hows life aboard a sub.. and what is he planning after the navy...

im going to have the recruiter come to my house and bring his other recruiting buddy that is in the nuke program.. i will do nuke ... my mom is already calling me homer simpson

You have any relatives in the military? Regardless of branch, quiz them.

Trust your Mom's ability to read their personalities after the recruiters go. It's a woman thing and I swear it's real. Not perfect, but better than yours, probably. If she thinks they're handing you BS then go to a different recruiting station. With your scores any recruiter will roll over and beg for your attention.

B

my uncle was a stationary engineer (boiler tech) and is one currently.. making good money but a divorce and new marriage hide that i think....

I was a BT in the USN. It required an IQ of moderately warm water. But it was really interesting once you got passed the trained-monkey aspect. It served me well when I got into physics in university and had to deal with gas laws. I had so much OJT on that stuff that the equations were easy to visualize. Also, I served 1.5 years as Oil King, responsible for fuel & water inventory, transfer (for propulsion use and for ballast) and testing. That was by golly the best job an enlisted man could have on a surface vessel at sea. But it was one of those "attention to detail" type jobs in which there are no mistakes allowed. The CO reads every report twice a day and quizzes the Oil King pretty regularly. Captains don't like fuel and water surprises.

interesting... i do plan after getting out of the navy to continue the education for nuclear engineering... according to the nuke guy the navys program leaves you with just 4-5 credits shy of a degree in nuclear engineering.. and thats just for 2 years of schooling..

Probably an associate's degree. A BS in nuclear engineering would require more than 2 yrs of intensive training I would guess.

Where is retmil? This is his field and he is a resource that could save you a lot of misery and misconceptions.

B

i was told its not an associates but a bachelors... ill clear it up when the recruiter comes...

I have a close relative that was on nuclear subs under the polar icecap for years. Learn how to play cribbiage prior to going on the sub!!!

Save your crow Bot. Isn't the Navy phasing out the BT rate? Sounds like a responsible job to be Oil King. What was the ship and just curious of your grade for that billet. E6?


To the Don:
If you take the plunge,

Go Deep Draft Navy. As in Aircraft Carriers. The only way to fly.
I had a lot of fun serving on a carrier. Great ships to be on if you are prone to be seasick No side to side stuff and very little fore and aft motion.
Did I menition all the wonderful Meddteranean ports? Cannes? Majorca? Athens? Barcelona? (Do I sound like a BS'n recruiter yet? )
And as a bonus, snipes on carriers are permitted to walk around on the flight deck once a week for fresh air and exercise!( Just remember to duck when the Hornets land!

Seriously,
Good luck. Great Lakes IL. is a wonderful place to visit in the winter.

USS America CVA 66
(Largest warship ever sunk. May 2005.)

My dad was on a nuclear sub for a few years, you don't really see the world because you are in a tube!

He did the ice cap, was based in Scotland for a while. He liked it, but got out because it does take you away from home for half the year. I forget what he did something with the reactor I think.

If you are thinking about it as a career you want to be an officer.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I'll ask her how her son likes the work in the sub. I believe his job has something to do with navigation.

He has been in now for at least 6 months, and I heard that he is so fired up, that he is taking college classes to get his degree, and wants to eventually go in the officers training program.

I believe, though, that the purpose of his going in the Navy was to learn skills that he could take with him to the private sector to get a good job.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

"And any man who may be asked in this century, what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, "I served in the United States Navy."

John F. Kennedy
1 August 1963

http://www.grouchymedia.com/streaming_video/navy_pump_it.cfm

So thats what they do in the Navy!

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Dynalow:
I went aboard the America once at NOB to mooch parts. I made it down to one of the firerooms and negotiated a trade okay but got lost returning to the quarterdeck. Ended-up on the flight deck. Twice.

Plankowner, USS Ponce (LPD-15). Two Modified D-type (650 PSI 840F superheated) boilers. I left it when it went into the Philly yards prior to a Med cruise and took a early-out transfer (like Dubyuh) to New Orleans. The ship is still in commission for some reason. It was a dated design when the keel was laid. I heard recently that the class (not sure, maybe Dubuque?) is being phased-out.

I sure wouldn't be surprised if BT was phasing-out. Propulsion design had already gone beyond conventional steam generation in the 1950's. Back then I thought that diesel/electric was the way to go and I thought turbines would be too demanding of fuel quality and technical expertise of the crew. Looks like I was wrong. Not an unknown quality.

IIRC, the Oil King billet was E-6. I held it as an E3/E4 because of a huge shortage of BT's and they needed E5 through E7 as topwatches. I got bumped by an E6 when I qualified as topwatch. That was my last 8-9 months, mostly in the Caribbean.

TheDon: Ignore Dynalow's advice.

Big ships with huge crews suck. Chow sucks. Everything is institutional and you don't get to know everybody. I liked it that when I stood quarterdeck watches I rarely had to look at an ID card.

The best duty (IMO) is a destroyer. Yeah, they're bouncy. But the crews are tight and they visit quiet, out-of-the-way seaports that big ships never see. My ship has about twice the company of a destroyer and less than a tenth of an aircraft carrier. After my ship sent our marine detachment camping and hiking and whatever, we'd visit some great places and had a great time. When we had marines onboard we only went to huge seaports. Same with birdfarms. Their ships company is so large that it takes a large city to accommodate them. Big ports have seen a million sailors already. If I had it to do over again (mercifully, I don't) I would try for a destroyer or frigate. Especially if I was an officer because on a small ship even a very junior officer has more responsibility than a similar rank on a major vessel.

You know when people tell you never volunteer for anything? Ignore that advice. Go ahead and volunteer. Yeah, you'll get screwed-over most of the time but sometimes you'll get stuff nobody else gets. Like I got to train with a sidearm (.45) and M-14 rifle. Qualified Expert with both. I got the training because I volunteered to be on something called, "Boarding and Securing Detail." I was young and stupid and envisioned a piratical character from an Errol Flynn movie. Instead it was to wear the .45 and carry a huge toolbox into the engineering spaces of a prize vessel and secure it for capture. In my case it was getting some theoretical engines running. Heck, I was 19, what did I know?

Volunteering (what envious shipmates called, "sucking-up") is also what got me into the Oil King billet. But that's another tedious story for a time when I have more scotch.

I served in the USN almost 40 years ago. I still have close friends, former shipmates, whom I visit and write frequently. Few jobs offer an opportunity for that depth of friendship.

B

B: Lost on a carrier? How could you?
I stood a fire watch once in the shipyard. Welder was working in a bilge tank. I swear we were either on the ninth or tenth deckI think we took an elevator down to the 5th deck or so and then walked down 4 more !(Man, I was used to the 03 level. )
As far as I know there are only two nuclear type vessels in the Navy. Submarines and Carriers. Don wants to go nuc. His options are limited in that regard. Between the two, I suggest carriers. I have a lasting impression of the many unreps we had where the we sat there steaming nice and smooth. On our starboard side is the oiler going up and down, and on her starboard is the tin can really really riding the waves.

Don: Ah, the food isn't bad on a carrier, but I have nothing to compare it to. I have heard the sub guys get the best of everything though, because of the isolated nature of the work.

Question: Any women on subs yet? I'm pretty sure they are stationed on carriers nowadays.

Haze gray and underway........