Female Nuke

[elhicks]

Im new the the forum.  Ive been reading posts on the site for about 3 weeks now gathering info about the Navy Nuke Program.  I am a 21 year old female who isnt just interested in the Navy; It's a given, I want to be a Sailor.  I went the the recriuting office just thinking to get some questions answered and they sat me infront of a computer and said "here do this test so we know what were working with."  I havent been in school for about 2 1/2 years.  All the math I had once been able to just look at for a few seconds and figure out had fallen out of my head.  I still managed to sqeak out a 67 on the "pre test."  With that score my recruiter gave me some information about the program and thinks i would enjoy it.  A little background first before I start the questions:

I graduated cum laude in 2006.
Lost a softball scholarship in 2007.
Had to join the working world for financial reasons.
I have now worked for AT&T for 1 1/2 years working the tech side of U-verse.
I have always loved school and miss it terribly.
I love having extra money in my bank account... doesnt everyone?
My job has left me with a good pay check and free benefits but little to no "education" or excitement about daily life... kind of a go through the motions only to do it again tomorrow with no gratification
The last month and a half my mind and spirit has been dark because i feel like I am doing nothing with my life when I had such great dreams out of high school, i.e. college, graduating with honors, getting a job i loved, ect.
Ive prayed a lot and thought about what I needed to do to get my life back to where I want it.  The answer was and is the Navy.

Im really exited that my recruiter thought that I would be a good fit for the program, and the rank advancements/bonus/education are a huge plus.  I know it will be stressful and I will hate it for about the first 4 years, but it will at least give me some graitification and direction in my life. I am just worried about a few things.  Any answers will be greatly apprieciated.  This is a decision I am trying to make with as much information as I can.  I do not want to join the Nuke program and hate getting out of bed in the morning as much as I do now.

Boot Camp:
I have heard a lot about hazing by RDC's and fellow SR's.  I understand the whole "stop nuking it just do it" part but is does it get worse?
In most cases do we get higher positions in the division or do they just think we will lead by example?  I have talked to a few people that got the hazing bad and a few that graduated with honors because they were able to lead under the pressure but a little more insite would be nice.

A School
I read all these forum post and I cant understand half of them. yall use all these acronyms and its crazy!  is that something that is expected to be learned right at the begining or is it "learn the math and the real meaning then learn the acronyms when it clicks?"  I know its part of military life but Nukes seem to have tons more.  The schooling I understand is 13 or more hours a day with all the studying.  do they start out with intro to the basics or just jump right into all the advanced stuff?  like I stated earlier, 2 1/2 years is a long time away from advanced math... a long long time, its been even longer since I took chemistry and pyhsics and thermo-dynama-what??  during A school is there still time to have fun or is it just constant stress?  what happens to the person that asks a lot of questions dumb or not? does the instructor try different ways of answering them to help the student or just continues to blabber the same answer?  do the other students shun them or help them out so they can understand better and pass?  teamwork is huge in the Navy I know, but I just dont want to be left out to dry if Im having trouble.  what makes people hate the program so much if they are basically getting a nuclear engineering degree, food, board, and the garantee theyre not going to be sent to iraq for atleast the first 3 years of their service?  and education and moral support go a long way...  what makes the program sooo bad?

On a Board!!
I have some buddies that I work with that have told me friends of theirs that are Nuke basically say "we monitor all these dials and things that hardly ever change.  when something goes wrong depending on what lights turn on we go and hit these buttons."  It basically gives the idea that the 2 years of math and theory goes out the window if everything is automated.  Are they just slackers or is that really how it is?  "first on last off" is understandable since well a big carrier needs energy to do just about everything, but do Nukes still get to enjoy a good time during Port calls?  I havent even seen the ocean and different cultures and people have always interested me.   I want to enjoy everything everyone else does.  Nukes spend a lot of time behind the red door but do they sleep where everyone else sleeps or is there a special nuke place since emergencies need to be handled asap?  do other Sailors on the boat hate Nukes? or are they more jealous? 

getting out or staying in?
I understand the civilan world wants Navy Nukes for their experience and knowledge but are they hiring and giving enough money and benefits for that experience?  is the private nuclear world adding or deleting jobs? will it continue to do better or worse in the coming years?  with obama's energy plan it looks like it could go both ways.  is it better to do the bonus program or try to go officer?  which is better for those that want to succeed and also enjoy their personal life?  if you could do it all over again would you do the Nuke Program or pick another rank?

Im sure a lot of these questions are on a case by case but, hey, yall have lived through it.  any answers would be wonderful!!  thanks for the help.  Im sure their wll be more in the future

[Wirebiter]

WOW!    sooooo many questions.......where to start?


I'll throw my money at the "A" school stuff.

A school is not too bad.  The Navy will teach you the way that it wants you to learn it.  Some people with higher levels of education may find the methods simplified or refined excessively for the Navy.  Remember, the typical nuke will be 18 or 19 with only a high school education.  Your college experience will only help you.  The Navy nuke schools are set-up to ensure you succeed (some argue to a fault).  If your instructor can't explain a concept to you so that you can grasp it, there will be 4 or 5 other people available to help you (although it may require you seeing them on your own time).  For the most part your classmates should help you.  You just need to make sure you are doing everything you can to help yourself before you burden your classmates with questions that were answered in class, or concepts that have been covered repeatedly.  More than likely there will be people with similar abilities to you.  These classmates can make great study partners.  You will probably be surprised that there will be a lot of things in common with A school and high school.  At your age, these things can be a distraction, so stay focused.

As far as   "basically getting a nuclear engineering degree, food, board, and the garantee theyre not going to be sent to iraq for atleast the first 3 years of their service"  your average nuke will be several credit hours away from any bachelor degree after the training pipeline and sea service is complete.  An A.B.E.T. accredited engineering degree is even more distant.

I will give you the food and housing (although there are some half-way houses that I have seen that were in better shape than my A-school barracks).   The Iraq statement is not true.  Failure out of the nuclear pipeline opens up a lot of other possibilities, some wanted, others not so much.  The needs of the Navy.......

"what makes the program sooo bad?" Usually the pretense by which people join the nuke program is very seldom the situation they find themselves in.
Very smart people are taken, taught just enough to do a job, restricted from following natural tendencies like logic, compassion, reason, and self gratification, and placed under considerable stress.  All this while expecting near mechanical, unquestionable compliance with rules, procedures, and regulations from their superiors.  The end game of which is to preserve a public perception and national safety that we have sworn to uphold. 

Its an imperfect system operated by imperfect people, imperfectly held to an ideal standard. 

My Navy nuclear experience has been the most transformational of my life.  Did I like it while I did it?  Not really.  Would I go through it all over again?....ummmmmm  NO!  Am I glad that I did it?  Most definitely.

wow my 100th post.............anyway

[Gamecock]

I have always enjoyed the nuclear navy.  From my time as an enlisted MM going through the pipeline back in Orlando, FL in 1990, all the way through today.  The job isn't always fun, but what job is?  I would do it again in a minute.  I came in the navy right out of high school, so it is all I've ever known as far as real jobs go.

I taught at Nuclear Power School.  It is the instructors job to help you grasp the material.  That being said, there isn't always time in class to answer a lot of questions.  The more seasoned instructors know what topics students tend to struggle with.  You get at least two study halls a day, plus there are night duty instructors available after hours.  So, the help is available if you seek it out.

As a female, you'll be on an aircraft carrier.  From a quality of life perspective, its much better then a submarine.
_____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _________________
BTW.....hazing is not allowed in the navy.  Boot camp takes a civilian and turns them into a sailor.  It is done with a purpose, and it is done with supervision. 

Hazing is the following:

-Being woken up in the middle of the night, dragged out of bed and beaten with a hockey stick
-Doing push-ups in the snow without gloves
-Being threatened with a weapon
-Being physically punched, kicked or stepped on in a non-combat instruction setting (i.e the ability of the recruit to fight back)
-Being denied sleep, food or water for sole purpose of denial and without any military value and for an extended time to the point of increased risk of injury
-Being forced to drink and or eat substances for the express purpose of making one sick, or to force the recruit to eat or drink normal amounts of food and then deliberately PT them until they are sick
-Making the recruit touch or in someway physically or sexually humiliate another recruit

The list is not all-inclusive, but what you or anyone else will go through in boot camp is not hazing.

Cheers,
GC

[Preciousblue1965]

Along with what GC said, there are some other events in the Navy that some might(and do) consider hazing, but are entirely voluntary.  Such as....

Crossing-the-line Ceremony  a.k.a. Shellback ceremony-You will hear about this numerous times in the Navy.  Some of us are Honorable Shellbacks, some of us are slimey little wogs.  Some of us are of the Golden variety(Twice over for me). This ceremony occurs when one crosses the Equator for the first time.  Those who CHOOSE not participate are allowed to muster in an area as to not interfere with those who do participate.  Only those who participate as a Wog may help "cleanse" future Wogs.

Chief's Training a.k.a. Chief's Intiation-When new PO1's make the rank of CPO(Chief Petty Officer) they undergo a training regime that includes group running, physical training, mentorship from other Chief's, among other things(never went through it, so I don't know a lot about it).  It too is voluntary. 

There are some other things that you will probably hear/see that used to be "tradition" that are now considered hazing.  Some people still partake in these events, despite it being against UCMJ.  Such events are..

Tacking on one's crow-When a new sailor makes the rank of PO3(and above), all those who have made that rank before him are "allowed" to punch him/her in the arm to ensure that it stays on their arm and doesn't "fly away".  This is considered Hazing.

Tacking on Dolphins/ESWS/EAWS/etc-When a sailor gets his warfare pin or other uniform pin, the old "tradition" was to remove the pin retainers(frogs) from the back and pound the pins into the flesh(there is a movie that depicts this, but I don't know the name of it).  This too is hazing.

As far as Nuke Hazing, well it is more like jealousy.  Those who aren't nukes don't like us because we make rate faster than most(E6 is just over 4 years as compared to some E5 in 8 years for non nuke).  Therefore they try to pick on us.  Think about the smart kid in class getting bullied by the dumb jock and you have the right idea.

Yes in boot camp, A LOT of the divisional jobs will go to nukes.  Sometimes they will get replaced, but initially most of them go to nukes. 

GC,  Isn't the word Inquire spelled with an I not an E  

[JustinHEMI05]

I will just answer your last bolded question because at about 5 seconds in I decided I couldn't keep my attention enough to read the rest of the shot gun spray in front of me.  Anyway, would I do it again? Heck ya. As miserable as I was the last half of my navy nuke career, the Navy nuke program allowed me to be where I am today. Period. That is all I can say about it in that light. It opens a world of opportunities for you whether you decide to stay Navy or not. The only thing I would have done differently was to find nukeworker.com BEFORE I reenlisted so that I could get out at my 6 year point and be 5 years deep instead of 1.5 years deep into a commercial career at this point. 

Justin

[Fermi2]

1: Work Hard
2: Study
3: Have High Standards and never compromise them.
4: Learn more than what is considered your job.
5: Help others, you are a member of a team.
6: Stay away from the crap others will inevitably have going on around you.

Do all that and you'll be ok.

Mike

[Khak-Hater]

When I went through Boot Camp at NTC Orlando 20+ years ago, I saw NO hazing.  We had a sister company of female recruits with whom we routinely interacted, and there was no mention of hazing from them either.  Things might have changed, but I doubt it.  There will be plenty of unpleasant things that you'll have to do, like learning to perform mundane tasks (e.g., marching, folding your underwear, etc.) endlessly until you do it exactly the right way [this will be accompanied by a lot of yelling and what a civillian might call verbal abuse], but it's indoctrination, not hazing.  I did find it interesting that I saw all but one of the things on GC's list during my Rat year at VMI, but that was the "Rat Line," not the Navy. 

As to whether to enter the Nuke field or be a REAL sailor, that's a call we all have to make.  My dad did nine (9) years in the Navy as a Radarman [now called an Operations Specialist (OS)].  He served on tin cans and amphibs.  His experience was so different from mine that I could hardly tell that we were in the same branch of service.  Personally, I'd call him a REAL sailor, but when he got out, the only work that he could find was factory work.  If you want to serve your country and never worry about being unemployed for the rest of your life, then Navy Nuke is definitely a way to go, but the Navy does have a lot of other options that seem to be more interesting.  Just because you're qualified to be a nuke doesn't mean that you have to choose that route.  This is a big decision, consider it thoroughly, but once made, go forward with no regrets or second thoughts.  Life will have plenty more decisions awaiting you. 

Good Luck,

MGM

[Wirebiter]

The only thing I would have done differently was to find nukeworker.com BEFORE I reenlisted so that I could get out at my 6 year point and be 5 years deep instead of 1.5 years deep into a commercial career at this point. 

Justin

*The shameless plug for this website has been met.  Posters may continue to address the topic as needed.  That is all.*

[AFT21]

I'll answer a few in reverse order.  Being that I'm getting out of the Navy at 8 years and plan to go into a civilian nuclear career, I'm glad I went Nuke.  If I was going to do 20 for sure, and I could start over again, I would pick something with more career options.  There are only 9 places that a Nuke can expect to be located at.  Three of those are not available to women for sea duty.  I don't regret my time.  No one knows comraderie like an SSN M-div subjected to an ELT chief. 

You do go through a lot of training to watch a lot of indications that almost never change.  You go through all of that training so that you can respond when they do change in a manner that they aren't supposed to.

I didn't find A-school or power school nearly as hard as some do.  I think the most important factor in this was promising myself to never let an instructor go on if I didn't understand.  There is a lot of talk of "pushing the I believe button", memorizing, and moving on in Charleston.  If you fall into this trap, you are only doing yourself a disservice.  You will have to understand at some point.  You can't operate the plant if you don't understand. 

Good luck
MM1/SS