For Current Nukes Of Any Persuasion Or Orientation

[Fermi2]

What made you decide to become a nuke?
With me, it was 1984. I was 23 years old and working as a baseball umpire, and football/basketball referee. About this time many of the current generation of nuclear plants was coming online. I was reading Sports Illustrated one day and Grand Gulf was advertising. The advertisement had a guy at a chalkboard with what I know now is the Xenon Equilibrium Equation. I knew it was some sort of equilibrium thing, I'd always had a fascination with Chemistry and Physics so it caught my eye. I didn't want to go to Mississippi (Ironic, at that time I wanted nothing to do with the South, now I'd be hard pressed to leave it)
So I asked some questions and found out the Navy had reactors and since I was a warship buff I figured why not call. The recruiter came to my house, saw my Mohawk, ankle length braids, and 75 pounds of gold jewelry and I thought he'd walk out. He gave me this screening test, said it'd take about 30 minutes, I handed it back complete before he was done explaining the instructions. This piqued his interest. Afterward I took all the testing required and got a waiver for a couple things as I wasn't exactly an angel up to that point. The bets in my hometown were I wouldn't make it out of boot camp and no way would I hack the discipline required for nuke school. I found both to be a great time, met some awfully great people many of whom I have the honor of calling close friends. I've never looked back since.

Mike

[retired nuke]

Kinda stumbled into it.
In '75, the economy was about what it is now - and my dad was just back to work from an injury. College wasn't in my financial future. Navy had the GI Bill. I was gonna be an architect. Took the shortest enlistment that got me the GI bill, 4 yrs as a cook. Was EPO in boot, cause I scored high on tests. Recruiter was pissed I wouldn't do the 6 yr nuke thing. I just wanted college paid for...Went to subs because I would have a few weekends home during sub school (grew up in MA). Was interested in nuke program after I got to a boat, actually hung out with nukes, but was not interested in the enlistment length. 
I was in the process of signing up at the merchants hall after I got out, and got hired out of a nearby bar to jump SGs ('79). Next was a short period of deconning, and I asked an HP how to get his job. He suggested CFCC (Ocala), and the GI bill got me there. 
I was actually at GGNS as a house HP when Mike saw the ad - we were just getting ready to startup. 
Been to 24 different reactors, DOE, RW Shipper, etc. Now a house mouse again, at VY, doing a couple of year assignment in Safety. Never really considered Ops - not my thing. I like being in a support function, looking out for the workers. Whether RP, Safety, planning, etc - I don't want to run stuff, just be part of the team. 

[NukeNub]

After dropping out of college to be a gym manager, bouncer, pool technician, waiter, cook, and kirby vacuum salesman, I decided to fix myself. I went to the Air Force recruiter and he popped a woody over my ASVAB and I told him I wanted to be a linguist. However, I could not drop the weight or make my neck bigger so it was a no go for aiming high.

So I went to the Navy and there ya go.

"Are you interested in nuclear power?"
"I'd like to be the Navy equivalent of a linguist"
"Just take this little test"
"Ok"
"You did well, would you like to be a nuke"
"I still want to be a linguist"
"I'll give you 8,000 dollars"

The End.

[Marlin]

1970...Vietnam....Draft...Helicopter Pilot or nuclear operator...quick choose, your draft number is way to low.

[Nuke2EAF]

Had no idea what I was going to do, no money, no scholarships, called the recruiter.  Took the tests, did well.  Went to MEPS in Detroit, told the guy I wanted to be something like a paralegal, I figured there were no enlisted lawyers.  Guy says "we don't have those, take a look at this..".  So boot camp, 'A' school, power school, prototype, get ready for 1'st deployment and now I've got to do a power of attorney.  Head to PSD and talk to a second class, she's got a funny emblem on her arm.  I ask her what it is, she says "I'm a legalman, kind of like a paralegal".  Great.

[SloGlo]

'76, gotta call frum a bud who wuz working at a.h.p. heed herd dat sum company called rad services wuz highering teks.  sew i called 'em up 'n wuz told eye hadda be at sum place called peach in two daze.  aye toll that guy, eli, dat i had bartending gigs thru da weekend 'n cood knot go know ware until monday.  he toll me to come into da office 'n pick up sum per dee um on monday 'n a few udder things four dat plant.  sum things................ about twenty boxes of paperwork!  good thing i hadda 68 ford ltd!  long story short; plants, doe, dod, private concerns..... haffa peeps eye no still kant figger out watt aye due fore a living.

[G-reg]

Summer 1987, in a little South Dakota town of 600 people.  I had just turned 18 and graduated from high school.  I might as well be honest about it, the Air Force Academy was my first choice coming out of high school.  I figured in the Air Force, I'd have the best chance of working with some cool cutting-edge techno-geek stuff.  However, my grades in high school profiled me as a habitual under-achiever, so the flyboys gave me the "Thanks, but no, thanks".

So then, coming in at 2^nd place on my dream sheet was working with Naval crypto/radio gear (again, the neverending lure of techno stuff).  The Navy Recruiter had me take a couple of tests when I went to his office, after which he suddenly began talking to me about bonuses, advancements, and nuclear power.  There, right before my eyes, was far and away the coolest, most ultimate thing ever on the planent: nnnnnnnnuuuuuclear!  And then he started talking about submarines!  And extra pay for being on a submarine!  I went completely ga-ga.  Essentially, the Navy Nuclear Power Program had me at "Hello", and they couldn't get me on a plane fast enough...

20 years later, I crossed over to my dream job on the commercial side of nuclear power.  It just doesn't get any better than this!     

[UncaBuffalo]

What made you decide to become a nuke?

Went off to college with high expectations of conquering the world, but picked a party school, so lost my scholarships in record-time. 

Went home to re-group and wandered by the vo-tech school to see what they had available.  Counselor said, "We have a Radiation Safety program that has great job placement, but there is a 2-year waiting list'.  I threw my name on his waiting list, but didn't expect anything to come of it, because I wasn't going to sit around for two years...

Went to work for my brother doing insulation...crawling under houses pushing rolls of fiberglass between floor joists.  I remember walking around coughing up Owens-Corning pink, 'cuz we were way too cool to wear dust masks...   

Anyway, after a couple of months, the vo-tech counselor called up and said, "We had a last-minute drop-out, can you start class Monday?"  He got a resounding, "YES!!!"

...and things were ALL good from there...! 

It was all good luck and guardian angel stuff....

It just doesn't get any better than this!     

Major dittos!

[HousePuke]

Let's see.  1984, unemployed, married with one child in Pittsburgh when the steel industry was going downhill fast.  Things looked pretty bleak.
Had a relative working at Bettis Lab and helped me get in the door as a laborer / deconner.  Short time later they gave an aptitude test for a tech training class.  Passed the test, took the classes, past the final test and oral board then bingo..."you are now article 108 qualified and a tech".
Went from the pristine environs of Bettis to IP-2 for my first taste of commercial nuke.  What an eye opener!
Since then, commercial, DOE, decommissioning, various licensee's in the public domain, and now back into commercial for the final push to retirement.
I've got to give props to SloGlo, he taught me quite a bit at Bettis all those years ago and still a good friend to this day. 

[Khak-Hater]

Where I grew up, a man was expected to serve his country; to earn his citizenship, more or less.  Being 3rd generation Navy enlisted, I was kind of expected to serve in the Navy, not that I would've been disowned if I hadn't.  It was just part of the value system.

I went to the recruiter.  He asked what I wanted to do.  I said "Serve in the Navy, preferably on a ship at sea."  He said that I had to pick something (i.e., seaman, fireman, airman, or constructionman").  Compared to most of the farmboys that I grew up with, I was always weak mechanically.  I could fix stuff, just not as well as most [no real tinker instinct].  So, going with the old "work on your weak points" premise, I asked to be a fireman recruit and signed up as such.  About a month later, he called up and asked "How'd you like to be a nuke?"  I said "Whatever you need man."  That was that.

mgm

[RDTroja]

After abbreviated college career (lots of fun!) worked for a construction company doing everything from picking up pieces of broken sidewalk to driving a backhoe to cutting down trees. Went to look for something better and interviewed with W.R. Grace Chemicals and Hittman Nuclear & Development (father of my boss' girlfriend got me the interview) on the same day. Both of them offered me a job, Hittman offered about $10 a month more and sounded more interesting. Started as an Engineering Aide (1974) and got meter qualified so I could drive their truck to collect low level waste from local hospitals and labs (Washington D.C. had lots like the National Institutes of Health.) Hittman hired an HP right out of the navy (Lt. Cmdr. Armand Nice) who (being an officer) was not used to doing his own surveys, so he wanted a technician working for him. They asked me if I wanted to be an HP Tech and I said "What's that?" and they said "Good. You work for him, now." Left the company, got hired by NUS to go to Turkey Point working on the spent fuel pool, met Ray Brooks from Rad Services... instant senior tech. I describe it as like walking down the street and falling into an open manhole.

35 years, 42 nuclear plants, contractor mostly, house a little (never as a tech,) HP instructor, ALARA Engineer, Rad Engineer, Records Manager, Computer programmer, recruiter, site coordinator, diving coordinator, ad infinitum. Lovin' every minute of it, made for a very interesting life, met lots of very interesting people, saw lots of unique things. Watched the industry grow from the 'Wild West' period to today. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[DDMurray]

1984.  After two years of half-assing it in college, I spent a year trying to find other technical training or schooling to no avail.  My uncle was a retired EMCS(SS), former recruiter who showed me bunches of literature on the different rates.  He recommended being a radioman on a submarine for the training, security clearance and high visibility job.  I walked into the Navy recruiter's office in Bemidji, MN and said, "I want to be a radioman on submarines."  The recruiter said, "Whoa big fella, not just anybody can be a radioman.  Let me give you this test that will tell us what jobs would best suit you."  Shortly after the test, he asked what I knew about nuclear power.  Told him not interested.  So I signed up to be a radioman on submarines.  My fiance was in KY at the time.  When she heard about my new plan for us, she said no thanks.  I went back to KY to try to change her mind, but she'd had enough of long-distance romance.  I went to the Florence, KY recruiter and said I signed up in Bemidji, but I need to join from here.  He said that's nice until he saw my ASVAB score. He introduced me to this Nuke MMC who told me all about the advantages of being a nuke.  Again I said no thanks.

I got my date for boot camp and was waiting for my final in processing at MEPS when out of the blue, my fiance wanted to get back together.  I went to MEPS and just before I was to sign the final papers this guy says I should take this NFQT just to see if I would be eligible for nuke.  I took the NFQT.  The guy said I should really consider nuke because I'd get more training than a RM, get more pay faster, and delay going to sea by about a year.  And "Because you did so well on the ASVAB and NFQT you would likely get your first choice of ET which had much of the same training as RM plus all the nuke stuff."  So I signed the papers and went active a month later.  There were five nukes in my boot camp company.  I had the highest test scores.  When they announced the A schools, I was the only one that didn't get my first choice. 

I wanted to finish my degree on the navy's dime and I needed the money so I reenlisted after I made E-5 the old-fashioned way (off the exam while at NPTU).  I did my time, went to NNPS where I finished my degree.  Somehow I made CPO so I reenlisted again.  I was going to get out at my 12 year point (even had a job lined up at Intel).  I decided to stick it out until retirement (accepting I would never make E-8, a very hard pill for me to swallow because of some of the ass-clowns who I knew that made it over me).  I somehow scored orders to the Jimmy Carter during my second tour at NNPS.  While on the 23 boat I made E-8 (eighth time was the charm) and E-9 the first time up.  Took a squadron job.  Connected with my old ENG via nukeworker and got an interview at Watts Bar where I'm waiting to start SRO class June 1st.  That girl and I have been married for 25 years come October.

Derek

[nukewood]

AF Academy,Air Guard pilot, early out ; started rare lumber business 1975,lots of fun ,great stories ,bankrupt by 1980(Jimmy Carter was president and business interest rates jumped to 23%).Owing $250,000 I cried out to J.C. How to pay these lumber debts and salvage my reputation? Within one week I was offered a job as Deconner at Yankee Rowe.Who are these people reading books behind the door? I want their job. Made Sr.Tech in six months : witin five years and 20+ power plants I had paid off the bankruptcy completely with a rare lumber business restored. PTL! Today my sons and I have a hardwood flooring business with Dad hitting the nuke circuit when the economy lags - like now!

[Marlin]

AF Academy,Air Guard pilot, early out ; started rare lumber business 1975,lots of fun ,great stories ,bankrupt by 1980(Jimmy Carter was president and business interest rates jumped to 23%).Owing $250,000 I cried out to J.C. How to pay these lumber debts and salvage my reputation? Within one week I was offered a job as Deconner at Yankee Rowe.Who are these people reading books behind the door? I want their job. Made Sr.Tech in six months : witin five years and 20+ power plants I had paid off the bankruptcy completely with a rare lumber business restored. PTL! Today my sons and I have a hardwood flooring business with Dad hitting the nuke circuit when the economy lags - like now!

   I am still using the cutting boards I bought from you at Pilgram in "84". I wish I could remember all of the woods you used in them, the boards still look good and are holding up well. I am sure the floors you and your sons are laying are of the same quality. Equipment in heavy use is considered an antique at twenty five years, I guess that makes the cutting boards you and I antiques. 

[NukeLDO]

1987...had been trying my hand at college but found that having a BAC higher than GPA was not a formula for success.  Quit and started a series of dead-end jobs which lead to the recruiters offices in Seneca, SC.  Visited them all, took the ASVAB and NFQT, still undecided.  Popped in to talk to Navy recruiter one day on the way by and found myself standing in the Marine's office....went something like this:

Me:  Have you seen the Navy recruiter?  There's nobody in the office.
Him:  No, and why do you want to talk to the Navy anyway son?  What are they offering you?
Me:  Well, nuclear field, and I'm hoping to be an Electronics Technician.  They'll put me in as an E-3 and guarantee E-4 after A school.
Him:  You got some college, how much?
Me:  62 credits, but you don't want to know my GPA.
Him:  I can put you in today as an E-4!  Start earning the big bucks right away!  And you're interested in high tech electronics?
Me:  Well, yeah.
Him:  Well, we got high tech electronics too boy.  See that light switch on the wall?
Me:  Yes.
Him:  Turn it off.
Me:  OK.  (turn off switch and lights go out!)
Him:  OK, now turn it back on.
Me:  OK.  (turn on switch and lights miraculously come back on!)
Him:  Son, that's high tech electronics!
Me:  Uhh, thanks, see ya later!

Found the Navy recruiter and signed up that day!  Couldn't picture myself with a light switch and an M-16.  Boot camp, A-school, NPS in Orlando, NPTU at S1C in CT.  Definitely a 6 and out kind of guy, but somehow, I managed to make CPO, wrangle an officers commission, and have been doing it for 22+ years now.  Good memories, bad memories, good people, great people, and few a$$holes along the way.  The Navy has been very, very good to me!

[Already Gone]

I looked at my prospects and discovered that they were dim.  I didn't want to haul furniture through narrow doors and up stairs for my Dad's business.  I didn't want to work in a steel mill that was going bankrupt. My only shot at college was ROTC.
I got almost through the NROTC process, but my eyesight and the condition of my dental health put me in need of waivers. My grades were slipping due to lack of motivation on my part.  So, I took Plan B - I enlisted with the intention of becoming a Gunner's Mate.  They stuck this NFQT test in front of me at MEPS.  After that, my recruiter needed to have a talk with me.  He sold me on this nuclear power thing.
I wanted and aircraft carrier or a cruiser.  The guys at NPTU Ballston Spa convinced me that I wanted to get on a boomer in Bremerton.  Ended up on a fast attack in Norfolk.
Didn't get my commission.  Didn't get to fire the big guns.  Didn't get my big ship. Didn't get my boomer.  Didn't get Bremerton (wanted to live in Pacific NW since I was a kid).
Wouldn't change a thing.
The real world nuke experience started at IP2 in 1987.

I still have the cutting board that I bought from nukewood seven years ago.

[xobxdoc]

Now that was a fun outage. 4 1/2 months with John Goss. Never a dull moment!

[Longhornfan]

Unmotivated for anything but girls and football at a small town HS in New Mexico, living with my grandparents who had been away from school for so long they had no idea what opportunities were out there or how to find them.  One day a friend is walking by me away from the classroom we are both supposed to be headed to...I say "where are you going?"...he says "to take the ASVAB".  "What is that?" says I...he says its a military entrance exam to see if you qualify for any of the services.  After I learned that it required no commitment on my part and provided a free pass out of class for the day...I was in!  A few weeks later I get a call from the Navy Recruiter wanting to talk to me about my future.  I look into some things and go in to his office convinced that I am interested in finding out about the Construction Electrician rate since I have been working on weekends and summers for my uncle building houses since I was 13.  He sits me down in front of the Beta machine (it is 1979 after all) and shows me a film called "Underway on Nuclear Power"...it has Capt Kirk in it...I am sooo sold!

Bootcamp a month after graduation day, and NNPS Orlando in class 8105, EM.  Staff pickup at S8G prototype, then plankowner on Alabama and Tennessee with a quick break for C-7 school in between.  An instructor tour at NNPS Orlando with Derek where I finally make Chief (at the 12 year point) then on to Fast Attack life in Norfolk on the Newport News where I made Senior first time up...retired in 2001 right before the towers fell...bounced around the Maintenance Manager circuit for a few years and landed back in the New Mexico area doing electrical work and PLC programming for the Oil and Gas industry...it has been an adventure for sure...and I wouldn't change a thing.

[Smart People]

Summer before senior year, walked into Navy recruiter office to check it out. Recruiter gave me a mini pre test and 30min to complete it. ten minutes later i came out with a finished test. He told me to go back in and recheck my answers. i told him i already did. when he put the answer key to the test his mouth dropped. "He Aced it!" he yelled, another recruiter yelled "Nuke!" next thing I know I'm in the delayed entry nuke program. All uphill from here, Bootcamp? gotit, A school? Made it!, Power school? hmmm... not so much. busted in rank and released from the nuke program. a few months later, honorably released from the Navy for being a little overweight. (those who know me now, laughing is ok). ITT Tech for electronics, moved back to NC down the road from Brunswick where i started deconning. the rest is long history. Now working as a Rad Engineer and Shipper.

[JustinHEMI05]

Summer 97, graduated college with a BS (aka Bull S**t) in physics. Aug 97, still couldn't find a job started selling cars. Summer 98, tired of selling cars but couldn't find a job. Went to brother's Navy bootcamp graduation. Asked brother;

Me: "Why do those guys have three red stripes but you have two green stripes?"
Him: "Oh they are nukes."
Me: "What is a nuke? Like nuclear weapons?"
Him: "No, I think nuke reactors and s**t."
Me: LIGHTBULB

Upon returning home, called Navy recruiter and asked what a "nuke" was. Shipped out shortly after that.

A school in Orlando 98, NPS in Charleston 99, NPTU student 99-00, ELT school 00 . Fast attack out of Groton 00-04. NPTU instructor 04-07. Palo Verde instructor in training 07- end 07. Peach Bottom SRO in training 08-present.

Justin

[Chimera]

Graduated HS in 1966 and went to work for the Highway Department.  Since I had some breathing space until I turned 18 and the Draft came for me, I figured I'd join the Air Force and learn all about electronics like my father did.  He showed me his Air Force electronic manuals and pointed out that they were written by some officer in the Navy.  So I went to see the Navy Recruiter.  I passed all the tests with flying colors.  He brought up the Nuclear Program and was honest enough to admit he knew almost nothing about it.  Since I had to go for 6 years active duty just for the electronics school, adding nuclear school didn't seem like such a big deal.

Years later, when I got out of the Navy (1974), I needed a job to tide me over until my new job started.  I ended up at Maine Yankee with ANEFCO as an HP Tech (whatever that was).  Skip forward a few more years and that wonderful ground-floor opportunity job had faded and I needed work again.  I called Chuck Pierce and started with Numanco.  With a few digressions here and there, I've been doing this ever since.

Seems that every time I land that wonderful job, I end up back in the nuclear field after that "wonderful" job fades into the sunset. 

[RADBASTARD]

Well with me i had a dream to be a carrier pilot ,that didn't happen.
Well I took the asvab's a had a good score.The recruiter asked me if i was interested in nuclear power or advanced electronic's.
Then he asked me if i wanted surface or subs?
I said I either wanted carriers or a battleship,if I didn't go into the nuke program.Reagen had just brought them back into action.
I said no way did I want subs. The recruiter said to my surprise, yeah me neither being stuck in a tube with a bunch of homo's that's not for me he said.
I thought man nice sales pitch dude,I laughed.

Well when i went for my physical the dumb ass doctor declined me from joining because of an operation i had on my head when i was  4 months old and he was afraid i would have a seizure.
Even though i had never had one in my life.I was so upset becaus e my dream was shot.

Well I went to college 1 year in tulsa ,ok. Then when i came home that spring and left college because my room mates were drug addicts, I got my dream job at PLAYBOY CASINO in A.C. working in the show room seating people and 25 bunnies in the showroom and another 400 on the gaming floors.
I was all set to return to college at the U OF DELAWARE in the fall.
Well i had taken a test at one of the nuke plants and passed.They called me and offered me a house job making $6.34 hr. Well I thought i was rich knocking down $254 a week.They offered me to work in maint.,chem,i &c or this thing call RP. I said is RP. They said it's a great place to work,so i put in for I &C and RP i got selected for rp and now one of the guys who started with me is rpm at that plant.
Then i did the house thing for about 7 yrs and been teching for about 28yrs.

You keep saying oohhh im going to get out and get a real job,but like so many who do leave almost as many come running back.
It's like poohgie from the [movie new jack city] that crack it keeps on calling me back. You get out for awhile but that rock  aka: the money  keeps calling you back.
Even though the money should be better.