What is life like in the nuke program. NOT SCHOOL WISE

[usmco621]

Good afternoon, I am currently a marine radio operator and I switching over to the navy due to the cutbacks and the fact that the marine corps has nothing to offer unfortunately. Now my question  is what is life in the nuke program as in active duty. How does off shore and on shore work? I heard it's one off one on? How long are deployments? How often are they? I am also married with a son. Can I bring my wife to school to live with me? I understand how difficult ultimate school I'll be but I am already in school so me and wife are used to it. Also will my credits from the nuke program be transferable to any college as long as the degree matches?

Thanks in advance this is highly appreciated as I have learned that recruiters lie and don't tell 100% of what your getting into as I'm already a marine.

[Rerun]

Remember this an 18 year old with a C Average in algebra can get in and only has to get a 63.5 to pass an exam. Difficult it is not .

[RFaunt]

I don't have anything to chime in with concerning Navy Nuke life. But as a fellow Marine who changed gears, I wanted to wish you the best going forward. I hope you find lasting success in your transition.

Semper Fi

[MMM]

Good afternoon, I am currently a marine radio operator and I switching over to the navy due to the cutbacks and the fact that the marine corps has nothing to offer unfortunately. Now my question  is what is life in the nuke program as in active duty. How does off shore and on shore work? I heard it's one off one on? How long are deployments? How often are they? I am also married with a son. Can I bring my wife to school to live with me? I understand how difficult ultimate school I'll be but I am already in school so me and wife are used to it. Also will my credits from the nuke program be transferable to any college as long as the degree matches?

Thanks in advance this is highly appreciated as I have learned that recruiters lie and don't tell 100% of what your getting into as I'm already a marine.

Well, to start off with, there's the 2 years of training you have to go through to get to be a nuke. Hopefully the reason you don't want to know about that is because you've looked over the info that's already been posted. Yes, you will be able to get an apartment or live in base housing with your wife.

When you get to the fleet, it's 5 years of sea duty (1-2 years can be waived for certain shore billets), followed by 3-3.5 years of shore duty, rinse, lather, repeat. As a nuke, there are only a handful of duty stations available to you. If you end up surface: Norfolk, VA; Bremerton/Everett, WA; San Diego, CA; and Japan. If you end up on a sub you can also go to Hawai'i; Guam; Groton, CT; and King's Bay, GA. For shore duty, you're looking at Charleston and Saratoga Springs if you want to advance, if not you can also go to a handful of IMFs, if there are billets, or you can try to be a recruiter.

Most ships have a 18-24 month cycle, so 6 months in the shipyard, 6-9 months of work ups (underways of 2 weeks to 2 months), then a 6-8 month deployment, then back into the yards to fix the ship up. Also, when you're in port, it's pretty much a mini-availability, so expect a lot of work. Budget cuts mean we don't like paying civilians to do things sailors can do.

How your credits transfer depends on the school and the degree. If you go with Exelsior or Thomas Edison, expect about 70 credits (assuming you're earning the nuclear engineering technology degrees), ODU was about 40, I think, most other schools, you're looking at 15, if you're lucky.

P.S. Recruiters don't actually "lie," they just don't volunteer extra information, or, in the case of the nuke program, they don't really know anything about it. If they do actually lie, they can get into a lot of trouble (although you have to catch them and prove it).