Ballston Spa vs Goose Creek

[drainbamage]

I'm looking for someone who currently is, or recently was (graduated student) on a prototype in New York or South Carolina.

I've got a few questions about the area that I can't seem to get straightened out.

Anyone who can help, I'd appreciate a pm so we could chat.

[JustinHEMI05]

Ballston spa is not in the south, what more do you need to know? 

Justin

[owsi84621]

How about someone who lives outside the Weapons Station at Goose Creek? It's a quiet and relaxed area. You can visit the beach any time or in a couple of hours be inthe mountains.

[Preciousblue1965]

I was in Charleston as a Staff member for 3 years and still have family(in laws) in Summerville.  If you are wondering which P-type to go to for shore duty, well you might as well be asking yourself which one of your legs you would rather shoot.  Both are going to be painful, but you might find one has a little less overall bad effect than the other.

[goobs22xx]

SPU in Charleston. Graduated in Sept of 2007.

Shoot me a pm if there's anything you'd like to know.

[floyd_n]

PM'd ya. Stay in Charleston.

[drainbamage]

Appreciate the pms, looks like I'll be hold company for a couple months so I've got some time to decide.

[TJ Nuke]

Since in both cases you are off base, commuting problems are a factor.  If you are going to be in BS in the winter driving conditions can be a problem.  I'm not sure about BS, but near GC there are several large apartment complexes where a number of the students live.  Even though there are different shifts and boats/reactors, it is quite likely that car pooling will be a money and time saving option.  If you like cold go north, if you like hot and humid stay south.  Of course, it depends on when you are doing it which is a factor, but if wherever you go shuts down (like BS did) while you are there you may be able to enjoy or suffer through all four seasons.  Both places are great when the weather is right.  The converse is also true.

[135i]

Outside of work I prefer NY much more than SC. The winters are long up here but if you're into winter sports (snowboarding, skiing, ice fishing, snowmobiling, etc.) it makes it more bearable. The other three seasons here are great. You've got NYC, Montreal, Boston, Niagara Falls and Philly all reasonably close, Lake George, racing season in Saratoga, the Adirondacks/Adirondack National Park, rafting on the Hudson river. I've done all of that except Niagara falls in the 2 years I've been up here. Downtown Saratoga has a nice nightlife as well.

I didn't like Goose Creek at all. I'm from a warm coastal area and it was like a crappier version of home. I was under 21 when I was there though.

[Marvin]

It really depends on what you are used to.  I went to prototype in Ballston Spa (before you were born) and then went to a special school in Charleston a few years later.  Me being from Arkansas made New York a real shocker, especially since I moved there in February but I found it bearable.  The people from New York are different than they are in the south to say the least.  They really got under my skin at first until I realized they were all whack jobs and it was part of their culture to be less polite than the people from the south.

Bottom line = if you are southern, then go south.  If you are a yank, then go north.  There wasn't a southern path in my era or I woulda went there.

Best of luck to ya.  Truth is the navy is gonna run you through the ringer and you probably won't see much daylight one way or the other but keep your head down and work your tail off and you'll make it through.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and prototype is a prime example.

[Llama]

Yo MARSSIM, is he tawkina bout meanyou? Ya want I should tawkta Vinnie bout it?

[vagabond]

Ballston spa is not in the south, what more do you need to know? 

Justin

I guess it's better to be a smart a..  than a dumb a..

I was in both locations OP.  Your age and where you are from would help a lot.

[AFT21]

and it was part of their culture to be less polite than the people from the south.

What he's saying is, in New England the cashier at the supermarket isn't going to make small talk with you because he knows that even if you don't have something you need to be doing, the guy behind you does.  People are going to flip you off when you drive stupid so that you know not to do that in the future.  If you're annoying, they're not going to be nice so that you leave them alone.  They don't smile in your face while thinking they can't stand you, they don't coddle you, and they don't waste your time.

They're actually a lot like a lot of nukes that I know.

[Gamecock]

1)  Not so    .  We do it with a smile and a soooooooothingly slower twang.  And just maybe use a little code language.   

2)  And, that about sums it up.

Had to give you ....couldn't leave you hangin' at 1899

[vagabond]

psssst!, it's okay pal, we use emoticons just to keep it friendly ribbing and not nasty slander,...

It's okay also.  I was teasing Justin.  I know him in real life, so I was ribbing him.

It's funny that since I didn't use an emoticon I got negative Karma points.   

Sweeeeet!

[Cycoticpenguin]

ballston spa > goose creek...

[vagabond]

ballston spa > goose creek...

I agree naturally.  I could be slightly biased since 3 of my first 4 years were spent there though.

Horse racing in the summer>> black flag days and mosquito dodging

Let's not even talk about the extreme life threat that is driving in SC!!

[mizzyung]

Hello.

Depends on if you're trying to get your training done quickly and get out to the fleet or get stuck on hold A LOT. In the past 2 years, the NY prototype has had it's fair share of set backs and break downs and complete shutdowns to where most students have been getting put on hold for months and stalled in their training process'. They've even begun to cut orders to send some students back down here to Charleston fron NY bc they are having so many problems. Trust me, I know...It causes more work and hours for the instructors down here in SC trying to push the students through. I hear the complaints EVERYDAY when my husband gets home. As far as everything else, I have friends in NY NPTU and the delays and hurry up and wait games are the only complaints I personally have heard about NY.

[NukeNub]

I lived in SC @ proto for 3 years as a student and married SPU-ELT from 97 - 2000.

I enjoyed the laid back atmosphere, wife played on local softball teams, we spent weekends at Isle of Palms/Sullivans Island and toured the historical aspects of the low country.

Fishing and Crabbing are fun.

I can't knock NY because I have never been there.

Summers can be brutal, though, but winters can be brutal in NY.

[vagabond]

well, now your back at neutral karma, some folks here are a bit testy on the negative karma thing,.....

I actually thought it was funny.  That's why I used an emoticon    

[Llama]

very funny 

hehehehehe

[JustinHEMI05]

I guess it's better to be a smart a..  than a dumb a..

I was in both locations OP.  Your age and where you are from would help a lot.

You could read what I wrote either way, which is why I wrote it the way I wrote it.

Justin