Navy Nuke Rates - Is This True?

[JustinHEMI05]

How about a dose of reality?  All of you - flangeheads, spark-chasers, twidgets, and SMAG's - are taking a boat ride while my baby daughter is ducking pieces of her friends' bodies on some booby-trapped road in Iraq.  Some of you have been wearing a National Defense Ribbon since the day you left Boot Camp.  I hope you never have to earn it the hard way.  I hope you never have to be as much of a "man" as that 5'1" tall 102# Staff Sergeant is having to be.


I appreciate all of you young people serving your country.  I really do.  You are, in my book, the last best hope that this country has for remaining civilized.  But, you have it as easy as I did.  Your enemy has essentially no means to harm you in your armed and fortified ships as long as you can keep them from coming alongside with a boatload of TNT.  So, if some of you feel cheated that it is harder to make E-7 than others, just remember that the guys doing the dying out there are not living long enough to make E-5.  Those who survive are lucky to make E-6 in their first eight years - if then.  Tours are being extended to as long as two years or more.

Take what you have.  Be thankful for it.  That thing about thanking God that I put in my last post ... I meant that.

You were kidding about all of this... right?

Justin

[mlslstephens]

Justin...

Try this link:

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,9436.0.html

(It is available to you for a short period of time.  This is a Gold Members area post so for now you can see it.)

Jason,
Thanks for the link.  I'm amazed that the TV station still has the archived video of the SSGT's story from last Thanksgiving.

Beercourt,
Yes, you have much to be proud of as I'm sure she is much more of a "man" than most subguys.  However, I would imagine that you have much to be proud of without her uniform.  She sounds like a good Mom and a great daughter. 
The video from last thanksgiving mentioned that your daughter might have another year in Iraq.  Is she still forward deployed?

I don't really like feeling old, but I probably got my dolphins pinned on the same day you got your first tooth.  There were still one or two RO's who were former Enginemen and a few ELT's who were still IC men.  About that time the nuke IC's all got converted to EM's.  I don't know what happened to the IC ELT's
The Navy still had BT's, but all the nuke BT's were converted to MM's years before.  An ELT could make MMC, but an MMC could not be an ELT.  Our enemy spoke Russian and the Mujahedin were our "allies".  No US nuclear sub had ever fired a warshot - torpedo or missile, and Saddam Hussein was on our side (yeah, right) except for that one time he "accidentally" shot a missile into one of our frigates.
The ship's movies were shown with a projector on a screen in the mess.  Each movie took up more room than a year's worth of DVD's.
There was no such thing as a portable CD player or DVD.  The Sony Walkman was the most popular item that we owned.  A good one cost about $100. 

I especially your trip down memory lane.  There is an enormous talk on this website about "show me the money" but 22 years ago my pay checks were only about a third of my "sub pay" today.  I was an unqualified E-4 eating PB&J six nights a week and I was having the time of my life.  I too remember seeing a movie shown from a projector, but I'm not sure why I was even watching...because I wasn't qualified yet.  I was a non-qual and didn't deserve to be in the mess decks after the meal hour.  I also remember that glorious day when Captain Marks pinned those beautiful silver dolphins on my chest.  Wow, I was a submariner and I was proud.  Then I walked into a room full of A-gangers and the smallest one of them all, MM1 Stewart, shook my hand and then broke the backs of my dolphins.  He said, "Now, you are a submariner."  He did it out of respect and I am glad he tacked my dolphins on.  That is something that is gone forever. 

haha yes! after so long and so many delays!

Im heading to the Eisenhower,  reporting Jan 16 .  

Cycoticpenguin, congratulations on qualifying!  It sounds like the Eisenhower is getting a great mechanic.  Enjoy this time and enjoy your first day underway.  There will never be another "first" day.  Don't forget what they taught you at NPTU. WSP are extremely important and always relevent.  Best of luck and thanks for serving.

[JustinHEMI05]

Justin...

Try this link:

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,9436.0.html

(It is available to you for a short period of time.  This is a Gold Members area post so for now you can see it.)

I am very happy and thankful that she is serving our country in this capacity. I am sure BeerCourt must be very proud, and has every right to be. But to suggest that my service to this country was any less "manly" is complete BS. 100 days submerged takes every bit of manly guts. And to belittle other service members concerns because they aren't being shot at every day does them and his daughter a complete disservice. That is all I am saying on this.

Justin

[mlslstephens]

I am very happy and thankful that she is serving our country in this capacity. I am sure BeerCourt must be very proud, and has every right to be. But to suggest that my service to this country was any less "manly" is complete BS. 100 days submerged takes every bit of manly guts. And to belittle other service members concerns because they aren't being shot at every day does them and his daughter a complete disservice. That is all I am saying on this.

Justin

Justin,
I too was initially a bit taken back by Beercourt's post about not being manly.  However, acting looking back through all the posts and knowing how BC feels about his own service, I don't think that BC was saying that the different branches of service should be compared by the number of bullets flying.  We all know that there are dangers for each service.  If you think the sub service is immune, take a look at the San Fran's bow, or ask the families of the Thresher or Scorpion.  It kind of goes back to the choose your rate, choose your fate old saying.  I chose the sub service because I don't like being shot at or eating MREs.  I prefer looking out the scope, saying snapshot tube 1 and then getting off watch and eating a big fat juicy T-bone steak with some hard pack to follow.

NavLI4

[Already Gone]

Yes, she's still in Iraq.

Naturally, I am very proud of her.

I'm also proud of all of you.  I count my self among you, and that makes me proud of myself.

But, I can't compare what we do/did to what is being faced down daily by those in the front lines.  The nature of war from the perspective of the submariner has changed from one of the riskiest, deadliest, scariest assignments to one of relative safety.  There aren't Japanese destroyers depth charging you anymore.  There aren't Soviet Alpha's riding your baffles with a torpedo in the tube anymore.  (Believe that if you want to.  I still think Russia would be tracking our boats if they had the money to keep their boats at sea.)
The nature of war for the soldier or marine is still a lot like it has always been.  They're shooting at and blowing up our bravest Americans every day.
But danger isn't the only hardsip of military service.  I know that as well as you do.  You have it a lot worse than the slackass kids I see working at Starbuck's.  However, bitching about who has it tougher isn't going to happen here without my reminding you who has it a lot tougher than you do.  Complain al you want, but strap yourselves in if you choose to participate, 'cause it ain't going to be no cakewalk.

Respect, pride, gratitude.  All these things I have in abundance for all of you.  Sympathy?  No way, Sailor!  Go get your sympathy from Mama.

[JustinHEMI05]

Yes, she's still in Iraq.

Naturally, I am very proud of her.

I'm also proud of all of you.  I count my self among you, and that makes me proud of myself.

But, I can't compare what we do/did to what is being faced down daily by those in the front lines.  The nature of war from the perspective of the submariner has changed from one of the riskiest, deadliest, scariest assignments to one of relative safety.  There aren't Japanese destroyers depth charging you anymore.  There aren't Soviet Alpha's riding your baffles with a torpedo in the tube anymore.  (Believe that if you want to.  I still think Russia would be tracking our boats if they had the money to keep their boats at sea.)
The nature of war for the soldier or marine is still a lot like it has always been.  They're shooting at and blowing up our bravest Americans every day.
But danger isn't the only hardsip of military service.  I know that as well as you do.  You have it a lot worse than the slackass kids I see working at Starbuck's.  However, bitching about who has it tougher isn't going to happen here without my reminding you who has it a lot tougher than you do.  Complain al you want, but strap yourselves in if you choose to participate, 'cause it ain't going to be no cakewalk.

Respect, pride, gratitude.  All these things I have in abundance for all of you.  Sympathy?  No way, Sailor!  Go get your sympathy from Mama.

Thats the thing BeerCourt, no one ever asked for your sympathy. Nor did you only suggest that some might have it harder than others. In that, is why I love Marines. They are willing to go face to face with the enemy and get in "the shit." That way, none of us have to. Of course being on the front line is probably the toughest thing one can do. No one is disagreeing with that. But you suggested that those NOT on the front line don't have the right to be unhappy with their situation. That is what I am throwing the BS flag on. No one started a comparison of hardnesses, except you. And frankly, I don't give a crap who has it tougher. Its apples and oranges and the situations between say your daughter and cycoticpenguin are worlds apart. Like NavLiv said here, choose your rate choose your fate applies. And hardships endures by sailors may not be as hard as your daughters, but they are hardships none the less and who are you to make less of them?

Justin

PS I guess I lied when I said that was all I was going to say about this... but I really mean it this time.

[mooredee13]

Okay, so I'm NOT a Gold Member (but my Winky does glow from my time as a nuke!) and I'm not currently in the nuclear industry (chemical manufacturing...bad enough), but I think I qualify to toss in my $0.02 since I have done my boomer patrols and 120-hour weeks (at least as commissioning approached) in the shipyard AND I have a son currently deployed as a SAW gunner (he's the kid in the turret of the Humvee with the B-I-G gun) with a Marine unit in Iraq.

There are a lot of folks out there who could not do what we did (and do for those of you still on active duty) in submersible sewer pipes for 70 seconds---let alone 70 days---at a pop. It also takes a special kind of person to run patrols (mounted OR foot) every night in an area where many of the natives really don't want you in the first place. In my conversations with some of these kids that my son serves with, when they find out that I served on submarines those big, bad sumbitches get these real funny looks on their faces and, in all seriousness, say to me, "No f&#*in' way I would ever do that!"

It's all perspective, people and the last time I looked we were all supposed to be on the same side. Hell, I never even wanted to hop and pop on a fast boat while I was in because I thought that would be like going from the frying pan into the fire.

Yeah, I remember when I got to my first boat we had one nuke IC1 left (Pete Ford...hope you're doing alright if you're out there, brother) who strongly resisted being "assimilated" into the EM rate, but the Nav won and he became an EM. I think the first VCR we had in the crew lounge was a Beta and, yes, we had ye olde projector for burning flicks on the mess decks. Anyone fondly remember the Sunstrand system (for your repeated listening pleasure)? I still have my Walkman out in the garage!

Sorry for the impromptu walk down memory lane. "You got your manhood back, Coach Kline!! You got your manhood!!"

[dgcaste]

Here's one sentence that sounds like all of you:

"I worked so hard, I'm so courageous, I know so much more than you, You're wrong, I'm right".

One of the biggest blunders of the nuke community is that instead of people collaborating, they're always conspiring to look better than the guy next to them. Do the job and go home!

[Already Gone]

Stir all you want.;  Otherwise the good stuff sticks to the bottom and burns.

Look, stop being so stinkin' defenseve you guys.  Like Gamecock says, nobody is immune from forward deployment, but THAT is when you need to start looking at things and wondering if you're getting it in the out door.  Whether or not being an ELT is a collateral duty, whether or not it makes it harder to get MMC, or whether or not the "children" who run the prototype like you, you have a job to do.  You ought to be concentrating on the important stuff and leave the Junior High School stuff back home in Iowa.

I never meant to insult anyone's manhood here, but if my remarks hit that close to home, you were probably right at the brink anyway.  So, take a deep breath, stop whining, and go do your best.  You will NEVER regret what you are about to do - no matter how much it seems to suck or how unfairly you feel you are being treated.  Your worst day, week, year or decade in the Navy is just a down payment for a future that is practically guaranteed to be a success.  Look at it as putting money in the bank.

[mlslstephens]

I leave for bootcamp in a few months and heard from an "unreliable source" that Navy Nuke Rates are chosen during bootcamp by the Nuke Chiefs there and I will have no say so in the matter.  Is this true?

I need to know because I really don't want to be put in a job for the next six years that I had no choice in.   

Hope this is false, but need verification.

I thought this was funny.    A new user, 81038205, asked a relatively simple question and within a month we go from "Who is better" question to newbies being insulted by an old timer to why the Army and Marine Corps make better lead sponges than Navy people...and finally the answer to the aged old question, why do you need to stir the pot??? 

  Otherwise the good stuff sticks to the bottom and burns.

It reminds me of a famous quote by a famous Colonel:

Son, we live in a world that has logs, and those logs have to be taken by men with pens. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for trends, and you curse the out of specs. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That a low level alarm, while tragic, probably saves equipment. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves EFPH. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about in the mess decks, you want me on watch, you need me on watch. We use words like coner, boomer fag, plastic cow. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps in between 24 nuclear missiles, and then questions the manner in which I do wake ups. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up your logs, and stand a watch. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

[JustinHEMI05]

LOL yes, this thread has gotten out of control. Merry Christmas everyone!

Justin

[cincinnatinuke]

It reminds me of a famous quote by a famous Colonel:

Son, we live in a world that has logs, and those logs have to be taken by men with pens. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for trends, and you curse the out of specs. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That a low level alarm, while tragic, probably saves equipment. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves EFPH. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about in the mess decks, you want me on watch, you need me on watch. We use words like coner, boomer fag, plastic cow. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps in between 24 nuclear missiles, and then questions the manner in which I do wake ups. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up your logs, and stand a watch. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Flippin' hilarious!

[wlrun3@aol.com]

   
   who was the colonel

[Kev3399]

I thought this was funny.    A new user, 81038205, asked a relatively simple question and within a month we go from "Who is better" question to newbies being insulted by an old timer to why the Army and Marine Corps make better lead sponges than Navy people...and finally the answer to the aged old question, why do you need to stir the pot??? 

It reminds me of a famous quote by a famous Colonel:

Son, we live in a world that has logs, and those logs have to be taken by men with pens. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for trends, and you curse the out of specs. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That a low level alarm, while tragic, probably saves equipment. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves EFPH. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about in the mess decks, you want me on watch, you need me on watch. We use words like coner, boomer fag, plastic cow. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps in between 24 nuclear missiles, and then questions the manner in which I do wake ups. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up your logs, and stand a watch. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

I had abandoned this thread for obvious reasons......I take a gander at it today and this is what I see....Outstanding.

Low level alarm, while tragic.........LOL

[Fermi2]

It reminds me of a famous quote by a famous Colonel:

Son, we live in a world that has logs, and those logs have to be taken by men with pens. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for trends, and you curse the out of specs. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That a low level alarm, while tragic, probably saves equipment. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves EFPH. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about in the mess decks, you want me on watch, you need me on watch. We use words like coner, boomer fag, plastic cow. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps in between 24 nuclear missiles, and then questions the manner in which I do wake ups. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up your logs, and stand a watch. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

LMAO!!!!!!!!Funniest post I've read anywhere in a long time, I'll be plagiarizing it!

[PWHoppe]

It reminds me of a famous quote by a famous Colonel:

Son, we live in a world that has logs, and those logs have to be taken by men with pens. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for trends, and you curse the out of specs. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That a low level alarm, while tragic, probably saves equipment. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves EFPH. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about in the mess decks, you want me on watch, you need me on watch. We use words like coner, boomer fag, plastic cow. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps in between 24 nuclear missiles, and then questions the manner in which I do wake ups. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up your logs, and stand a watch. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

An absolute classic  ...Karma to 'ya 

[DDMurray]

I also remember that glorious day when Captain Marks pinned those beautiful silver dolphins on my chest.  Wow, I was a submariner and I was proud.  Then I walked into a room full of A-gangers and the smallest one of them all, MM1 Stewart, shook my hand and then broke the backs of my dolphins.  He said, "Now, you are a submariner."  He did it out of respect and I am glad he tacked my dolphins on.  That is something that is gone forever. 

I served with an ET2 Marks whose dad was a sub CO.  I wonder if it's the same CAPT Marks.  My first LPO was an IC1.

[xobxdoc]

I knew of a Marks on the Ohio. Same one?

[mlslstephens]

I served with an ET2 Marks whose dad was a sub CO.  I wonder if it's the same CAPT Marks.  My first LPO was an IC1.

It depends.  Captain Marks did have a son who was an ET.  I was an A school instructor from 91-93 and his son went through the pipeline around the 92 time frame. 
I remember getting a call from Capt Marks and he asked if I would "look after" his son and make sure he kept focused.  Next thing I know, ET3 Marks was graduating A school with highest honors.  Smart kid. 

If the timing works, then I bet it is him.

Makes me want to nail one foot in the ground, spin around and sing, "Its a small world afterall...its a small, small world."

[DDMurray]

It depends.  Captain Marks did have a son who was an ET.  I was an A school instructor from 91-93 and his son went through the pipeline around the 92 time frame. 
I remember getting a call from Capt Marks and he asked if I would "look after" his son and make sure he kept focused.  Next thing I know, ET3 Marks was graduating A school with highest honors.  Smart kid. 

If the timing works, then I bet it is him.

Makes me want to nail one foot in the ground, spin around and sing, "Its a small world afterall...its a small, small world."

I was NNPS Section Advisor/Instructor from Apr 90 to Jun 93.  I was ELCPO on USS HAWKBILL Jul 93 to Feb 98.  I'm sure it was Marks.  He was a smart kid.  His work habits and personal hygiene were what made his reputation on HAWKBILL.  I remember CAPT Marks calling our CO once about how things were going for him. Don't remember the particulars.  He was still on the 666 when I left.

[PWHoppe]

      who was the colonel

If I'm not mistaken it was Col. Nathan R. Jessep