Son is a New Navynuke [Merged]

[cave_dog42]

Assembling Objects is AO not AS. Sorry about that

[ex-SSN585]

Does this mean he has no education benefits?

There was something elsewhere in the papers about a $100.00 deduction from pay for education benefits( the Montgomery GI bill) being automatic unless you waive it at RTC. Is this different form the Navy college fund?

What does certified as "HSDG" mean? These acronyms are killing me!

What do squad leaders do? Does being selected as one mean much?

I've read in different places that each boot camp grad gets 3 or 2 guaranteed seats at the graduation ceremony. . Does anyone know which it is? Are there normally extra open seats or not?

tgant

Just to answer things that don't look like they have been answered yet:

On educational benefits:  The standard educational benefit is the GI Bill, and that is what the $100 deduction is for.  As I recall, the deduction is only for one year.

When I was a recruiter, the Navy College Fund was an incentive for people to join the Navy without any program guarantee.

During service, he will also be eligible for the Tuition Assistance program, in which a certain percentage (75% comes to mind) of the tuition cost will be reimbursed upon course completion.  This is independent of the GI Bill benefits, which can be used concurrently.

Your son can get his military experience evaluated for college credit.  With three years of college, I would expect this to be in the range of 24 to 30 units, but in all honesty, they will mean nothing toward a biology or microbiology, but will contribute to a Nuclear Technology degree and possibly a few credits toward an engineering degree (it all depends on the college and their policies in evaluating credit).

HSDG - High School Diploma Graduate

Squad leader (thinking back 25 years):  since your son already knows what he is doing after boot camp, this will mean almost nothing (the top recruit and top squad leader, or RCPO, might get orders preference).  It would mean more practice in leadership.  It would mean more responsibility during boot camp training and perhaps a small advantage.  It might be noted in his service record, but I doubt if it will affect advancement, since things like that won't be looked at until E-7.  Then again, it would make it easier to recognize your son when he is marching in formation in the graduation ceremony.

However, in boot camp, I think the consensus might be that it is best to be anonymous.  Don't be noticed.  Don't get in trouble.  Just be invisible.  Didn't work for me, though.  Short people go in the very back.  The company commanders know who the nuclear designated personnel are.  I think I was one of two in my company and I can almost remember the CC yelling, "Nuke!"

Seats at graduation:  No idea.  I didn't even know about reserved guest seating.  At RTC San Diego, the seating was in bleachers and there was standing room as well.

DISCLAIMER:  The current program is so much different than when I enlisted (also after 3 years of college) or when I was a recruiter, so I might not be correct.  As with some other people posting here, when I joined, there was no such thing as an "enlistment bonus", "loan repayment program", etc.

[cave_dog42]

you have 4 seats reserved for graduation and any left over seats are on a space available basis.

[LHef22]

I just recently joined the Navy after completing three years of college as well.  I can relate very well with what your son has committed to.  This will not be a bad thing for him - I did it because I needed a challenge that I wasn't getting while in college, working and supporting myself.  Here is a link http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjob1/a/nf.htm to a website that may help answer a lot of your questions.  I sent it to my mom as well because frankly, she reacted the same way you are when I told her.

As far as educational benefits, your son will be able to opt for the Loan Repayment Program or GI Bill as others have advised you (and the $100 deduction is only for the first year).  They just recently changed the tuition assistance, however.  If he choses to attend college while enlisted (during his free time), the Navy pays 100% tuition and fees (he will have to pay for books).  They also have several accredited universities from all over the US who work with the Navy to provide online courses. 

Regarding college credits for nuke school, he can earn as many as 77 college credits.

Your son will also get an enlistment bonus for college credit (I currently have 75 credit hours and will receive $6,000).

He will be able to have only 3 guaranteed seats for the graduation ceremony.  They advise to not ask for more on the Great Lakes home page.  I would imagine there would not be extra seats and wthl all the extra security now, I would'nt have more people go with you just in case.  It'll take about an hour to go through security.

[ex-SSN585]

Regarding college credits for nuke school, he can earn as many as 77 college credits.

77 credits?  Absolutely no way.  I promise, I will find my transcripts and report the number of credits I received.  TESC and Regents would be the most generous of anyone giving credit.  I have a TESC evaluation.  It might be a couple of weeks, but I definitely will post a followup.

I will believe you if you can cite an actual credit evaluation.  I will admit that an electronics technician would be awarded more credit than a machinist's mate.

But, particularly for a person with three years of college, "as many as 77" credits is something I would expect a field recruiter to say.

[cave_dog42]

The 77 credits is the American Council on Education recommended credit summary for the ET rating. It is 71 credits for the EM's and 61 for MM's. The actual credits wil be determined by each school. If the credits won't transfer then I believe that you can take the CLEP test and get the credits that waywithout actually taking the course. Old Dominion University will award 42 credits of advanced standing for the nuke training plus whatever you can CLEP out of so you could very well get 77, 71 or 61 credits, depending on the rating.

[ex-SSN585]

OK, I concede the point with the following clarifications:

The ACE recommendation is not necessarily what will be granted.  Since there are people here who have completed a degree program, I am interested in documentation of what an actual degree granting institution has awarded for NNPS.

A person with three years (say 90) credits will likely not be granted all the credits.  (This three years of college benchmark keeps coming up and the post I replied to specifically mentioned the individual had three years of college.)

Colleges will only accept a certain maximum number of units of those credited toward graduation.

I am still looking for my own transcripts and service jacket.

Sorry to offend anyone.  I prefer to deal with real world situations, particularly when the individual circumstances are known.  I don't think I'm a pessimist, but a realist.  Perhaps that is why I wasn't the most successful recruiter, but never had anyone change their mind before swearing in or claim they were lied to.

[taterhead]

As mentioned before, ACe recommends a certain number of hours, and each University decides at its own discretion how many to give.

Mine just filled up a buch of electives and a Physics, I think.

Tuition Assistance is now 100% for a max of 12 cr hrs per year.  I use this in conjunction with the GI Bill to pay -$0- to go to school now (except for books).

[ex-SSN585]

I guess I agree with a recruiter being able to say "as many as 77" college credits if that is what the ACE recommends.  There is no reason for the recruiter to know differently.

Here is one particular case.  It isn't applicable to everyone, and I will include what might be pertinent.

Person being evaluated (me):
E-6, MM1 (15+ years in rate)
NEC 3366
Additional Navy schools:  Diesel engine operator, Periscope photography, Recruiter, Machine tool operator, QA inspector, QA Supervisor
(Yes, I gave up my C school to get a sea billet. Nukes ran the diesel on my first boat.)

College credit entering the Navy:                                      107 SH
Major: chemistry/english/sociology
Transferable credit leaving the Navy:                                 174.7 SH
Possible credits (including MM1 + NPS) leaving the Navy:    253.4* SH
Allowed credits:                                                             221.4 SH

* 2 unspecified units from MM1 were regarded as non-transferrable

 
Thomas A. Edison State College
Program:  B.S.A.S.T.
Enrolled:  04/08/1999

SPEGR214  Fluid dynamics                                 3 SH (semester hours)
SPEGR311  Heat transfer                                    3 SH
SPMAT123  Algebra & trigonometry                      3 SH
SPNUC201  Fundamentals of nuclear engineering   3 SH
SPNUC321  Reactor engineering                          3 SH
SPNUC381  Radiation effects                               3 SH
SPNUC411  Nuclear materials                               2 SH
SPNUC481  Radiation safety                                3 SH
SPPHY311  Nuclear physics                                 3 SH
SPPHY381  Radiation physics                              3 SH

Total                                                              29 SH

With my previous college (somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 SH), I needed no other courses to be awarded an ASAST in Nuclear Engineering Technology.

TESC credited me with 3 units of algebra and trigonometry even though they accepted transfer units up to Calculus III.  Additionally, I had two years of calculus based physics.

Presumably because of my previous college work, I received no credit for military experience or machinist's mate training.  My previous college work included certificates in Hazardous Waste Management and C Programming, which are some of the credits allowed for MM1 service.

San Francisco State University
Fall 2001
BSEE

Transfer credits accepted:

Thomas Edison State College            29.0 SH
Military service                                 6.0 SH
NER                                               0.0 SH

The following credits were evaluated but not accepted because the school accepts a maximum of 70 units in transfer from a two-year institution, and also allows only 30 units Credit by Examination/Evaluation (Advanced Placement Exam excluded) and Military Credit (Basic 6 units excluded)

Basic Marine Engineering               3 SH
Diesel maintenance                       3 SH
Hydraulic/Pneumatic maintenance   3 SH
Mechanical blueprint reading          3 SH
Applied computer technology         3 SH
Pollution control                          4 SH
Refrigeration                                4 SH
Record management                     2 SH
Personnel supervision                    3 SH
Firefighting                                  2 SH
Environmental safety management   2 SH

Total                                          32 SH

Additionally, I received no credit for coursework toward Hazardous Materials Management and C Programming certificates from the University of California, San Diego (eliminating the possibility that the miitary credits were not allowed due to overlap).

CONCLUSIONS:

1)  Sincerest apologies to LHef22.  The 77 credit figure is reasonable considering that I "could have" received 61 SH for MM-1 + NPS.  Thanks to cave_dog42 for providing the current ACE evaluation totals.

2)  Neither TESC nor SFSU gave me credit for MM1 and only SFSU evaluated my MM1 work experience.  TESC did not give me credit for Basic military service, while SFSU did.  This is particularly interesting to me because I would have thought that TESC would be more likely to accept military experience.  SFSU accepted the evaluation for NPS done by TESC without further evaluation.  The conclusion is that two real-world examples show that for a person with significant (3+ years) college work, the full credit allowed by ACE is not guaranteed.

3)  Full ACE credit may be possible, but you must get your schools and military experience evaluated by the school of your choice in order to find out on a case by case basis.  (Do not assume.)

[LHef22]

No need to apologize ex-SSN585!

I know that the figures are a best case scenerio.  I look at it like this -  its a free education and you get paid to go to school, so if a few credits drop here or there, not too big of a deal.  But, I know I would have been very upset if that happened to me when I was going to college and paying for it by myself! 

I have another question though, I am trying to decide if going through the Navy nuke program is for me.  I'm just wondering actually how many women are in the field.  I know that being a woman in the Navy I am a minority in itself, but are there even less women in the nuke program?

[taterhead]

Threre are women in the program, and based on my experience on carriers, I would say that in general, about 5-10% of Reactor Depts were females.

Percentage wise there are less in the Nuc Power field.  Nuc power work is hot, hard, stressful and dirty.  If that suits you, then go for it.  Following typical gender roles, many females opt for different kinds of jobs (operations, combat systems, admin, etc.). 

Of course, there are varying degrees of hot, hard, stressful and dirty work in Reactor, depending on your rate. The E folks get a little less dirty (unless cleaning switchboards) and have some watches (but not all)  in air conditioned spaces.

[johnigma]

There are more women in the program now than probably ever before.  In my NPS class (0402) we had about 10% women.  Admittedly still a minority, but not as much as you might expect.

[RCLCPO]

The current ACE recommended credits for the ET rating can be found here:

https://www.navycollege.navy.mil/roadmaps/et_nuc.html

along with the other ratings at the source site.  Granted, these are RECOMMENDED credits.  The individual school will take whatever credits they will take, just as if you were transferring credits from one school to another.  Is it possible to get credit for everything?  Yes.  Is it possible to credit for none of it?  Also, yes.  It all depends on what school you want to transfer the credits into, what degree program you're pursuing, and, ultimately, what the school will accept.