skill, only the highest training level will be used.

Recruiting

When recruiting a new crew, you will be faced with the option to select between three different training levels:

Tank Academy

At the cost of 200 Gold, this option trains a crew member to 100% training level in their role, and thus automatically unlock a skill.

Regimental School

At the cost of 20,000 credits, this option trains a crew member to 75% in their role.

Rapid Courses

This option is free, and trains a crew member to 50% in their role, which is the minimum that a crew member can be at.

When acquiring a crew member at the Barracks you will also have to specify a Nation, Vehicle Type/Class, Vehicle Model and Major Qualification (role).

Training Level

Once recruited, further advancement of the training level of your crew's capabilities depends on the experience they have gained. Experience can be gained through participation in battles. The crew will gain as much experience as the tank did in the battle, divided evenly among the crew members.

Experience needed for the next level can be calculated using the following formula, where skillNo. is 1 for the role, 2 for the first skill, 3 for the second skill, and so on.

To get from 68% to 69% in the role you will need 2^1*25*100^(68/100) = 1146 XP. To go from 50% to 100% you need 95484 XP, and from 75% to 100% it takes 72544 XP. The first skill takes 210,064 XP from 0% to 100%. For each subsequent skill, that number is doubled. Overall progression can be seen on the graph to the right.

Experience Bonuses and Penalties

The experience earned by the crew during a battle can be influenced by bonuses or penalties:

Bonuses

Daily Double

The first won battle each day is awarded with twice the XP that you would otherwise gain. If a tank still has its daily double available is indicated on the tank icon at the bottom of the garage screen by a little double red star icon in the upper left corner of the tank icon. Despite contrary statements from Overlord, it has been confirmed through testing that the crew benefits from this bonus experience.

Accelerate Crew Training

This is an option available only for Elite Tanks, i.e. tanks that have researched all upgrades available to them (including other tanks). Selecting this option means that your tank will not accrue XP anymore except the 5% free XP that you always receive. Instead the member of your crew with the lowest total XP receives twice the XP they would normally receive for the battle. If several crew members have equal values, the first one is chosen. 0.7.2 adds an indicator in form of a triangle to the crew member who will receive the bonus next.

Accelerate Crew Training can be toggled on and off at any time by a check box above the crew icons in the garage on the upper-left side of the garage interface, or by a check box in the upper-right corner of the vehicle's research tree menu. When a player turns Accelerate Crew Training on, a dialog box will appear to notify the player that it has now been enabled.

Penalties

Lack of Competence

A tanker crewing a vehicle that he is not trained for may earn less experience:

• In a vehicle the same class, there is no penalty if the vehicle is a premium vehicle, otherwise he earns 50% less.
• In a vehicle of a different class, he earns 50% less if the vehicle is a premium vehicle, otherwise he earns 75% less.

Crew Death

A crew member that was injured at the end of the battle will receive 10% less experience than he would have otherwise received. Since the rate of crew injuries may not be the same across all the crew members, it is possible that one tanker will improve his skills faster than another tanker in the same crew should he be knocked out less than his colleague. If a crew member was injured during the battle but healed using a Small First Aid Kit and Large First Aid Kit they incur no penalty unless they get injured again.

Training/Retraining

If you right click a crew member and select their Personal File, on the Training tab you have the option to improve the training level of your crew member in their role, or to retrain him for use in a different vehicle that you have already researched of the same nation. Training/retraining, as recruiting, gives you three options to choose from.

Tank Academy

At the cost of 200 Gold, this option trains or retrains a crew member to 100% training level.

Regimental School

At the cost of 20,000 credits, this option trains/retrains a crew member as follows, but never below 75% training level:

• If the crew member is retraining to a vehicle of the same class, then the final training level is 90% of the crew member's current training level.
• If the crew member is retraining to a vehicle of a different class, then the final training level is 80% of the crew member's current training level.

Rapid Courses

This option is free, and retrains a crew member as follows, but never below 50%:

• If the crew member is retraining to a vehicle of the same class, then the final training level is 80% of the crew member's current training level.
• If the crew member is retraining to a vehicle of a different class, then the final training level is 60% of the crew member's current training level.

Existing skills are unaffected by training/retraining. However, when using the Regimental School or Rapid Courses options, any experience that a crew member has accrued towards a skill, without actually having selected that skill (i.e. the is showing), will be used first when deducting the penalty. If your crew member has accrued enough unassigned skill XP, it will allow retraining without losing any percentage in his role. This can be very useful for retraining SPG crews, which are highly dependent on their role's training level but do not benefit much from additional skills.

When to Retrain

When moving on to a higher tier tank from a tank you do not intend to play again, retraining can be preferable over recruiting a fresh crew in a number of cases:

Role training Level and Regimental School

If your existing crew member has already reached more than 83% training level, retraining him to a vehicle of the same class in the Regimental School will leave him with a training level that is higher than the 75% for a crew member recruited fresh out of Regimental School, thus making it preferable to retrain him rather than recruit someone new if you were going to use that option. When retraining to a vehicle of a different class, your crew member needs to be at least at 94% training level. You should avoid retraining between classes.

Retention of Skills

Fresh crews, regardless of what training level they started with, will not have any skills. Since skills and perks are retained through retraining, always retrain crews that have already obtained them.

Continuation of the Crew Member's Career

A crew member's rank and the medals he earned are retained through retraining. Although neither have any affect on the crew member's performance, you may be interested to continue a crew member's career to further their rank and achievements.

As your crew increases in training level, they will be awarded with higher ranks, with every 50% in a role, skill, or perk awarding a new rank. If, when retraining, a crew member loses some competence, he will not be demoted in rank. There are separate ranks for each nation. A crewman's rank also depends on his role, with Drivers and Gunners starting out one rank higher and Commanders two ranks higher.

Germany

Panzeroberschütze

Gefreiter

Unteroffizier

Unterfeldwebel

Feldwebel

Oberfeldwebel

Stabsfeldwebel

Leutnant

Oberleutnant

Hauptmann

Major

France

Cuirassier

Brigadier

Brigadier-chef

Maréchal des logis

Maréchal des logis-chef

Adjudant

Adjudant-chef

Sous-lieutenant

Lieutenant

Capitaine

Chef d'escadrons

USA

Private First Class

Corporal

Sergeant

Staff Sergeant

Technical Sergeant

Master Sergeant

First Sergeant

Second Lieutenant

First Lieutenant

Captain

Major

USSR

Ryadovoy

Efreitor

Mladshiy Serzhant

Serzhant

Starshiy Serzhant

Starshina

Mladshiy Leytenant

Leytenant

Starshiy Leytenant

Captain

Mayor

China

Private

Private, First Class

Corporal

Sergeant

Sergeant, First Class

Warrant Officer

Second Lieutenant

First Lieutenant

Capitan

Senior Capitan

Major

Crew Member Personal Files

Players can look at the Personal File for each of their crew members by right clicking on the crew member's icon in either the Barracks or the Garage.

On the left side of the window is a list of the crew member's basic information, including:

• Rank
• Full Name
• Vehicle they are crewing, if any
• Major Qualification (Role)
• Training Level in their role
• Modifiers (this feature is not in game)
• Competence, i.e. the vehicle they are trained for
• Skills and Perks, either completed or in-progress.

In addition, there are buttons in the bottom-left corner to send the crew member from his vehicle to the barracks, and to dismiss the crew member from service. Dismissing a crew member from service cannot be undone.

On the right side of the menu are four tabs:

Service Record

This tab includes the number of battles fought and awards given to the crew member over the course of his career. Battle awards given to a crew member will stay with him, even if the crew member is retrained and placed in another vehicle. The tab also shows the amount of experienced needed to reach the next training level, and the amount of battles you will likely need for that based based on your average experience.

Training

See also: Retraining

This tab is where players can raise their crew member's competence or retrain them so that the crew member can operate a different vehicle.

Skills

See also: Skills and Perks

This tab is where players can view all the skills and perks that are currently available for the crew member to learn. When a crewman is ready to start his training on a skill/perk, a button will appear which will allow the player to commence the crew member's training.

Personal Data

Players can change the name and avatar of their crew member, where they can select from a list of pre-defined names, and a selection of face icons. Changing a crew member's personal details costs 50 Gold.

Moving Crew Member

Barracks

Here is where players can find all their crew members, whether they are in a tank or in the barracks itself. Players start with sixteen bunks in their barracks, and can increase the number of bunks by 16 for 300 Gold by scrolling down and selecting the Enlarge Barracks button. Only crew members who are not in a tank use a bunk in the barracks. Those who are in tanks are listed in the Barracks window, but they don't take up a bunk. By using the toggles and drop-down menu on the left side, a player can sort his crew members by their nationality, vehicle training, major qualification (role), and location (whether assigned to a tank or not). Crewmen that are not currently in a tank can be dismissed from service to free up a bunk in the barracks. Dismissing a crew member is permanent, meaning the crewman is lost forever with any awards and skills he may have acquired.

Garage

In the Garage, players will see icons on the left side that represent the crewmen who are operating the currently active vehicle, with the rank, last name, skills and their levels. Hovering over a crew member will provide additional information, revealing the crew member's full name, skills, bonuses, and vehicle training. Players can left-click on a crew member to bring up a small pop-up menu, which will allow players to view the selected crew member's personal file, recruit a crew member who can fill the selected slot, select a crew member from the barracks who is capable of filling that slot, or send the selected crew member to the barracks. If there is no crew member in a crew slot, then clicking on the crew slot will bring up the crew recruitment menu, with the proper fields filled in for that vehicle.