Officer in power school... had a few observations and questions.

[Drenaton]

So first off, what do all of the enlisted think of these pretentious officers that get all pissy on the QD? I do my best to respect all the enlisted guys because there will probably be an E-4 telling me I am retarded at prototype, haha. Talking to the mustangs, attitude adjustments will be very swift on the sub so dont sweat some clueless Ensign.

Right now i am loving this command. The way things are learned is brute force but surprisingly effective. I have had to humble myself and realize if it isnt taught this way, then people will slack off because frankly people do not know whats good for them, especially fresh, naive Ensigns. And its fun to compete for top grades with the diggit back stabbing SWO JGs (not that all of them are so motivated).

Only thing I am not enjoying is that my Chief was actually right... OCS students really are the best trained officers, at least when it comes to taking care of the uniform. I should do a better job and not wear the shiny shoes but I at least put some effort into it. I have been really impressed with how seemingly professional and sharp most of the enlisted are. I miss OCS though because my Chief was all about how thing SHOULD be even though he acknowledged how things really are. I know those things are pretty much irrelevant in the nuke community but I like it when people are motivated to look sharp and put out at PT. Makes me want to do the same.

[Drenaton]

As far as questions go,  I had some for the fleeters...

What is quality of life like when i get on the sub? Am I going to be breathing commutator dust and 15% O2 the entire time and be willing to sell my soul for more than 4 hours of sleep? I realize this depends on a lot of things just give me the endpoints of the spectrum.

At what point will I be unable to keep myself on this high? I, no ****, like power school and enjoy learning this stuff. Is it possible to NOT hate prototype?

When do I get to start fraternizing with the enlisted (kidding of course, but seriously. Mustangs keep telling me about high fiving their COs and all kinds of crazy stuff.)

Am I actually going to be useful? I obviously have no idea how it works on a real boat but I know officers dont do any of the work and everything is pretty much standardized... so we are just there to stand OOD and then otherwise just make sure people are following procedure?

[Gamecock]

Am I actually going to be useful? I obviously have no idea how it works on a real boat but I know officers dont do any of the work and everything is pretty much standardized... so we are just there to stand OOD and then otherwise just make sure people are following procedure?

Really   

You should have done some more research before coming in. 

You will do work.

You will do more then just stand OOD.

Cheers,

GC

[HydroDave63]

When do I get to start fraternizing with the enlisted (kidding of course, but seriously. Mustangs keep telling me about high fiving their COs and all kinds of crazy stuff.)

Ever consider they might be feeding you a line of bull? Learn from the example of your Chem E friend who failed out at Proto. I'll bet he wished he had studied harder every minute before and during pipeline, and learned more from the old unfriendly guys rather than had fun fraternizing with the cool guys'   

[DDMurray]

1.  It's really going to be about 19% O2, or better.
2.  NPTU can be tough on officers for a number of reasons, but mostly due to the fact that you are being taught/forced to be responsible, accountable, and knowledgable about things that most guys have no experience with.  You will most likely suck at being an EOOW at first.  My best advice:  Pay attention to the message, not the manner in which is it given.
3.  One of the biggest mistakes a JO can make on is to use the word they (meaning the CO/XO/ENG) instead of we (meaning the command leadership team) when discussing decisions/policies that affect the crew.  If you don't know the "why", then you are just a messenger vice a leader.
    For example,  the Engineer tells you that your division needs to stay late to work on something that is a priority.  You (and the division's Chief) have to break the news to the guys who have been busting their hump for days.  The "messenger" tells the division, "The ENG says you have to stay until this gets done."  The leader says something like, "We need to take a bite out of this shyte sandwich and get this done because it's critical path work." 
4.  Remember that nothing is ever as good as it seems and nothing is ever as bad as it seems.  You are going to have bad days, especially early on.  Do not let inertia influence important decisions.

[Drenaton]

Really   

You should have done some more research before coming in. 

You will do work.

You will do more then just stand OOD.

Cheers,

GC

No, what is the actual nature of the work? How technical is it and how much of it is pure admin? Obviously there is some of both.

[HalfHazzard]

Half of your job will be qualifying; that'll make you "useful" to the wardroom.  I posted all about that here: http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,33498.0.html

As far as being useful to the enlisted guys... Depends on your interpretation.  I found it beneficial for the enlisted when I could,  through a strong technical understanding of the ship, how the guys do maintenance, and a general knowledge of a bunch of maintenance manuals/procedures/requirements, make sure they could safely do the job or manipulate the equipment, and that I could accurately and eloquently brief my bosses (ENG/NAV/WEPS/XO/CO).  Unfortunately, the JO is a bit of a middleman... The choice is are you a knowledgeable middleman or just a middleman.  Both exist out in the fleet.

I'll give an example:  I'm standing duty officer, and A-gang comes to me with a Trim & Drain tag-out.  The MM2 shows me the tag-out, and I tell him that the tag-out won't work, it probably needs to be on a few different components (because that reflected the current system status), and that he should go talk to his chief again about it with some different boundaries... An hour later, he comes back, tag-out ready to go AND safe.  I wasn't just a "yes/no" man, I provided a little bit of direction for him because I had the knowledge and experience (and TRUST I'd built up with the enlisted by being willing to listen, learn, and understand), and had him check with his chief so that the system expert gets his say.

As far as technical vs. admin?  I'll just go with a 50-50...

[Zog]

It sounds like you have the right attitude and are asking the right questions. Power school is all about acedemics, NPTU is about application. There will be some book smart guys that can't hack NPTU, there will be some guys that struggled in power school that excel at prototype. I loved NPTU, went back as an instructor.

You will work on a sub, what it entails depends on your division, the enlisted guys do most of the dirty work but you will get your chance to dive the battery well 

EOOW will be one of your first real quals, your job there is to say "very well" and announce stuff on the MC. They put you there to keep you out of trouble, the other 3 guys in the box are typically bright guys that know how to do everything without your help. We had one that had a big ego and thought he knew more than we did, enevtually the Engineer came back and chewed his butt out, it ended with "Sit here, shut up, and learn from these guys" (He was yelling so loud spit was flying out of his mouth)

IMO your success is all about what sort of leader you are (Or will become), which is relevant for the rest of your life. Later in your career it will determine your command options, and poor leaders don't get very far. By the time you become a dept head you should be the type of leader that all your guys would follow into battle.

[Gamecock]

EOOW will be one of your first real quals, your job there is to say "very well" and announce stuff on the MC. They put you there to keep you out of trouble, the other 3 guys in the box are typically bright guys that know how to do everything without your help.

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!

If you know how to do everything without help, then you are obviously grossly underpaid and underutilized as an enlisted nuke and you should seek employment commensurate with your abilities.

[Zog]

Oh you know what I meant, the manuvering watch team is perfectly capable of running the plant. When our Naviguesser stood his proficiency watches that was obvious. 

[Higgs]

Oh you know what I meant, the manuvering watch team is perfectly capable of running the plant. When our Naviguesser stood his proficiency watches that was obvious.  

LULZ.

I like that..., Naviguesser.

I'm going to have to remember that to make fun of the ex-Nav in my SRO class.

[Marlin]

EOOW will be one of your first real quals, your job there is to say "very well" and announce stuff on the MC. They put you there to keep you out of trouble, the other 3 guys in the box are typically bright guys that know how to do everything without your help. We had one that had a big ego and thought he knew more than we did, enevtually the Engineer came back and chewed his butt out, it ended with "Sit here, shut up, and learn from these guys" (He was yelling so loud spit was flying out of his mouth)

  I think you miss the point of the EOOW or any other person who is in a management position who supervises diverse skills. The EOOW is RESPONSIBLE for the operation of the plant and the enlisted watch standers are part of his resources to do so. I will say that I much preferred to stand watch with a more senior EOOW than a JO but like any of the enlisted watch standers they qualified EOOW as safe and adequate not the resident expert. My startups with JOs seemed long and tedious as many were afraid to make a mistake but when the Engineer was the EOOW he had a tendency to lean out the back door of maneuvering and simply order me to light off the engineering spaces, at which point I relied on the individual watchstanders whom I supervised with regard to their individual capabilities.

  Your yard stick for the EOOW is from the wrong tool box.

[Zog]

  I think you miss the point of the EOOW or any other person who is in a management position who supervises diverse skills. The EOOW is RESPONSIBLE for the operation of the plant and the enlisted watch standers are part of his resources to do so. I will say that I much preferred to stand watch with a more senior EOOW than a JO but like any of the enlisted watch standers they qualified EOOW as safe and adequate not the resident expert. My startups with JOs seemed long and tedious as many were afraid to make a mistake but when the Engineer was the EOOW he had a tendency to lean out the back door of maneuvering and simply order me to light off the engineering spaces, at which point I relied on the individual watchstanders whom I supervised with regard to their individual capabilities.

  Your yard stick for the EOOW is from the wrong tool box.

Agree with all of that, my point was EOOW is an easy place for a JO to start with an experienced and capable manuvering team, no doubt when it comes to an ORSE or a real emergency I want the best EOOW on my team possible. And it is a team, with the EOOW calling the plays, the team and how well they work together is more important than the individuals that complrise that team. A junior EOOW that does not listen to the experience of his team is a disaster waiting to happen.

[Marlin]

A junior EOOW that does not listen to the experience of his team is a disaster waiting to happen.

Leadership is learned somewhere. (before the debate rises again yes leadership can also be innate  )

[Starkist]

Leadership is learned somewhere. (before the debate rises again yes leadership can also be innate  )

Oh god marlin... why?!!?

[Fermi2]

Leadership is learned somewhere. (before the debate rises again yes leadership can also be innate  )

It can only be innate. Not learned.