Potential Lady Nuke

[MechanicalJen]

After speaking to a recruiter and checking online, I'm finding wildly conflicting numbers.

What percentage of nukes are women?

[dinutt]

 Hey There Potential lady nuke 
Are you speaking commercial or navy here? I am all commercial !there are many commercial nuke ladies out here!! OMG the number would be all guess. Good luck to you out there keep us posted on your potential ......
Di

[way708]

If you are referring to the navy, the numbers are quite low.  When I went through the pipeline about 8 years ago, there was not more than 10%.  It might be higher now.

[sovbob]

No, it's about the same.  The numbers vary somewhat, but roughly one out of twelve navy nukes are female.

[MechanicalJen]

I'm talking navy.  A local recruiter told me that it was roughly 40%.  However, the numbers I'm finding for total women in the navy are below 15% - so that definitely raised a flag.

Another question - I'd likely be going in via OCS.  I was told that after two years I'd be an O-3.  Does this sound legitimate?

[DLGN25]

I'm talking navy.  A local recruiter told me that it was roughly 40%.  However, the numbers I'm finding for total women in the navy are below 15% - so that definitely raised a flag.

Another question - I'd likely be going in via OCS.  I was told that after two years I'd be an O-3.  Does this sound legitimate?

Officer promotion cycles, time in grade, time in service are set by law.  100% of Ensigns recommended automatically make JG at two years (some can do it at 18 months), then 95% of Jg's after two years as a JG and four years in service as a officer, make LT  at 4 years.  Hence the saying, to make LT, all an Ensign has to do is keep his body warm for four years. 

IMO, the reason it takes four years to make LT, is that is how long it takes the enlisted ranks to teach them how to be good officers.   

[MechanicalJen]

Thanks! This is a great site...and I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.   

[dinutt]

  hey again Potential Lady Nuke   sorry I cant help with the navy nuke info but it seems there is some good info coming to you on the site and hopefully you will get your questions answered  about the  % number of ladies in nukes... Best of luck to you !!

[stephpatton]

I just arrived at NNPTC, as for the ratio of women to men, I'd say 1 woman to 25-30 men here.  As for O3 in 2 years, you are possibly being lied to, the majority of every officer in training here are ensigns and LTJG, and not very many O2s for that matter.  Don't expect to come in and work up to LT in 2 years, go ahead and try, but you will probably need to work through O1 and O2 for a little bit longer than a year a piece to get O3.  Recruiters for Enlisted don't know much about the officer programs anyway, so the best bet would be to look up your nearest Officer Recruiting Station and get their opinion on how long it will be to make LT.  But what do I know, you just might fit that category of highly sought after candidates that get O2 off the bat.  Do you already have a degree?

[Gamecock]

I just arrived at NNPTC, as for the ratio of women to men, I'd say 1 woman to 25-30 men here.  As for O3 in 2 years, you are possibly being lied to, the majority of every officer in training here are ensigns and LTJG, and not very many O2s for that matter.  Don't expect to come in and work up to LT in 2 years, go ahead and try, but you will probably need to work through O1 and O2 for a little bit longer than a year a piece to get O3.  Recruiters for Enlisted don't know much about the officer programs anyway, so the best bet would be to look up your nearest Officer Recruiting Station and get their opinion on how long it will be to make LT.  But what do I know, you just might fit that category of highly sought after candidates that get O2 off the bat.  Do you already have a degree?

No nuclear officer gets O2 right off the bat...

You get commissioned as an ensign (O1)....two years to the day later you promote to LTjg (O2).....two years later you promote to LT (O3). 

Note:  you put on LT the first day of the month following the two year anniversary of your promotion to LTjg.  For Example, if you were promoted to LTjg on 15 June, you pin on LT 01 July.

Cheers,
GC

[stephpatton]

Thanks Gamecock!  Nail on the head!

[cheme09]

I don't see how you can assume your recruiter is lying based on the fact the he said 40% of nukes are women when your evidence against him is a statistic about the total number of women in the Navy.  You're talking about two different populations.

His 40%, however, does seem suspect.  Nukes are found on subs and CVNs.  Almost all service members on subs are nukes, and ALL of them (120-150 bodies) are males.  CVNs only have a handful of nukes out of approx. 3000 people.  There are about 70 subs compared to about 10 CVNs.  From these numbers, it seems unlikely 40% of nukes are women.  On a side note, NTOs (nuclear trained officers) are also found as instructors and reactor engineers also.

Also, as gamecock and others have pointed out, once you commission, it's more or less automatic promotion to O-3 based on time (2yrs each).  So there is a 99.99% probability that you'll be an O-2 after 2 years rather than an O-3, and a newly promoted O-2 at that.

[Fermi2]

I don't see how you can assume your recruiter is lying based on the fact the he said 40% of nukes are women when your evidence against him is a statistic about the total number of women in the Navy.  You're talking about two different populations.

His 40%, however, does seem suspect.  Nukes are found on subs and CVNs.  Almost all service members on subs are nukes, and ALL of them (120-150 bodies) are males.  CVNs only have a handful of nukes out of approx. 3000 people.  There are about 70 subs compared to about 10 CVNs.  From these numbers, it seems unlikely 40% of nukes are women.  On a side note, NTOs (nuclear trained officers) are also found as instructors and reactor engineers also.

Also, as gamecock and others have pointed out, once you commission, it's more or less automatic promotion to O-3 based on time (2yrs each).  So there is a 99.99% probability that you'll be an O-2 after 2 years rather than an O-3, and a newly promoted O-2 at that.

Incorrect, only about 1/3 of the members of a sub crew are nukes.

Mike

[Neutron Whisperer]

A 688i Engineering Department has about 60 nukes and the boat has about 120 total sailors.

[Preciousblue1965]

Standard complement of supreme beings on a carrier is roughly 450.  Of course that also includes about 50 or so, slightly less supreme beings(conventionals, namely MMs, ENs, and a couple of YNs).

[greenbean]

I would definitely recommend talking to an Officer Recruiter, preferably a Nuke Officer whom has served aboard a sub or carrier. They will not only be the best sources of information, but they will be your best link to Naval Reactors in DC. As you go through the application process the recruiter will be able to answer your questions from both a professional and personal stand-point.

If you are in a large enough metro-plex it should be easy to find such a recruiter. Even if you are in a smaller town I imagine you can pick the nearest Navy Recruiting District and they will have a Nuke Officer serving as a recruiter for his/her shore duty.

(Several people on this forum are actively involved in the recruiting and selection process.)

[DSO]

A 688i Engineering Department has about 60 nukes and the boat has about 120 total sailors.

I was on three 688 class subs and they all had between 40-45 nukes when all(EDMC and maybe COB) were counted. Where did thhe other 15 come from??

[JustinHEMI05]

I was on three 688 class subs and they all had between 40-45 nukes when all(EDMC and maybe COB) were counted. Where did thhe other 15 come from??

Irrelevant. He said "about" and didn't state his numbers as hard facts. Can't we just say 1/3 to 1/2 of a 688 crew is nukes and leave it at that?

[Fermi2]

Irrelevant. He said "about" and didn't state his numbers as hard facts. Can't we just say 1/3 to 1/2 of a 688 crew is nukes and leave it at that?

LOL HECK NO!!! We're nukes. If someone says around 40 and one of us believes it's exactly 41 we'll say no, actually it's 41.

Mike

[JustinHEMI05]

LMAO true enough. 

Justin

[HydroDave63]

Some of us will even try to make it a Circle R hold point and require it to be signed off prior to resuming the conversation

[Neutron Whisperer]

Some of us will even try to make it a Circle R hold point and require it to be signed off prior to resuming the conversation

Ok, now it's gone too far.

[KUrunner]

I'm not sure what the numbers are for officer female nukes, but as far as the enlisted stats go, 40% seems awfully high.

When I went through the pipeline in 2000, there were between 0 and 3 females in classes of 30 - 40.  Best case scenario, that gives 10%.  My husband is in power school now and there are 350 students in his class.  His section doesn't have any females at all; most have one or two.  So they have maybe 5% or so.