The day finally has come.

[Fadge]

A little background on myself. I joined this forum around three years ago when I first heard about the program. Since that point I learned a lot about the program from everyone, and eventually joined in April of 2011. Went to boot camp and made it out alright. I actually enjoyed it for the most part. Went down to NNPTC for ET a-school and power school. I wasn't the best, but a 2.85 in both schools got me through. I left for NPTU Ballston Spa in September of 2012 and am set to qualify Reactor Operator in the next week or two.

The reason I am posting this is because today I finally actually feel somewhat in the "Navy" so to say. It has been a journey over the past two years in training, not knowing what it is like to feel apart of the global force for good. All I knew was books and red text. But, the light at the end of the tunnel is visible because I finally have received my orders to my ship. The "Gold Eagle", USS Carl Vinson, CVN-70. Stationed in sunny San Diego, Ca.

I am excited to get out to the fleet and actually serve my country. I know I will be a little nub out there, but at least I'm a nub at sea, not a nub in a training command.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions for a nub arriving out to the surface fleet, I would appreciate it.

[HeavyD]

Congratulations and thank for volunteering to serve!

Best of luck

[Operator]

Be Humble.

Have Fun.

Ask Questions before you act.

Be Humble.

[Higgs]

 Congratulations!  Thanks for serving!

 Justin

[Starkist]

Advice? Keep your head down and qualify fast. Lifes MUCH easier for you. If this means staying on the ship late to do so, so be it.


That said, don't expect grandiose feelings of pride to come quite yet. You're literally going to be studying till your eyes bleed, chipping paint, scrubbing parts, doing maintenace on 2 hours of sleep, among other things, and not from a comfy chair you.are used to... the reactor room is quite warm

That said, its all short term crap in the grand scheme of things, you won't be doing crap jobs forever, and the sooner you qualify, the sooner that happens. Its really easy to get discouraged, but keep your head up and look at the big picture.

Good luck, and congrats on making it through the pipeline.

[A Random ETN1]

I'll be straight up honest with how female nukes are. You have some who try to play the female card to get out of work, get others to do their work and are completely a waste of a billet. There are others who tend to "go around". Some are just straight up incompetent and I'm sure they only made it through the pipeline cause they cried or something.

However... at my current command there is a chief who is a nuke female and she is the best chief I've had so far. She is extremely hardworking and one of the better watch supervisors on the ship. There are some other nuke female ETs EMs and MM's who are good at their job to (although we have a high percentage of female nukes on our ship 35-40% of reactor department is female)

So you have some females who are good at their job and some who aren't.

[RDTroja]

I'll be straight up honest with how female nukes are. You have some who try to play the female card to get out of work, get others to do their work and are completely a waste of a billet. There are others who tend to "go around". Some are just straight up incompetent and I'm sure they only made it through the pipeline cause they cried or something.

However... at my current command there is a chief who is a nuke female and she is the best chief I've had so far. She is extremely hardworking and one of the better watch supervisors on the ship. There are some other nuke female ETs EMs and MM's who are good at their job to (although we have a high percentage of female nukes on our ship 35-40% of reactor department is female)

So you have some females who are good at their job and some who aren't.

Sort of like... anywhere else in life. (Men, too.)