Daily Life at nuke school, huh?
Well, it's something like this.
Morning:
- Wake up, brush teeth, shower, do whatever you do in the morning. When you're in A-school, you'll probably have one roommate and a shared bathroom with one other room (two guys per room, two rooms per bathroom).
- Since they do room inspections pretty regularly, and it's a pain in the ass if you fail a room inspection, you'll want to make sure your bed is made and the place is straightened up. Absolutely no food can be left out, including spills or splatter on the countertop. It's a health hazard and counts as an automatic room inspection failure.
- If you're a morning guy, you can head down to the "Refueling Complex" (yes, that's what it says on the side of the building) and sit down for breakfast. I usually skipped breakfast because I was not, as they say, a morning person. If you're in a hurry you can grab a pre-packaged breakfast and head over to the schoolhouse (located about 100 yds away) The food quality at NNPTC was excellent, compared to typical navy fare.
- When you first enter the building, you will scan your badge. You may be randomly selected to have your pockets searched and a handheld metal detector used to search for weapons. If your appearence is unsatisfactory (e.g. you didn't shave your face) you will be denied entry to the building. The building is divided into NFAS on the left, and NPS on the right.
- Class starts promptly at 7:00AM. You will sit in the same classroom, the same seat, for all of your classes. The instructors will come in, bring their materials and teach it all to you. There are 5-10 minute breaks every hour, allowing you to use the head (bathroom), grab something from the vending machine, and just stretch your legs, not to mention giving your brain a chance to relax.
- Every classroom is equipped with a projection system which the instructor will use to teach the class using CAI (Computer Aided Instruction). In the old days, the instructor would write everything down on the chalkboard and students would copy it into their notes. Yes, copy. Exactly. When I went through, they were using "structured notes" which was essentially fill-in-the-blank-spots-with-important-information. The instructor brings the text up on the screen, reads it aloud, and then waits for everybody to finish copying it into their notes. This uses a multifacted approach to training. You see the text, hear it spoken, and write it down.
- Around 11:00, you break for lunch. You can go to the refueling complex, bring your own, or go off site to the nearby Subway or other fast food joints. It's essentially free time.
- One hour later, you're back at it again. Often times, I found afternoon classes much more difficult to pay attention, since you've got the "After-Lunch-Sleepies". Going back over my structured notes, I would find unintelligble scribbles where I just started dozing off. Fortunately, everybody has the exact same notes so you can usually find somebody who has a good copy.
- At either 3:00 or 4:00 (I can't remember), you're let out. Hooray! Freedom! Students come streaming out of the schoolhouse (Gotta scan your badge on the way out). You're on your own time now. Go back to your room and play video games, play a game of volleyball, whatever.
- At some point in the afternoon or evening, you'll have to come back to the schoolhouse for Night Study. I usually did mine right after dinner, but some students would do it right after class lets out.
- At night study, you are not required to wear your uniform (except during the first couple of weeks). You go into the building, scan in, and possibly get searched.
- In the classroom, you sign into the Night Study Log. This log is very important, since most students are required to put in a certain number of Night Study hours. The number of required hours is heavily dependant on how well you are performing. If you're struggling, you may be put on 25-4, or in some cases 30-5. (The first number represents the total aggregate number of hours each week, the second number is the number of hours required each night preceding a school day). If you're doing well, you may be put on 0-0's or "voluntary study hours" or "vols" for short. I was on 10-0's for most of A-school, and vols for most of Power School. Even so, I averaged 13 hours a week in A-school, and 16 hours a week in Power School.
- During night study, you will usually have to do a homework assignment and a resubmit. Every problem on your homework must be done perfectly. Invariably, I got something wrong on my homework assignments and would have to resubmit some of the problems. This was in addition to tonight's homework. All of your homework MUST be stamped with the appropriate classification, since all materials in the schoolhouse are classified (to some degree).
- During Night Study, there is a student on night study watch. Everybody takes a turn doing it. The night study watch sits at the front of the room and ensures the classroom doesn't get too unruly. The night study watch must be in uniform.
- Once you're done with your work, you sign out of the night study log and scan out of the building. There have been cases where students have falsified the night study log, and were caught because the timestamp on the scanner didn't match. In those cases, the student usually went to Captain's Mast.
- During Night Study, there will be an instructor on duty until 8:00PM, appropriately called the Night Duty Instructor (NDI). Often the NDI will be be fairly busy tutoring and helping those students who are struggling, and those required to get a certain number of IA's (Instruct Assists) each week.
- At midnight, you are required to leave the building and be back in your room by 12:15AM. This ensures that students get enough rest and don't burn themselves out trying to cram everything in before a big test.
And that's it. A typical day at nuke school. I went through a few years back, but for the most part that's what you can expect.
