Nuke Deppers, Ship Dates, and Stories

[l2aider1]

Well, I just chanced onto this site by pure luck while searching for some information.  I myself and about to ship off to boot camp in 4 weeks and then to A school and NPS.  I can't say that I have any questions at the moment Adidas' and Lisa's threads have pretty much answered all of them.  Other than that this seems like a great site and full of information, I hope I can become a contributing member.

P.S. Hi everyone

[moke]

Thank you for the kind words and we hope that you sound off when necessary and take advantage of the membership contributions here.

Good luck to your endeavor and do the best job possible!

God Bless America!

Moke

[Adidas2806]

just outta curiosity since were pretty much in the same boat, what have you decided about nps and everything(what rating you want to study and if you want to go sub or not) 
also, did you complete that booklet they give you at meps when you enlisted?for everyone else it boosts them up one paygrade, but were already at E-3, so there aint much point in us doing it.
good luck at bootcamp!
sean

[l2aider1]

Well, to tell you the truth I haven't been preparing as much as I should have.  I joined in mid january and the last two months have really flown by.  Right now I've memorized all the ranks ratings/insignias for the navy, the chain of command,  and the 11 General Orders that you are supposed to know for boot camp.  I'm currently practicing rudiments of drill/ceremony.  I've also been following a 3 day split workout schedule for a while now and on my off days I run for 2-3 miles.  As far as the Dep book I really have just browsed through but my general opinion was that I'm already E3 I didn't see much point in doing it.  But maybe I should take another look.

As far as what rating and sub/carrier.  I am personally going to go for ET because thats just the kind of person I am.  I'm more of the book smart type rather than the hands on kind of guy.  As far as nuc/sub I find I get along better with smaller groups of people so I think I will go for subs, the pay bonus isn't that bad either.

Btw I hear you got a 99 on the asvab?  Thats what I got as well, thought I thought I did fairly poorly (go figure).  I'm pretty excited overall about the field but it does seem like its going to be an enormous amount of work.  Big change from high school, I was always the person that breezed through without putting any effort, guess that will be a big change.  So I guess I'll just have to give it my best effort and not be afraid to ask for help.

Also, not sure if you've seen this or not but I've found it very helpful so far.  http://usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly/aa051500a.htm.  Nice to know what your getting into ahead of time.

[Roll Tide]

That rank thing may be quite useful.
I remember one poor sap in my RTC company that identified his chain of command Division Officer as Ensign Edmonds. It was actually ENCS Edmonds, and NO Senior Chief Engineman has ever been pleased to be confused with an Ensign. I didn't know a person could actually do that many pushups........

Remember, you are responsible for knowing all the rank insignias, including Warrant Officer sleeve insignias (not something you will see many times in real life: Warrant Officers in Dress Blues).
Don't forget you have to know the other services ranks as well. Since it's the Navy, you already know the toughest one!

[moodusjack]

I wanted ET, too.  Then I discovered a little thing called, "needs of the Navy".  They made me an MM.  I didn't even put MM on my list of choices.  I think I put BM after EM and IC.

But, I got ELT instead.  That made up for losing the twidgit rating.  I got more than I had originally asked for, and have had many opportunities to progress in the job market.

Good luck with your future!

[Adidas2806]

thats pretty funny, i could have sworn i bombed the asvab. when i sat down at meps after the physical i was aked if i got enough sleep last night, that i didnt do that great on the test. man that was the worst feelign ever! but then he said he was just screwing with me, that i got a 99. i dont think its as rare thoguh as they make it out to be.
     i too have been trying to adjust myself and my routines. ive been making faitful efforts and spending time at the gym 1.5 hrs at least 4 times per week, running 2 miles or longer if im not too fatigued(horrible cardiovascular fitness- cant stand running)
and forcing myself to get up when my alarm goes off instead of sleeping in an extra 45 min or longer as i have been known to do.
      i have yet to memorize any of the general orders or rankings, but i have like 9 moths so i got some time. thanks for the link!
sean

[bigdcruz]

adidas, you've made me laugh.  there's no real point in "practicing" at waking up early.  you're justing wasting 45 minutes of down time.  here's the real deal.  once you're actually on active duty, you'll always have a strong motivator to get you out of the rack.  it's called half times two, reduction in rate and 30 days restriction.  i get up every morning at 0500 when i'm off to the boat.  but come the weekend, i can't get up at 0530 to go fishing.  go figure.  as far as the physical fitness stuff, the nukes never seem to participate.  besides, the standards are far from reasonable.  body fat seems to get most of the guys.  and one more thing, if the navy is going to be a career, your rate really doesn't matter so much.  once i qualified engineering watch supervisor, the job was no different then the next guys.  think about it.  but i will admit, being an m'dvr kind of puts you behind in the reactor theory and safety "stuff".

[l2aider1]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has problems getting up.  I've been practicing as well.  Since you wake up at 6:00 at boot camp now (they changed it apparently) I have been going to bed at like 10 instead of 1 or 2 in the morning, and actually waking up and havin a cup of coffee instead of turnin it off and goin back to sleep.  And yeah they pulled the same stunt to me before they told me my score.  I was pretty relieved.  And to be honest it may be that its rare to get a 99, but that just shows you what little the majority of the people who take the asvab know (the military doesn't exactly attract the best and brightest most of the time).  In fact the guy I sat next to before getting my physical got a 19 (don't ask how you can possibly get a 19, then again he took all of 20 minutes to finish the test, apparently his guessing pattern wasn't as good as he thought.)  And as for the running, I think its all about where you run.  I find that its much harder for me to run 3 miles on a track than it is to run around the parade field on the military base where we live.  Its exactly a mile around so you don't think about the distance so much vses doing 12 laps at the track where I'm like  11 more laps to go, this sucks.

[Flooznie]

Another thing the recruiter probably didn't tell you is try to go to boot camp between the months of December to April.  You get the highest reenlistment bonus for going these months.  I mean, going to boot in December to going to Boot in August is a difference of almost 6 thousand dollars.  I found this out when I went to boot camp in January, then I found out why you get a bigger bonus for these Months.  Great Lakes during the winter time is bitterly cold, I mean, oh my god cold. I asked my recruiter about this and he was like "Oh, yah it is all indoors, blah blah blah". You still are going to be cold, and you will still have to stand outside at attention and shiver.  Seriously if you are worried about boot camp, the only thing you need to really care about is the PT test.  If you don't know ranks, general orders, etc, etc, you'll just get yelled at.  If you fail the PT test, you DO NOT leave boot camp.  So seriously, start running, then when you are done running, run some more.  Then run some more after that. 

Boot camp reveillie is at 0600 now? ROFLMAO!  It was more like 0300 back when I went through.  And they got rid of service week too?  Civilians wash your dishes now?  My worst memory was watching the guys that had to take your tray and scrape it into the trash can.  The tray turn in place was right next to the door of the Galley, and that freezing cold air would continously blast the 2 unfortunate souls tasked with that experience, for all 15 hours of their work day.  They are definitely making it easier, thats for sure.  Remember "The days will drag, but the weeks will fly".....god I hated hearing that crap. 

As for what rate to pick, see my post about being an ET. hehehe

ET1 (SS)

[emintex]

i went through boot a year ago, past january... i showed up in shape, by the third week i was in as bad of shape as everyone else.  it was a waste of time as far as pt and learning, except for that attention to detail stuff.  good luck with the skivy stacks (you'll see)
i am starting prototype in a couple of weeks, and right now, i don't see any distinct advantage or disadvantage to any rate... mm's get done with the pipeline faster, and have elt as an option, et's get all the digital stuff and get to actually operate a critical reactor... i'm an em, and still don't know what we do except bitch (i consider myself an expert). good luck

[Flooznie]

My friend, when you get to the boat you will get a huge dose of reality.  Prepare to work like you have never worked in your life. hehe like you don't even know.

ET1 (SS)

[DickyPitts]

I ship for bootcamp on October 24^th, and i've been a ghost in this forum for about three months. I havent asked any questions, but i've been reading the answers you gave others like me. I appreciate the service. Strangely enough, I havent had to ask any questions, strangely enough, because someone else already had every time i came looking for information. I've learned more about what i'm getting myself into from this board, than i ever got from my recruiter.  I've read posts from both ends of the spectrum, hating the pipeline, and tolerating the pipeline. In spite of the occationally grim picture of NFAS and NPS I'm looking forward to the training, the adventure, and the chance to serve my country. Thank you for your information, your service to America, and your time on this board.

Go Navy

[taterhead]

Enjoy your next 2 weeks of the civilian world, because your life is about to change.

Eat some good meals, spend time with friends and loved ones, and get ready for boot camp.  Show up motivated and ready to learn.  As soon as you walk in the door, accept the fact that you know relatively *nothing* about the new world into which you have stepped.

Oh yeah, have fun.  You will look back on it and remember it as good times.

Good luck and see you in the fleet in about 2 years.

Taylor (MMC)

[Fermi2]

Good luck. Do your best to enjoy it. Remember this, there are going to be times when you're going to think the program isn't worth it. When you get there turn to yourself and realize you got accepted so you must be able to make it through, THEN turn outwards, think of the good people on this board and how it's affected their lives in a good way, and how they fondly look back on an era of their life that defined how they live it today.

You'll do well.

MIke

[RAD DAD]

Just seeing if there are any Deppers in the Nuke program and when you are shipping out.
My son goes in July 2006.

[sarahm86]

I just enlisted about a week ago, I originally wanted corpsman, but after a lot of hard thinking and cajoling from practically half the navy i decided to just try to pursue the nuke program instead.......i dont have my ship date for about another week or two, but im aiming any time around or after april.  Im a twenty year old from tucson. 

[HydroDave63]

And after you all get to bootcamp and beyond, keep in touch with us here at NukeWorker during your adventures!

[Cannon]

ive been enlisted for 2 months now, im currently scheduled for an april 11th ship but im trying to get moved up to february.

[dsv2002]

I ship off on January 30, have been in DEP since August, 21 years old from GA

[Tyler2786]

Just depped in the first week of December but not shipping out till mid September. 

[scharee236]

 I ship out on June 1st, and have been in DEP for about a month.

[THEDUKEOFNUKE06]

Hey everyone my name is Cameron, 21 yr old  from Tampa FL.  I entered the DEP program yesterday (1/12/06). Ship date is Mar 27.   cant wait to get to Charleston

[taterhead]

Charleston will be fun, but first, the Windy City awaits....

Have fun at RTC.

[sarahm86]

what's charleston like??? and question.....being a girl, exactly how outnumbered will i really be w/the nukes???