Hey, thanks guys so much. Getting to understand the process better and learning how to get the best shot for obtaining the rate I want!
Also, do you know exactly what ET's and EM's do that are different? I was under the impression EM's work with larger electrical equipment and work with the flow of electricity, and ET's work more on small electronic equipment and do soldering etc. (of course operating the reactor).
My nuke EM friend told me that he's never seen an ET doing any soldering, and that EM's do that more, if any at all. What's true? Making my view of the two rates pretty similar besides the reactor operation now...
What you say is kind of old knowledge. An ET or two will go to Electronic Technicians Maintenance School (ETMS) to learn to solder components onto circuit boards. But usually you'll just replace the affected card. Think of it as if your video card on your computer blows. You don't try to find the transistor or capacitor that's faulty, you just replace the card. Only time you'll find ETs working on a specific card is when the LSs can't find the part and you really really need to get something working, and that something probably won't be a nuclear system.
Otherwise, yes, basically electricians work on motors, circuit breakers, and electrical appliances. Being racked out to fix s**t like the ice cream machine, the deep fat fryer, or the dryer will be the bane of your existance. Your workcenter maintenance will mostly fall under the 3M manual (non-nuclear), with very little reactor plant maintenance outside of circuit breaker/interlock testing. Most of your maintenance will involve getting your hands dirty with grease, cleaning carbon dust out of motors, etc.
ETs work on the reactor protection systems, which are smaller circuit components. On the older boats, they don't really have a lot of maintenance comparitive to other nukes, and their maintenance is mostly diagnostic in nature -- plug a laptop into the stack, deliver a test voltage, and make sure the numbers that come out are in spec. Very little to get your hands dirty like EMs. On the new VA classes, ETs have a lot more maintenance because the entire electrical distribution system is solid state and belongs to them.
The downside of ET is that SRO is such a senior watch that you will often be port/stbd watches on your duty days and 3-section duty to boot. There are also rules that say that you HAVE to have an ET SRO on duty every day, so if your division of 5 has 3 non-qualified SROs then you get to stand port/stbd duty days, no matter how many electricians out of their division of 10-13 are qualified SRO. Only saving grace is that you have hardly any maintenance, so it's easier for your chief to cut you out early day-after-duty. Meanwhile on the MM side, SRW is such a junior watch that they will frequently be 4-section in-port with 3-4 watchstanders per section.
