Really   

You should have done some more research before coming in. 

You will do work.

You will do more then just stand OOD.

Cheers,

GC

No, what is the actual nature of the work? How technical is it and how much of it is pure admin? Obviously there is some of both.

As far as questions go,  I had some for the fleeters...

What is quality of life like when i get on the sub? Am I going to be breathing commutator dust and 15% O2 the entire time and be willing to sell my soul for more than 4 hours of sleep? I realize this depends on a lot of things just give me the endpoints of the spectrum.

At what point will I be unable to keep myself on this high? I, no ****, like power school and enjoy learning this stuff. Is it possible to NOT hate prototype?

When do I get to start fraternizing with the enlisted (kidding of course, but seriously. Mustangs keep telling me about high fiving their COs and all kinds of crazy stuff.)

Am I actually going to be useful? I obviously have no idea how it works on a real boat but I know officers dont do any of the work and everything is pretty much standardized... so we are just there to stand OOD and then otherwise just make sure people are following procedure?

So first off, what do all of the enlisted think of these pretentious officers that get all pissy on the QD? I do my best to respect all the enlisted guys because there will probably be an E-4 telling me I am retarded at prototype, haha. Talking to the mustangs, attitude adjustments will be very swift on the sub so dont sweat some clueless Ensign.

Right now i am loving this command. The way things are learned is brute force but surprisingly effective. I have had to humble myself and realize if it isnt taught this way, then people will slack off because frankly people do not know whats good for them, especially fresh, naive Ensigns. And its fun to compete for top grades with the diggit back stabbing SWO JGs (not that all of them are so motivated).

Only thing I am not enjoying is that my Chief was actually right... OCS students really are the best trained officers, at least when it comes to taking care of the uniform. I should do a better job and not wear the shiny shoes but I at least put some effort into it. I have been really impressed with how seemingly professional and sharp most of the enlisted are. I miss OCS though because my Chief was all about how thing SHOULD be even though he acknowledged how things really are. I know those things are pretty much irrelevant in the nuke community but I like it when people are motivated to look sharp and put out at PT. Makes me want to do the same.

I got into NUPOC. Im finishing my last semester and then I go to OCS. Wish me luck. Thanks for all your replies and the existence of this forum in general.

[Feel free to ignore the next paragraph]

Hey, thanks a lot Co60. You really put things in perspective. It's not that I want to have a shotgun resume, I was just idly wondering. Yeah, but you are absolutely right. I think I need leadership and practical experience in the nuclear industry if I want to make a career out of it and the Navy is the best choice for me whether I stay in or go civilian.

Feel free to ignore the next paragraph

Sorry for the confusion about the Gen IV talk. Nuclear power has become my soapbox the past year or so. I just always like to be forward looking and from a fundamental standpoint, nuclear power is the future. Plus it is already viable. Honestly, you might think I am naive, but I think in 30 or 40 years nuclear power will make all other sources nearly extinct. Its like the four minute mile. Once one guy does it, its going to be an epidemic because the benefits of nuclear are too great. Minimal pollution potentially with future designs and easily controlled pollution with current designs. Unfathomably low core damage frequencies (though the probabilities provided by reactor designers are probably to be taken with a grain of salt). Cost of electricity extremely insensitive to fuel costs. Fuel can be provided from domestic sources. It is like everything that people want is staring them straight in the face: safe, reliable, low cost, low pollution, (nearly) inexhaustible, domestic energy. Its just finally getting through people's heads that technology has advanced far beyond the days of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. But regardless it is always going to be a challenge fighting the NIMBY mentality.

That is probably a much different story in the civilian world, right?

Well since nobody is answering my other question, I have another question for nukes that have been/were in for a long time. Were there PEs in your command structure who you knew that could have written (or did write) you a recommendation to become a PE?

I would be interested in operations or in a project management role. I eventually want to get an MBA from Harvard Business School or something similar and hopefully be able to move up into upper management once I have enough experience. Obviously, these are very long term plans, but nobody ever accomplished anything without believing they could do it and visualizing it.

I have read through the collection of useful posts and someone has been PMing me with some very helpful information. However, I have a specific question for those higher up in the civilian nuclear chain.

For someone having my qualifications (in general, though I can provide more specifics) what is the best way to get one's foot in the door in the civilian nuclear industry? Looking at this site, it seems that getting your foot in the door and climbing the ladder directly is probably better than going to the Navy for 5.5 years and then getting a job.

Thanks,

Drenaton

First off, I would like to introduce myself. I am a masters student pursuing my degree in Engineering Management with one semester left. I got my undergrad in Chemical Engineering with about a 3.6 GPA. My passions are business and engineering, particularly in the nuclear field as I find the prospects of gen IV powerplants to have enormous potential. I am highly interested in the NUPOC program and already have everything submitted and am waiting on an interview but questions still remain... I was hoping some people on the forums could help me out. I apologize in advance for the wall of text.

1. Could someone give me a no bull **** description of what it is like being a nuclear trained officer. I have read some very unappealing things on the internet about the program but I dont know if these are from voluntolds or malcontents that somehow made it into the program or legitimate candidates who wanted to be in the program. I dont want to be part of a workplace culture that will sacrifice integrity. This blog (http://blog.electdave.org/2009/12/31/should-you-join-the-nuclear-navy-nupoc/) gave me some pause as did some of the comments on "The Stupid Shall Be Punished"

2. I was told by someone that had gone through the program that "everybody regrets joining at some point when they are on the sub" when I asked him if he ever wished he wouldnt have joined. But he also said he appreciated it later. Is it always bad for everyone?

3. I had a friend who went in during undergrad that had a higher GPA by .1 or .2 than me and was a pretty sharp guy (book wise at least). However he never PTed and never seemed to have a passion for Nuclear stuff. For a long time he couldnt even tell me what kind of reactor a sub used (which I found on wikipedia). However he said he was working as hard and as diligently as he could in prototype. He recently failed out of prototype and is being reassigned to a new community... should this worry me? I have talked to guys who were non-technical majors who made it though but that was several years ago in the program and they were academy guys which apparently is a little different. I just never expected my friend to fail out considering how good his grades were in Chemical Engineering.

4. Have you legitimately made life long friends in the program? The brotherhood aspect of the program is very appealing to me.

5. If you could improve just one thing about the nuclear/sub program what would it be?

6. Do you feel like you actually served your country during your time in?

6. Any particularly insightful knowledge of the future of the civilian nuclear power industry? As I said before the prospects of gen IV nuclear power plants interests me greatly but the rising construction costs and extremely complicated permitting process give me pause. It just always seemed strange to me that France and Japan could build nuclear power plants on reasonable schedules and cost effectively but the U.S. cannot. That is one thing that drew me to NUPOC. It is one of the few areas in which the military seems to be on par or even a leg up on their civilian counterparts... but I could be wrong. The impressive safety record and impressive innovation demonstrated when the program was created impressed me the most.

7. Related to the question above... I have seen the civilian job prospects for former enlisted detailed on this site but could someone tell me more about the opportunities for a Nuclear Sub Officer?

Thanks,

Drenaton