Is this true of what an EM does?

[PercMastaFTW]

A friend of mine is a nuker as an EM. He said that his job is extremely hard and it was really hard to get through the schools.

He says that he cleans cleans and cleans even more. Is this true? If not, what do you do exactly on post?

[Higgs]

A friend of mine is a nuker as an EM. He said that his job is extremely hard and it was really hard to get through the schools.

He says that he cleans cleans and cleans even more. Is this true? If not, what do you do exactly on post?

The bolded is a bold faced lie.

The second sentence is true.

Justin

[PercMastaFTW]

Interesting... so why would somebody want that job, and what civ jobs would want you just by cleaning?

My friend said the 'best' job was ET. I was reading a bunch of job descriptions and it seems a lot different than what I've been told.

What does an ET do and MM?

[MacGyver]

Interesting... so why would somebody want that job, and what civ jobs would want you just by cleaning?

My friend said the 'best' job was ET. I was reading a bunch of job descriptions and it seems a lot different than what I've been told.

What does an ET do and MM?

Click Below

[PercMastaFTW]

Yeah, I was reading descriptions from across this website already. Thanks though!

[Higgs]

Interesting... so why would somebody want that job, and what civ jobs would want you just by cleaning?

My friend said the 'best' job was ET. I was reading a bunch of job descriptions and it seems a lot different than what I've been told.

What does an ET do and MM?

No one would want that job and no civ job would want you just by cleaning. However, there's lots of restaurants, so going as a cook has excellent civ job potential.

Justin

[bill10249]

It has been a loong time since I was in as an EM-1(SS) and yes you clean the boat but everyone does the navy doesn't have a rate for janitors.  I also was an Engineering Watch Supervisor and a leading first class inchare of electrical repair and operation of all electrical equipment on board.  every thing from light switches to turbine generators.  I am now a RAd Con supervisor getting ready to retire and start consulting agian.

[DSO]

Oh yea the best job is ET as they have a "cleaning waiver" and I very seldomly saw them cleaning. I am a 20 year EM1/SS and am a janitor at Walmart now. I have a cleaning certification called  NERC RC which means I can handle hazardous waste in Restrooms and chicken Coops. Not a bad career as there will always be waste, dirt and trash..
EM1/SS

[HydroDave63]

Oh yea the best job is ET as they have a "cleaning waiver" and I very seldomly saw them cleaning. I am a 20 year EM1/SS and am a janitor at Walmart now. I have a cleaning certification called  NERC RC which means I can handle hazardous waste in Restrooms and chicken Coops. Not a bad career as there will always be waste, dirt and trash..
EM1/SS

Well yeah....EM stands fer "Effluent Management". That's why, when those buzzing tank things in the switchyard stop buzzing and leak oil, they call y'all so you can send the EM's to mop it all up! A buddy of mine whose girlfriend got divorced from a lineman said y'all had a reactor bank in the switchyard, but I didn't see any cooling towers there, so I said it was bunk. Maybe they should send those EM's out there with some Brasso to polish up those insulators!

[MacGyver]

Well yeah....EM stands fer "Effluent Management". That's why, when those buzzing tank things in the switchyard stop buzzing and leak oil, they call y'all so you can send the EM's to mop it all up! A buddy of mine whose girlfriend got divorced from a lineman said y'all had a reactor bank in the switchyard, but I didn't see any cooling towers there, so I said it was bunk. Maybe they should send those EM's out there with some Brasso to polish up those insulators!

[Chimera]

Oh yea the best job is ET as they have a "cleaning waiver" and I very seldomly saw them cleaning. I am a 20 year EM1/SS and am a janitor at Walmart now. I have a cleaning certification called  NERC RC which means I can handle hazardous waste in Restrooms and chicken Coops. Not a bad career as there will always be waste, dirt and trash..
EM1/SS

Dang!  I wish someone would've told my skipper about that waiver.

[PercMastaFTW]

haha Thanks guys! And cleaning waiver? That's pretty nuts haha.

[HockeyFan]

Oh yea the best job is ET as they have a "cleaning waiver" and I very seldomly saw them cleaning.

That's because ET's are already clean and don't get dirty.   Besides, the ET's are too busy filling out the all the long form paperwork and janitorial checklists to actually "perform the cleaning."

[fiveeleven]

It has been a loong time since I was in as an EM-1(SS) and yes you clean the boat but everyone does the navy doesn't have a rate for janitors.  I also was an Engineering Watch Supervisor and a leading first class inchare of electrical repair and operation of all electrical equipment on board.  every thing from light switches to turbine generators.  I am now a RAd Con supervisor getting ready to retire and start consulting agian.

For the good of all, hopefully this consulting will not require too much written correspondence.

[DLGN25]

If my memory is still intact, I do believe more EM's have died or killed themselves in naval nuclear plants then other ratings.  I do remember the EM with all sorts of plastic and metal in his face and upper torso after he tried to "meger" a 2.5 megawatt generator that was on line.

Switch board fireballs also took out a few.

But for the most part, before shutdown watch became a part of their lives, it was the easiest rating in the engine room.  Oh, other the maintenance of switchgear, which was for the most part done in the yards, ET's knew more about electricity and it's distribution then the guys whose primary job was to beat a syncroscope when paralleling generators.  Round and round it went...

All ratings are needed to make the engine room work.

How many have while on board stepped out to see what it takes to make the rest of the mission critical systems work?

[DSO]

ET's knew more about electricity and it's distribution then the guys whose primary job was to beat a syncroscope when paralleling generators. 

Ahhh. NO!! Not in the 20 years I was in Shippy!!

EM1/SS NERC RC

[HeavyD]

As a side note, on a carrier, the Reactor Electricians were only responsible for the equipment within the propulsion plant, plus shore power breakers.

Engineering Electrical Division, on the other hand, owned everything else.  All out of plan load centers (which there were by far more of them than in plant), flight deck lights, every single electrical outlet and cable outside of the plant, electrical side of weapon and aircraft elevators, ventilation fans, troubleshooting electrical galley equipment, etc.

From talking to my firends on the sub side, however, those poor wire biters owned everything on the boat.

Again, just some additional info.

[REllis]

I was on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) as an nuke EM. I was in E-1 division. That's the engineering side. There were 4 maybe 5 E divisions. E-1 division took care of the plant. That means stood watches, performed repair and maintenance of all engine room stuff include the diesel gen., and of course cleaning. As stated before there is no janitor rate in the Navy. Once I was temporarily assigned to E-3 div. That was flight deck lighting. The landing signal lights were a bitch to get aligned right. Then there were emergent things like once standing Load Dispatcher watch in port at night (Carriers don't dock in most ports because of no available 4160V shore power and 450V shore power is a lot of extra cables with low power capabilities.) I got a call from the Captain who said the 7 on the island was out and the 0 was lit and He wanted the 7 on or 0 off NOW. Turns out they were fused separately.

I was also leading petty officer at the MARF prototype when it was still MARF. Their you pretty much did about all the electrical stuff plus gave student checkouts and stood watches with them. You had to watch them pretty close because they could parallel out of phase or open the MG-AC breaker and loss the vital bus while taking the Motor Gen. from speed regulate to voltage regulate or vise- versa and as the staff operator it was your fault. At least at prototype you had students to do most of the cleaning unless it was maintenance related.

By the way on a Carrier the reactor electricians (RE div.) took care of the Reactor side of the plant. On a carrier each plant had a separate reactor side and engine room side unless it was the Enterprise and I don't know how it's 8 plants were laid out.

That's pretty much what I remember although it was over 20 years ago.

[HeavyD]

Now (as in about 18 months ago when I retired), Nukes aren't assigned to E-Div anymore on the NIMITZ carriers. 

Also, there is only a single E-Div, with several wokcenters within it.

And somehow I had forgotten watching those poor guys in fall protection hanging off the side of the island changing the bulbs in the "1" of our "71" (ROOSEVELT) in-port in Dubai.
 

[REllis]

As said my information is 20 years old.  :-[And as far as the island lights, we were nukes, We turned them all off. 

[DLGN25]

What fun a little professional  rivalry can be.  As I said, all were needed to make things work.  Having said that, I do remember an EM who was changing out a light blub in the engine room, when the blub became detached from the socket, rather the going to the power panel and turning off the circuit, in went a sacrificial screwdriver, a bunch of sparks, and the circuit was turned off.  The EM became a fireman when he left the service.

Oh, my last two years in the Navy were on a conventional destroyer in OE division.  The electricians in engineering seemed to not know how to synchronize generators.  Oh so much easier it was to throw a switch.  The voltage spikes and surges raised hell with the radar and communication equipment.  Well, as an E6 nuke ET, I had the opportunity one night to have a conversation with the Chief Engineer (on in port deck watch) about the situation.  After a bit, he understood my concern, and when I offered to go into his realm and teach his electricians how to synchronize generators, he said "If needed".  After that conversation, we never again had a problem.

What was interesting is that other then the boilers, I knew more about the engine room engineering and primary distribution then he.  We became friends, as much as an officer and an enlisted can be.

By the way, on that last cruise, seven Navy Achievement Medals were awarded.  Four went to OE division, and three to engineering.  While I cannot say I had anything to do with this unusual distribution, I cannot ignore that my training and demand for the best of men, in whatever division was not the reason.  (An aside, the conventional navy did not understand, or much like an enlisted questioning technical orders.  Eventually, for awhile, they began to accept it as the norm.)

The Decatur on that 1972 cruise was always the first choice for unusual missions when there was a choice for fleet to make.

I just wish that EM's stood cold iron watches in my day, oh how nice the duty rotation would have been over the perpetual three section we stood.

[GLW]

...... At least at prototype you had students to do most of the cleaning unless it was maintenance related.....

Now that has got to make you smile,...

Only because that little gem was one of the career counselor hawked "benefits" of re-enlisting for prototype duty,...

I was thinking I'm a 28YO, 8 year active, E-6, SSN/SSBN, Chief selectee, qualified to the gills, operating, radconning (ELT), SOB and the best part of staying in is what?!?!?!?

I will not have to field day at prototype,...

Thankfully, I grew up a lot in those eight years of active duty,....

I EAOS'd,....

I would have anyway EAOS'd anyway, but that "no more field day" thing has always stayed with me, how is field day even on the radar screen when talking about the next four years of your life?

Only in the USN,....

[spekkio]

I just wish that EM's stood cold iron watches in my day, oh how nice the duty rotation would have been over the perpetual three section we stood.

It doesn't help as much as you think it does. When you must have a RO qualified ET in every duty section and nuke ETs only have a 6-7 person division, and not all of them are fully qualified, you end up with 3 section duty anyway while the EMs get the good deal.

[walrusrampage]

The life of a surface EM is drastically different than a submariner. Ours are responsible for very little and stand an excellent watch rotation, whereas my friend on a submarine owns everything electrical (including the meat slicer in the galley) and therefore there is never a shortage of things to fix.

Cleaning will always happen up until you are a chief, or an lpo on my ship.

[DLGN25]

I know this thread is a bit old, but I find it "fun" to add to it.  Having served in both the nuclear and non-nuclear, more cleaning was done by E-5's then in the conventional navy because nukes had nothing below E-5 to do the work.  The difference was that in the 'real' navy, we had striker's.  Yes E-3's to do the dirty deeds.  Looking back, it would have been nice to have a few E-3's to polish the brass and copper that was by regulation not be polished, or to cleaned, and to sweep and wash the mats.  (fortunately, somehow berthing compartment cleaning did come for engineering "striker's".

Now as to what ET's do, a little story about McNamara and the diode.

One evening, two or three days out from port, engineering drills were being conducted.  As part of the exercise on Bainbridge, the #1 plant was shutdown with everything running of #2.  Not a big deal, except when the #1 reactor was restarted, it scrammed on start up.

We had an intermediate range neutron  instrumentation failure.  All test equipment indicate no problem with the instrumentation.  Spares where swapped for the defective units, and the same result.  The plant scrammed on startup.  

Needless to say, the officers and enlisted were going crazy trying to figure out what was happening.  

We all knew it was a instrumentation problem, not a reactor problem.  I recall conversation with the Captain about that fact.  The loss of one instrument does not mean there is an underlying reactor issue.

Still, as was correct, he said "Fix it".   Crap, fix what?  The test equipment said it worked well, yet on reactor startup, the instrument gave an erroneous excessive neutron rate of increase reading, and caused a scram.

After 36 hours of trying to find the problem, the Old Man told the Chief Engineer I will not go into port on one reactor, nor will I go in with the aid of tugs.

The pressure mounted.

After a bit of time, several ET's (not the senior), got together to try and figure out what was going on.  In the end, we had to design our own test equipment, a violation of all protocols, to analyze what was going on.

Then we proved that the spare diodes provided under the McNamara regime did not meet the higher standards our intermediate nuclear instrumentation needed.  The unfortunate part of this discovery was that those defective parts had been introduced into our spare equipment.

When we went to supply and asked if the old part numbers were in stock, the answer was yes.  

The Captain was happy, the Chief Engineer was happy, my division officer stopped sweating as did I.

Then came the word from supply that they could not find the part.  Sorry we cannot find the part was the answer the Supply Chief smugly gave me.  Sorry?  Well the Old Man did not like that answer.  

I remember relating the supply's Chief's story to the Captain, the Chief Engineer, and my Division Officer.

Soon, the Supply Department Officer and everyone under him, including that fat Supply Chief were looking for that little pack of diodes.

Once found and installed in the intermediate range instrumentation, all was well.

Number One reactor came back on line, and we entered port.

Time to recover48~ hours, a long time for me and my colleagues.

Sometimes even ET's have a place as of course all others that make the machine work.

Did I tell you the time they lit off the aft diesel generator without permission, a generator which exhausted directly under the gangway to the aft deck?  Yes, they started that beast just as COMCRUSDESPAC boarded.  Not a nice picture to see an admiral and his entourage in their summer whites covered in soot.  The Captain as I remember was torn between laughter and oh s**t.

Life on a nuclear cruiser had it's moments.

Then there were the ELT's who screwed up big time, so much for the 'elite', a story for another time.

The point of this story is that everyone in propulsion is important.  In this case, a few ET's worked out a problem never before encountered, as did other ratings in different times.