Yer killin' me man!
Okay, a challenge is just what I needed right now. So, here goes.
I prepared to answer this post by reading the pervious posts of "omie". Here's what I figured out. The kid wants a challenge, is smart, and has already talked to a recruiter.
Here goes: you want the most challenging training and career that a Navy Officer can have. So, why limit yourself to nuke school? There's not enough difference between MM/ELT, ET and EM that you could consider one path to be "psycho" compared to the others. Each is challenging in its own way, and I would suggest that you follow your aptitudes rather than go for the "hardest" route.
However, you have left out a BAZILLION other options. By going enlisted nuke, you are locking yourself out of a lot of them and limiting your chances at others.
Yeah, maybe 100% of all the eligible nukes who apply to USNA get in. So, let's break that down. To be eligible, you have to be an unmarried US citizen who is not pregnant and not yet 23 years old. You have to be of good moral character and have to have exceptional High School grades to be considered.
Already, you have eliminated an awful lot of Navy nukes. So, probably a relatively small number of them ever bother to apply. Most of those who are admitted would have gotten in straight out of High school anyway. Only the most OUTSTANDING enlisted persons will get admitted to the academy if they were not qualified to get in before they enlisted. They basically wasted up to two years of eligibility by delaying their application until they were in the nuke pipeline.
If you want to be a nuke, go ahead. But I already know that you want to be an officer. So, make that the top of your list. Apply to the USNA the minute you are old enough. Keep applying until you are too old. If you never get in, it won't be from lack of trying. You can, during this time, enlist and go to NPS. Why not? The important thing is to keep your focus on the thing you really desire. Unfortunately, you may lose sight of that goal while you are in the nuke pipeline.
I really believe that you must commit yourself to only one major goal at a time, and being in NPS necessarily makes graduating from that program the default goal as long as you are there. CAUTION!!! If you do not intend to make graduating from NPS your absolute number one priority while you are there, you have no business there. Neither NPS nor the USNA is something that can be completed successfully if it is your backup plan or a stepping stone to something else. You have to approach it as if it is all there is in the world or you won't make it. This is known as dedication and committment. Get intimately familiar with this concept.
Before you jump at this, think about all the possible alternatives that may offer the challenge you seek. Think about being an aviator, a SEAL, or even an astronaut. These are all attainable and rewarding positions. They are not open to enlisted nukes.
If you want a challenge, Nuke school isn't it. It is hard. It requires work, dedication, aptitude, intelligence, dilligence, and integrity. But the technology is still in the 1950's. There's no way to dress it up any better than that. It does not take cutting-edge technology to boil water - and that is exactly what nuclear reactors do. Period.
Try landing a fighter plane on the deck of a carrier. That's a challenge. By the way, even aviation officers have to go to nuke school before they can be assigned to certain positions on carriers. There were a few LCDR's with wings in prototype when I was there. They tend to whiz right through the school so fast that they don't have to stick with a class.
Take this as a little advice from someone who is old enough to be your father; If you have a chance to go to Annapolis, take it right away. DO NOT make it a step later along in some other plan. Make it your primary goal. To go enlisted nuke before you have exhausted all chances at USNA would be selling yourself too cheap. The Naval Academy might mean a lot of things to a lot of different people, but I have never heard anyone describe it as foolish. It is one of the most impressive diplomas that a person can have. It may not make you a Jimmy Carter, Roger Staubach, Montel Williams, or Alan Shepard. It hopefully won't make you a Timothy Leary either. But it will open doors to you that being an enlisted nuke will not.
So, go snowboarding or something to make yourself feel a little confident and then aim for loftier goals.
I do not regret having been an MM/ELT. It was an accomplishment that I can be proud of, but if I have to be honest, I have to say that I gave up too soon. If I could do it all over again, I would press harder for a good college education. I would have followed up on my NROTC application instead of getting discouraged and taking the easier path. I would have taken the challenge more seriously. I might still have ended up doing exactly as I did, but I would have known that I gave it all I had.
Sure, you can get into the USNA or some other officer program from NPS. You can also drive from Florida to Oklahoma by driving through Pennsylvania. Just the fact that something is possible does not mean that it is the best way to go. Before you buy the recruiter's story that being a nuke is a springboard into Annapolis, consider that it just might be an unnecessary detour along the way instead.
