Hello,
I'm pretty new to nukeworker, but I've been browsing the forums quite a bit, and have been able to find a lot of useful information on here. However, there's one question that I've had for a long time for which I've never been able to get a good answer, even on here.
I just recently finished the pipeline and got to my first ship, and all through the pipeline, and on here, I hear so much about Navy nukes being able to just run through their 6 years, and have awesome job opportunities waiting for them on the outside, a lot of times even 6 figures. But I've noticed that it's always the ET's and MM's/ELT's who are getting these opportunities. I've also noticed that EM retention is significantly higher than all other rates, and subsequently, our SRB's are significantly lower. It wasn't clear to me just how many EM's are staying in until recently. I put in for SPU, but was declined by NR (despite being top of my class in NFAS, NPS, and NPTU, and bearing recommendations from my plant) simply because there "wasn't a need for EM SPU's". When I got to the ship, all I heard was, "Another electrician? Are you kidding me? We don't need electricians!" So I'm really starting to see the overcrowding of nuke EM's. Heck, in prototype, my E-Div was as big, if not bigger than M-Div!
Anyway, my question is, does anyone know why EM retention is so high? I've heard a lot of explanations, but mostly from other students who really don't know what they're talking about. Some people say it's because there's nothing for us on the outside. Some people say it's because our job on the ship is awesome. I've heard stories about E-div beating the flag (muster at 0730 and go home before the flag goes up at 0800). Is it true that those awesome outside jobs aren't available to electricians? And if so, is there anything that can be done to open those doors? Does qualifying EWS/PPWS and making Chief basically level the playing field?
I really like the Navy so far, especially since I was blessed with the opportunity to make it into the NNPP, and I don't intend on getting out until after I've qualified PPWS and made Chief. And making a career out of it and retiring is still a definite possibility. I just hope that by choosing my rate, I haven't screwed myself out of the opportunities that my ET/MM/ELT counterparts are getting whenever the time comes to move on.