Electrician's life on the Stennis (CVN 74)

[boxman1990]

How is life as a new electrician on cvn 74? I just qualified at prototype and I was wondering how my life will be when I get there around july 6th. Is it hard? How often will I get time off to see my family in the area? Will my time be miserable?

[Higgs]

Will my time be miserable?

Yes.

In all seriousness;

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,6180.0.HTML
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,13419.0.HTML
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,13876.30.HTML
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,14444.0.HTML
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,14064.0.HTML
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,11858.0.HTML
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,3483.0.HTML
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,15606.0.HTML

[Cycoticpenguin]

this is going to become a feeding ground... I feel it .

[bradley535]

  I'm going to give you the same advice that I wish I had listened to when I got to my first Navy vessel; how miserable your life is is more a factor of attitude than circumstance. If you show up to work ready for a bad day, there is a pretty darn good chance that you will get it. You show up with a good attitude and you might still get a bad day, but at least you've got a fighting chance.

  When I showed up to the boat, I was the gung-ho, can-do, ready to face the world sailor. As time went on, and a change of command, the rigors of the boat started to wear on me. My attitude started getting worse and worse until I was hating life every day. Luckily, I had one of those epiphanies and I turned myself around. Sure, my command was still beating the crap out of us, our hours were long, and my every effort was being sneered at; but I decided that I wasn't going to let them drag me down. A few months later we got another new command, as often happens, and things were great. Work/life balance meant something again. Now throughout all three commands there were those with a good attitude and those with a bad one. The only difference between one guy and the next was how happy they wanted to be.

  Is it going to be hard? You bet your backside it is, but anything worthwhile is. You will have trying times when you are doing everything right and still getting yelled at, sleepless nights that end in field-days, times when you screw something up and think that you will never recover from it; and those times suck. But, you will also have homecomings, port visits, stories to tell that only a select few could possibly understand, and you will wake up days recovered. Go with a good attitude and your time will fly, and maybe you'll even want it to not end.

   Good luck and keep us posted.

[Goose]

        At this point on board JCS the electricians have pretty low manning, but there are still a couple senior sailors who still remember a time not so far back when RE division was huge, and life was great. Since then RE is something like half the size it was, and work rotation has of course suffered because of it. A lot pf these guys reenlisted early expecting life to be good, only to be caught off guard by a sudden decrease in manning, and now stuck, and bitter with their situation. So right now, expect to get very negative answers regarding quality of life in RE.
        On a positive note, although still undermanned, they are at the beginning of an upward trend. So you will start off on the bottom, and hopefully it will get better. If nothing else this will change your perspective as to how things are going. as stated before, how your day goes is based entirely on your attitude, if you fall into the trap of constant bitterness and negativity its not going to make your time on JCS any shorter, but instead, make it feel longer.   
        As for having time off to see your family, don't expect much at all for the next year, in fact show up ready to leave for quite some time.
       

[rocco787]

The comments about attitude are very true.  If you go in everyday expecting to get screwed....It will only make you even more bitter.  Just realize that its a job like any other and that the payoff will be worth it in the end.  I definitely would not reenlist unless you are sure you can deal with it for an extra 2+ years.

I was Stennis RE from 2003-2007...and I wish now that I would have just said "Screw it!!!...I'm gonna be happy regardless of how I get treated."

Just remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

[nrrpt1288]

Just remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

It's also good to remember that that light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train.

[rocco787]

It's also good to remember that that light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train.

Hypothetically speaking....you should try to keep off the tracks so you don't get hit by the train...which is usually "a light brown color."