Nuclear Reactor Engineer- Tell me about it

[JeremyC]

Hi everyone,
   My name is Jeremy and am a senior in chemical engineering with a GPA of 3.76.  I went to the career fair the other day and spoke to one of the recruiters.  He told me a lot about the program and said that I could be recruited as an NRE and that I would go to Washington DC and to Pennsylvania.  I am married but don't have any children yet.
   So I have been going through this forum for about a day but have not found a lot of info about Nuclear Reactor Engineers, but mostly the line workers (people on the sub) and some about the instructors.  I really need to talk to someone that has been an NRE or is in the program now. Here are some of my questions:
   

• Will I ever get deployed?  The recruiter says no but I want to know for sure.  When I say deployed I don't mean a week trip, I mean gone for months.
• What is the calendar for an NRE.  How long in Washington and Pennsylvania? 
• What do I acutally do.  I've heard some people say that I'm like Internal Affairs for the police.  I thought thought that I was going to be an engineer and design or do reliability for systems? 
• What are promotion like?  Is it harder to get promoted as an NRE than a line officer?
• What is OIS.  Is that the boot camp I'm going to? Or am I going to OCS? What are they like?
• Just any information about your experience as an NRE would really help as I make this decision

I sincerely appreciate your help.  Thanks everyone.  Any information you can give me will really help.

[GLW]

If you did not already read here:

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,34298.0.html

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,34297.0.html

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,33040.0.html

and then research the posts of the user referenced below, perhaps the best compilation of NR Engineer related posts on the forum:

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=26213;sa=showPosts

read through his posts (starting at the beginning, not the end) and you will know which threads to read, and which users to PM for further discussion,...

OBTW, good luck,...

[HeavyD]

I can't speak about NRE, but I can offer some first hand perspective to some other points.

Promotions for officers are almost guaranteed through LT.  2 years as an Ensign -> LT Junior Grade.  2 years as a LTjg
-> LT.  After that, there are "typical" gates, but someone who was an officer in their previous life would be better off answering that part.  All of this provided you don't do anything stupid like get in some trouble with the law (DUI was the biggest culprit) or sleep with the help (i.e. Officer and Enlisted personal relationships are a no-no).

OIS is Officer Indoctrination School.  That's where the Navy sends doctors, lawyers, nurses and other "professionals" they bring into the officer corps.  It is NOTHING like boot camp or even OCS.  The Navy realized that those types of folks don't appreciate being yelled at by Marine drill instructors too much    You learn the basics of the Navy structure, uniforms, regulations, terminology, rights & responsibilities, etc.  As to whether you would go to OIS or OCS, GC (or resident expert in this area) would be able to answer that.

And lastly, follow GLW's advice.  These forums are LOADED with valuable information waiting to be discovered.  All you must do is put forth the effort to find it.

Best of luck to ya!

[Gamecock]

If only there was someone who perused these boards who was familiar with this topic.

[GLW]

If only there was someone who perused these boards who was familiar with this topic.

hey now!!, they have to do a little work on their own dontcha think?!?!

read through his posts (starting at the beginning, not the end) and you will know which threads to read, and which users to PM for further discussion,...

[Gamecock]

hey now!!, they have to do a little work on their own dontcha think?!?!

Yes, yes I do.

[HydroDave63]

If only there was someone who perused these boards who was familiar with this topic.

[klj3827]

Check out the links posted above, and if you still have questions, send me a PM.