Career Path > Navy:Getting In

Enlisted as a Navy Nuke

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20 Years Gone:
Well,

ETs get paid for what they know

MMs get paid for what they do

And EMs...

Well,   EMs just get paid.   ;)

jowlman:
For the record I am an ex MM/ELT. I will say that alot of what you choose should also depend on if you want to make the navy you're career. If you choose EM you can get out as a journeyman electrician, a very valuable option in the civilian world. If you get chosen for ELT, when you get out there will be many options in the nuclear field, but not many others. If you get ET, when you get out, you will have many options, in today's electronic world, anyone with experience troubleshooting and maintaining electronics can pretty much write their own ticket. Finally as a MM, A lot of companies will want someone with your experience maintaining mechanical systems.

If your looking to make the navy your career, I would look at the jobs with oppurtunities out of nuclear power. With no new nuclear plants under construction, 20 years from now, one can only guess what the chances of employment will be like.

As all of us that have been through the process know, your desires are second to the navy's needs. That said if you don't ask for what you want your chances of getting it are pretty slim, so it doesn't hurt to ask. I hope you get what ever it is that you decide that you want. Good luck in your service to our great country. ;D

damad1:
Really, there is only one way to look at it...what is right for you! Do you have a strong mechanical background...then go MM. You have an interest in electronics...ET. You like wiring, electric motors and such...go EM. Play your strengths.


I'll say one thing, don't think if you go MM that it limits you to only mechanical work on the outside. With what you learn as a Nuke, and by that I mean the cross training in electrical and electronic and power distribution, you are far from being limited to only a mechanical field. For instance, I speak from experience on this. I was a 8 year MM, and I now have a job as a hydro-electric plant operator, who's job has me throwing more breakers than anything else.


I am sure it must be similar with the other rates. Don't get a mental block about it. If you go for ET and get assigned as a MM, do a good job, get out and apply what you have learned. Any rate will open doors for you later!

Everyone will think the rate they trained in is the best, it is just human nature...as obviously MM is the best :)  (Just kidding!)

Already Gone:
Sometimes the question os so simple that a bunch of nukes just can not figure out how to answer it.  If you want to know what rate you will choose, think about which is more interesting to you.  Then pick that one.

Forget about all that crap about what you will do on the outside.  First of all, that's at least six years away.  Second of all, they are almost all wrong. 
If you make it through NPS, it will be because you are dedicated to learning the job.  Once you get out, your opportunities are going to be huge, because you, as a navy nuke, have proven that you can be trained to do anything.
MM's get out to become plant operators, shift supervisors, plant managers or Rad Protection Techs, or some of them own little liquor stores.
EM's get out and do the same things, with the added bonus of being trained electricians.  So, they can pick up a lot of side work on their days off.  I don't know about being Journeyman though.  Most Union locals won't give you your J card until you have worked 3000 hours and passed the training.  It would make sense to accelerate that for navy EM's
ET's get out to be operators, I&C techs. Rad protection techs...etc.
What I'm sayin' is that it all depends on what jobs are available in the places you want to live.  As far as commercial nukes go, it doesn't make a huge difference what your navy rate was.  I know several control room operators who were MM/ELT's and a few Rad Protection techs who were ET's with SRO/ EWS quals.

Don't wory about the haircut.  You're going to sit in the chair and pay the Navy Barber for a buzz job no matter what.  If you get one of those high-n-tight "military" style cuts, or a mohawk, they'll shave you bald, because they want eveybody to have a uniform appearance.  Believe it or not, the "military" style cut is more of a fad than anything else, it is no more military than any other cut except that it conforms to regs.  The problem is that it has a "style" which is a strict no-no in boot camp.

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