Possible to Graduate Early from Prototype?

[-ghst]

Hey all. Currently a Nuke in DEP, waiting to be shipped out. Aug 2017 on contract, hopefully it will be pushed up sooner, but seeing as how OPM got hacked and the clearance delay, I doubt it.


In the mean time, I'm trying to get a grasp of how the Nuke Pipeline is structured.


One question that I'm curious about is if its possible to graduate Prototype early. I was browsing different forums and came across someone that said they were able to graduate two months earlier/before the graduation date.


Is this possible? From what I know at the moment, Prototype is structured around "getting Qualifications/signatures", so if you were diligent enough would one be able to get through the Prototype earlier?


Thanks, and just want to say I'm glad I was able to find this forum

[fiveeleven]

Knowing the new structure is quite different from Class 7902 structure - I still gotta believe that any amount of time you spend on land drinking real milk and eating ham sans the rainbow is the way to go. Good luck and thanks for taking the plunge. Happy Veterans day. MM2 ELT USS NIMITZ CVN-68. 1980-1984 BOHICA.

[Chimera]

I agree with "fiveeleven".  The more time ashore, the better.  In my day (69-03), you could finish the required materials early (we were called hot runners) but we all "graduated" at the same time.  Enjoy your time in and learn all you can.  ETR2(SS) SSBN 634 Gold 1970-1974

[HeavyD]

Going to echo what's been said so far.

As a student in 1993, was the first person in my class qualified.  The entire class "graduated" (no ceremony, just picking up your transfer package and leaving) on the same day.

As an instructor from Nov 1996 to Feb 2000, the same thing applied with 1 exception.  My crew helped get a kid qualified from another crew before he left prototype on orders to ROTC.  We didn't bend any rules, the kid knew his stuff and easily passed his board.

Once you've spent some time haze gray and underway, you'll get a better appreciation for why graduating "early" from prototype isn't really a good deal.

Thank you for volunteering to serve, and a bigger Thank You for all our brothers and sisters out there that have served!

[dea]

In my day(7403) qualifying early got you off 12 hour days. That allowed you to spend 8 hours chipping paint instead of studying.

[-ghst]

Thanks for the replies! So the general consensus is that it is possible, but to do so isn't the best idea...

What do you do during the time you wait for everyone else to graduate? Do you really have to chip paint for 8 hours, instead of the standard 12 hour rotation/study? I'm sure they will give you some extra time to yourself, or maybe I'm just naive about how Big Navy works...

I know I'm getting ahead of myself asking about prototype and graduating early. Just curious.

[hamsamich]

We got put in a watch rotation and also did BS work if it came up in '89.  It was pretty good but lasted for about 5 seconds.  Then went to the boat.

Speaking if shore duty is better - usually yes - but my shipyard period was a living hell (DMP portsmouth NH).  We worked over 100 hours a week with no days off for over a year.  Usually 15 hour days every day.  Quite a carrot hanging in front of you (all the cool things to do on shore but no time to do them).  I enjoyed being at sea with a liberty port or two much better than that....

[GLW]

................, or maybe I'm just naive about how Big Navy works...

it's okay, everybody is,...

show up on time, do what you're told when you're told, and be sure someone accountable says it's ok to go on liberty before you go,...

do all that and you'll be just fine,...

easiest job of my life was the job of being in the USN,...

all that other stuff?!?!?!

well, I gave 'em eight years, 3 months and 3 days and that was it,...

because of all the other stuff,...

but that was a long time ago and things change?!?!?!?

[DDMurray]

You may not necessarily be able to graduate early, but the faster you qualify the better.  Dating myself, but when I qualified in 1985/86 you went from 12 hour days to 8 hour days.  After I qualified I stood watches without a staff person as oversight.  Qualifying early likely makes you a better candidate for staff pickup selection as well.  In general, the faster you qualify at any command in the Navy the better off you will be.  Good luck.

[MMM]

As of 2014, in addition to 8 hour days, we would often let qualified students drop down to 4-6 hour days, unless they started getting into trouble.

[hamsamich]

what?  the Navy just handing out good deals to land lubbers?  wow.

[Arxos]

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to clarify that unless there are special circumstances (ie: your class grad date gets pushed back due to the boat breaking, but you're already qualified), you will not be able to graduate with an earlier class. At the NPTU Charleston anyways, QTs (qualified students) for the most part do either food runs, do some random tasks like cleaning or finding valves for a few hours, then going home. If you qualify early enough, they will usually let you start on 3M quals if you so chose, giving you a small leg up when you show up to the fleet as a nub all over again.