Navy Discharging Failed Nukes?

[droman426]

I am currently in Nuke Field "A" school and our Chief told us yesterday that due to the manning requirements and billet status the Navy has right now any prospective nuke that fails out of "A" school will be administratively discharged.  He also said that ET's must make it through the entire pipeline because we would not technically be rated, as opposed to EM's and MM's who would just be sent to the fleet as a conventional EM or MM. I hadn't given much thought to this until i failed my first test today and that got me thinking. I'm hanging on with a 3.02 with a month left of "A" school so I am not in immediate danger of or planning on failing out, but was wondering if anyone had any knowledge on this subject.

[Already Gone]

The Navy is downsizing.  It may be necessary for them to discharge those who cannot fill the billets for which they were recruited.  There is a lot of competition even among senior rates thees days to stay in the military.

There is a program to transfer from the Navy or Air Force into the Army.  It's called the Blue to Green Program.

[TheObiJuan]

Don't fret, the Navy has all PCS changes and orders for re-rating on hold until October, so they are involuntarily separating those folks at DTP that have a crow now, and are being re-rated, and also not sub-vols.
This is just my analysis of the trend I see here.
Things may change to include people who have not put in a 1306 yet for changing schools.
Money is tight and everyone is feeling it, from the top down.

A 3.02 is fine, don't worry or you'll make the GPA drop.
Keep your head looking forward, on school related matters, and use the NDI's and quite study.
Goofing off in classrooms after 1600 is out of control, so time spent at A-School and Power School-- to a slightly less extent-- is almost wasted.

Your Chief is just trying to prepare you for possibilities, not actualities.

Good luck and best regards.

[DDMurray]

I am currently in Nuke Field "A" school and our Chief told us yesterday that due to the manning requirements and billet status the Navy has right now any prospective nuke that fails out of "A" school will be administratively discharged.  He also said that ET's must make it through the entire pipeline because we would not technically be rated, as opposed to EM's and MM's who would just be sent to the fleet as a conventional EM or MM. I hadn't given much thought to this until i failed my first test today and that got me thinking. I'm hanging on with a 3.02 with a month left of "A" school so I am not in immediate danger of or planning on failing out, but was wondering if anyone had any knowledge on this subject.

  Years ago, if an ET failed at NPS he would go to  Great Lakes to finish ET "A" school.  Based on what you've said, it sounds like the navy has plenty of non-rates and other school fill-ins so there is not need to send nuke waste to the other rates.

Accepting failure of at any level in the pipeline is a sign of trouble ahead.  I recommend you get serious about your studies.

[Jimmykroffa]

The Navy is DESPERATE to keep people in the Nuclear Program right now. I just got out after 9.5 years. The SRB being offered to stay in was $100,000. With backups at the prototypes due to operational issues and people getting out, the command asked me when I was getting out what they were doing wrong and what they could do to keep people in. The feedback I got from them was that they were going to basically keep throwing money at sailors, i.e. changing propay or start giving enlisted sailors a yearly "bonus" that was paid out monthly(much like the commercial plant's license bonuses.) Without further discussing what the Navy is doing "wrong"(addressed in another thread) you have a pretty high chance of getting "pumped" through the program due to direction from above.

FYI, I was a prototype instructor for the past 3.5 years and we couldn't get kids kicked out no matter how we tried. Every staff member had to focus their powers like the Ghostbusters "crossing the streams" to get just 1 terrible student booted.......

[DesertRad]

Kind of reminds me of the opposite in the early 80's when the drop rate from A School through prototype seemed to be about 35-40% if not higher.

I was a staff pickup at AIW and we de-nuked many good folks because of the catch all
"Demonstrated Unreliability".

The worst offense of which was missing the bus 3 times in a 6 month class.

[Jimmykroffa]

Muley even when I was going through 10 years ago, it was a big deal to fail a test. It was an even bigger deal to get caught up in some "military" issues....
Now the kids do what they want because they know they can't get kicked out.  Sure some Master Chief will yell at them or they'll get EMI, but never kicked out. Drugs is about the only thing right now that gets them booted....

[DesertRad]

Jimmy, K+ to you ,

I agree with you, that even back in the day failing tests were always a big deal.. my point really was that there seemed to be such a glut of Nukes that you could get dropped for sneezing wrong... and drugs Holy Heck... Back in '82 in one two week period at A1W we lost all but one of our ROs, all of the EOs , 3 ELTs and one M-Divver , some for smoking but many for not telling on their roomates. Come to find out the M-Div LPO had a little side business going on and he had lots of clientele on the crew. A disgruntled MM3 who was always in trouble with the command let the cat out of the bag..
Thats the first time I could remember having to start performing for operation golden flow..
I was so naive I had no clue this crap was going on... just came in one night and most of the crew was gone.

[xforcehunter]

It is hard to get rid of people because of our manning shortages, BUT we do get rid of most of the sub-par Sailors.  In my last two A school classes, we "denuked" or discharged 20 out of 48 students.  That's over 40%.  Used to be, that we had to be able to meet the standards straight out of boot camp.   Now, we get Sailors from Great Lakes that can't even pass a uniform inspection, and it's up to nuke school to get them up to speed. And, as a result they get more chances, but they still eventually get kicked out if they don't fall into line. 

Muley even when I was going through 10 years ago, it was a big deal to fail a test. It was an even bigger deal to get caught up in some "military" issues....
Now the kids do what they want because they know they can't get kicked out.  Sure some Master Chief will yell at them or they'll get EMI, but never kicked out. Drugs is about the only thing right now that gets them booted....

I have to disagree with this post, because I have personally put kids and report and ushered them out of the Navy for several problems.  From violating general orders, underaged drinking, drugs, to general lack of effort.  I would also say that most of the kids that fall through the cracks and make it to NPTU or the Fleet often do get extra chances because nobody took the opportunity to fix them before they got that far.  That's sad, but we gotta give more chances so that we can man the nuclear Navy.  40% of Navy ships are nuclear powered and we gotta do whatever we can to keep those ships running.  By the way Jimmy, I've been an instructor at NPTU too, so I understand where you're coming from and how frustrating it is to deal with those students that you just can't get rid of.....especially when they are on your next boat!

[anthonyalsup]

Jimmy, when did you go through nuke school and where did you go after that?  I grad Power School in Orlando in 98 and went to Kings Bay after prototype in 99

[Jimmykroffa]

Went through in 99-00 class 0003 in Charleston, SC, S8G in NY, CVN-69, and then MARF in NY.....