ET phone home!

[gman82]

Ok  so I'm curious about what its like to be an ET. I've got a good Idea of what its like for EM's and MM's but I'm hoping you ET's out there can give me a good idea of the day to day grind of a nuke ET. Is it all instrument panels and button pushing? or is it a lot of circuit boards and microchips? Can you guys and gals tell me about your first hand knowledge as an ET? (and even differences between sub ET's and Carrier ET's)

P.S. no ET bashing you EM's and MM's...play nice, its story time 

[Marlin]

P.S. no ET bashing you EM's and MM's...play nice, its story time 

You mean like "it's the closest thing to having women on board a submarine?"

[JustinHEMI05]

You mean like "it's the closest thing to having women on board a submarine?"

HAHAHAHAHA

Notice no other posts? Because this has been covered more times than McDonalds has served people.

Justin

[Cycoticpenguin]

quite literally,

mm's turn valves
em's play with circuits
and et's play with switches.

thats about as in depth as im allowed to go

[gman82]

HAHAHAHAHA

Notice no other posts? Because this has been covered more times than McDonalds has served people.

Justin

Funny how nothing comes up in the search bar  ...any real ET's out there? Come on now stick up for yourselves, there's too much nuke on nuke crime in this site 

(Hmm nuke on nuke, that doesn't quite sound right  )

[JustinHEMI05]

Funny how nothing comes up in the search bar  ...any real ET's out there? Come on now stick up for yourselves, there's too much nuke on nuke crime in this site 

(Hmm nuke on nuke, that doesn't quite sound right  )

Are you freakin serious?

How about this to start?

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,11394.0.html

And what exactly is a "real" ET anyway? Are the ones that decided to ignore this thread fake or something?

Justin

[Wanna Know Mom]

Squirrel Master, there are several search buttons. Try the one at the very upper right hand corner of the screen. It is the most comprehensive and uses Google to search the entire NukeWorker forum.  P.S.  I enjoy your avatars.  Is this squirrel Army?...shame on you!                                                      
Kathy, VPNM

[93-383]

cleaning... lots and lots of cleaning.

I'm a MM but on the CVN the junior ETs spent their entire day cleaning the 4th deck and scraping rust. For reasons I won't go into only top qualified ETs where allowed to do maintenance and thats what they did all day. Keep in mind that underway or on a duty day you also have watch thrown in. ETs on a CVN stand (sit) some pannel watches like obviously reactor operator (only seinor ones that are smart enough) they also stand throttlman, logrecorder (EOS bitchboy), IW (roving watch around 4th deck) and then there is the holy grail of ET watches Reactor Technition. This persons job is to make shure that the X-Box in the RIM room works. Of course this watch is reserved for the chosen few who have gamed the system just enough to have the influance and social clout to influance (or be) the watchbill coordinator.

[Wanna Know Mom]

Please help this Navy Mom understand the progression of duties for an ET just out of proto and aboard first ship/sub.......I realize (and agree with) the fact that all sailors will always have many duties not related to their A school training.  But, what does a "NUB" do if he/she has not yet checked off on any/many qualifications? And, for a sailor who is motivated and does well, how long does it take to qualify to be able to spend the majority of his/her time applying the knowledge learned from the last 18 months of training? thanks.
Kathy, VPNM

[Cycoticpenguin]

NUB .. status will depend on the motivation of the individual and the capacity of the crew to qualify said sailor.  Galley duty and other NON-Nuke jobs/duties outside his division will also take away from qualifying.

i notice since going into the ship yard, my quals have literally dive bombed... im still ahead but sheesh, i should been done already


wanna know mom, when they show up to the ship, they will be apart of "RT" division. (reactor training). I hear on a sub its only a couple weeks (prototype's are very similar, so they dont need forever and a  day to qual), but on CVN's its supposed to go 8-10 weeks. My division has guys pushing 6 months (no joke). If he is motivated to get checkouts and learn his plant/ship, he can qualify rather quickly. However, id say only 2 out of 5 days a week are applied for self study time and check out time. Rest of it is the bull#@$% they have the "nubs" do.  (we are useful for cleaning! ).  but as Jason stated, the situation changes for each sailor.

[93-383]

wanna know mom, when they show up to the ship, they will be apart of "RT" division. (reactor training). I hear on a sub its only a couple weeks (prototype's are very similar, so they dont need forever and a  day to qual), but on CVN's its supposed to go 8-10 weeks. My division has guys pushing 6 months (no joke). If he is motivated to get checkouts and learn his plant/ship, he can qualify rather quickly. However, id say only 2 out of 5 days a week are applied for self study time and check out time. Rest of it is the bull#@$% they have the "nubs" do.  (we are useful for cleaning! ).  but as Jason stated, the situation changes for each sailor.

I have unfortunately seen the same thing and it is a direct result of the Navy's zero tolerance on hazing policy. When I was a NUB I lived in absolute fear of the senior in rate personnel and that fear drove me to qualify. I admit that system sucks but the last several years have shown how codling and hoping that people will qualify just because it’s their job doesn’t work. During my later years on the CVN I saw people with over three years on-board that had not qualified senior in rate.



Modified to place proper quotes.

[135i]

Well I'm an ET so I'll try to answer your questions but I've never seen anything outside of prototype (I'm a SPU) so my knowledge is limited. There's not another rate I'd rather be.

Operating (standing watch) is what I enjoy the most. Reactor Operator, Reactor Technician and Throttleman.

Other than that you could be doing: Maintenance (Flipping switches and taking voltages for the most part), troubleshooting, random crap that needs to get done, and last but not least, Paperwork: making paperwork, reviewing paperwork, getting paperwork reviewed, filling out paperwork, looking for paperwork, shredding paperwork, making copies for paperwork, looking for paperwork binders, etc.

You wont work with circuit cards as much as you might think.

We're the smallest division besides RL Div (ELTs) and that does make a difference. ET manning is pretty bad right now, which is why our multiple is 10 and and the cap for STAR is $90k. It'll probably be higher by the time you get around to it.

Our work is the most political because it involves reactor safety so that gets in the way a lot.

[taterhead]

Our work is the most political because it involves reactor safety so that gets in the way a lot.

there are some RM mechanics who would disagree with you...but that's fleet talk

[ddklbl]

there are some RM mechanics who would disagree with you...but that's fleet talk

Put a transcription error in an OP2/B6 valve lineup and a similar transcription error in a Calorimetric, would you like to wager on which one would shut you down faster?

But, I agree. RM mechanics would disagree regardless.

[JustinHEMI05]

I am making the pop corn!

Justin

[taterhead]

Put a transcription error in an OP2/B6 valve lineup and a similar transcription error in a Calorimetric, would you like to wager on which one would shut you down faster?

I guess it all depends on who catches the mistake...if NR catches it, the anser is both equally.  All it takes is one valve found out of position to put an entire primary status board into a state of doubt.

This is a judgement call, but I would say there are many, many more ways for a mechanic to leave a valve out of position in a system related to Rx safety than an ET to screw up a calorimetric (we don't do those everyday, now do we...and don't answer that here )

[Cycoticpenguin]

Put a transcription error in an OP2/B6 valve lineup and a similar transcription error in a Calorimetric, would you like to wager on which one would shut you down faster?

But, I agree. RM mechanics would disagree regardless.

 

[93-383]

Put a transcription error in an OP2/B6 valve lineup and a similar transcription error in a Calorimetric, would you like to wager on which one would shut you down faster?

But, I agree. RM mechanics would disagree regardless.

The answer is the valve line-up. When a mistake is found in valve position its hard to cover up (nearly imposible) but ETs like ELTs specialize in fabricating...... correction creative writting..... umm I mean producing proper documents in acordance with approved producures... Yah that's it.

[JustinHEMI05]

The answer is the valve line-up. When a mistake is found in valve position its hard to cover up (nearly imposible) but ETs like ELTs specialize in fabricating...... correction creative writting..... umm I mean producing proper documents in acordance with approved producures... Yah that's it.

/puts down bag of popcorn.

I could be naive, but I don't believe you. To put ETs and their paper work on the same level as ELTs and their paper work is proposterous, in my experience. Everything in the ET world is monitored by someone, and I think that 9/10 ETs do the right thing when a voltage is OOS by .001. I never once got the feeling that the paperwork I was reviewing was made up. But like I said, I could have been ignorant of actual facts my entire career.

Justin

/picks up bag of popcorn.

[ddklbl]

I wasn't talking about legitimate valves OOP.  I was referring to simple administrative, clerical errors.  I've seen mechanics argue over the differences between fig 3-1's, OP2's and standard system valve lineups WRT which blocks are empty, which are initialed, if I have to put Note (2) in the position block, even something as egregious as completing a valve lineup on an incorrect revision. And, the rules were changing as I was out the door, so I don't even remember what the right answers were to some of these, nor are the right answers important to my discussion here.  I've yet to see a plant shutdown because of such an error.  Has anyone else shut a plant down because of this?

My real point I was trying to make was RM mechanics would disagree anyways.  So I'd like to thank all of you for validating my claims. Cyco, check.  Tater, check.  93-383, check. 



<<eying Justin's bag of Popcorn>>

[JustinHEMI05]

I wasn't talking about legitimate valves OOP.  I was referring to simple administrative, clerical errors.  I've seen mechanics argue over the differences between fig 3-1's, OP2's and standard system valve lineups WRT which blocks are empty, which are initialed, if I have to put Note (2) in the position block, even something as egregious as completing a valve lineup on an incorrect revision. And, the rules were changing as I was out the door, so I don't even remember what the right answers were to some of these, nor are the right answers important to my discussion here.  I've yet to see a plant shutdown because of such an error.  Has anyone else shut a plant down because of this?

My real point I was trying to make was RM mechanics would disagree anyways.  So I'd like to thank all of you for validating my claims. Cyco, check.  Tater, check.  93-383, check. 



<<eying Justin's bag of Popcorn>>

Nice pic. I have never seen a plant shut down because of a valve lineup. I have never seen a plant shut down because of ET mistakes. I have seen plants not allowed to start up because of errors on ET paperwork, never on MM paperwork. I also witnessed the senior orse board member ordering the skipper to surface the ship because of OOS diesel trends but thats a sea story for another time.

DD I also don't think you can really count cycots angry face as disagreement since he isn't really a reactor mechanic yet and probably doesn't even really know what we are talking about. 

Justin

[Cycoticpenguin]

My real point I was trying to make was RM mechanics would disagree anyways.  So I'd like to thank all of you for validating my claims. Cyco, check.  Tater, check.  93-383, check. 

LOL'd

[Alzibiades]

Well I can say that being an ET is a challenge. I have spent over 17 yrs trying to master this job and still pushing. Being an ET is sometimes rewarding and death curse. While the other rates can go about doing maintenance, I have to brief the Engineer and Captain on the maintenance item most times before I can get permission. We essentially hold the keys for the ship. If we mess up, there are consequences. On that note, I have thoroughly enjoyed the job. It was what I wanted to be when I came in and I was lucky to get it. There is sometimes work where we go down to the component level but the instrumentation is getting to advanced to be done that way anymore. It is mostly down to the board and that is it.

[number41]

You guys are all full of crap.  M-Div rules whether or not a boat gets underway.  When is the last time you saw RC div finish-up any maintenance AFTER M-Div put MSW back together?  That boat isn't going anywhere and it WILL return to sea on the surface if QA paperwork is not right with seawater hydro's.

[Cycoticpenguin]

You guys are all full of crap.  M-Div rules whether or not a boat gets underway.  When is the last time you saw RC div finish-up any maintenance AFTER M-Div put MSW back together?  That boat isn't going anywhere and it WILL return to sea on the surface if QA paperwork is not right with seawater hydro's.

Try leaving the ship when the rod drive mechanisms are tagged out   Each job has it's purpose, its useless to spout off which is "better". We should just agree that EM's and ELT's are useless