While in DEP(Delayed Entry Program):
The Navy CASH(College Assistance/Student Headstart) program[1] is a great deal! Unfortunately, many recruiters are unaware of it. If selected, you will be paid basic pay, food and housing allowances to attend school full time for up to 12 months until you ship to boot camp. You will have to provide high school and college transcripts and agree to take at least one calculus course and one calculus-based physics course. I would suggest taking two semesters of each if possible.
[1]
http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/nucfield/college/enlisted_options.htmBased upon the date you report to RTC(boot camp), you will be eligible for an enlistment bonus of:
OCTOBER- NOVEMBER: $10,000
DECEMBER - MAY: $12,000
JUNE - SEPTEMBER: $8,000
You'll get about 1/3 of this when you graduate from NPS(Nuclear Power School) and the rest upon graduation from prototype.
You may also get additional bonuses based on college credit that you received before you get there(but credits earned while in the Navy CASH program don't count, since the Navy was paying you for that time).
You might also want to take CLEP(College Level Examination Program) exams while waiting to go to RTC. These should be free at any military base's career office while you are in DEP. If you test out of basic college requirements such as history, english, and economics, then you will be that much closer to a degree when you get to your first ship.
At boot camp:
Navy boot camp is a joke these days, especially for nuke-selects. Just follow instructions, be in shape when you arrive, and read through the Bluejacket's manual if you wish(from which you can memorize the Sailor's Creed and 7 General orders of a Sentry to get ahead).
At NFAS(Nuke Field A-School):
Enough has already been said. Just remember that the new advancement exams will test both your rating knowledge learned here(i.e. electronics, electrical theory, mechanical theory) and the job knowledge learned at NPS and your ship(nuclear physics and plant operations).
At NPS(Nuclear Power School):
They make sure that almost everyone gets through. These days, those who don't make it get disenrolled for drugs, underage drinking(that's a big one lately), and military/discipline issues. The instructors, advisors, and other students all work together to ensure that if a student wants to succeed, they will graduate(and on time). Out of over 300 students in the last class, less than five were disenrolled for academic reasons(they got reassigned to just about any non-nuke job of their choice in the Navy).
At NPTU(Nuclear Power Training Unit):
Classroom/seminar work for a few weeks, and then you're on your own, searching through manuals for information, and verbally proving your knowledge to the instructors. They don't expect you to have perfect knowledge, just to understand how everything works together. Weeks 8-22 consists of rotating 12-hour shift work. Most people seem to like NPTU much better than NPS or NFAS.
Other items:
OCS(Officer candidate school): Recently, due to the state of the economy, it has been harder to get into OCS due to the increased number of applications. That said, feel free to apply as soon as you get your baccalaureate degree. Additionally, you will need at least two semesters of calculus and two semesters of calculus-based physics if you wish to apply to become a nuclear officer.
STA-21(Seaman-to-Admiral 21): If selected for this program, the Navy will send you to school for up to 3 years, paying you basic pay and food/housing allowances and up to $10,000 tuition per year. You should start to apply early each calander year. Apps are due 1 July, and results come out in October. There is a special program for nukes. If you apply to become a nuke officer while at NFAS, NPS, or NPTU, there are 30? reserved slots available. I believe that last year, about 50% of those who applied were selected.
Laser eye surgery(PRK/LASiK): Don't get this before you get to boot camp. You'll need a medical waiver, and it may disqualify you from some duties. The Navy has a program to perform PRK surgery at no cost, but the waiting list is at least one year, and you cannot even be considered until you reach your first ship. Once you are in the Navy, you can request permission to get surgery at your own expense. PRK is preferred in the Navy. With PRK, a laser burns cells off the surface of your eye, changing the effective shape of the lens. LASiK is done the same way, but a small flap of your eye is peeled back first and replaced afterwards. This speeds recovery time by a few days, but the Navy worries about the possibility of this flap coming loose or causing problems later in your career. They won't even consider LASiK waivers for Pilots, but they now do PRK surgery on Pilots, seals, and submariners all the time.
HTH,
ET3 Vector.
NPTU Charleston