New Nuke with some questions

[cjones2106]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the navy and nukeworker. I joined late november and walked in as a nuke. I'm very excited and am due to ship Oct.11 but I'm trying to get it pushed up to June or July. I just had a few questions about nuke life in the navy and what I was getting myself into. Any help would be nice, I think I have got into something really great. I hope I'm right.
-C.jones

[Marlin]

   You will probably find all the questions you have are answered somewhere in this forum. If you still have a question there are plenty of Navy, ex-Navy and their spouses posting here. If you follow the Navy Nuke thread there are 9 pages of postings by Nukes from the 60's to now.

[taterhead]

Right-

Use the seach feature to research any topic you can think of-

For the rest, we'll be here.

Congrats!

[graydragon67]

Well is it Mr or Miss Jones?  Funny a song just popped into my head...

Anyways, for anyone here to answer your questions, you kinda have to post 'em.  Granted you can search the message board and probably find all of the answers you need for the general questions of your soon to be profession.  Was there anything in specific you were curious about?

[cjones2106]

It's Mr. Jones, sorry if I let you down. Any who, my main question is MM, EM, or ET. I know this question gets asked a ton, and I also know that you don't really get to pick between the three. I'm planing on making a career out of the Navy, and I hope to get into USNA. Is any rate better than the other when it comes to bettering my chances for anvancement/placement into officer programs? Thanks for the help
-Mr. Jones

[Flawed_Human]

Mr. Jones...
     Congrats on joining the Glow Society (nickname we had for nukes).  To answer your question, there really is no difference between the rates if you
are looking to join an officer program.  It's never really based on what you
do but what you have done and how you present yourself.  You have to
apply for the program and then the honcho's there will decide if you are
accepted into it or not.  All you really need to get into the officer program
(the one determining factor from what I remember) is a college degree in any
subject (from astrophysics to underwater basket weaving).  But if you are staying nuke, then you'll need a degree in something relating to that. 

[cjones2106]

Thanks for the advice, I graduate High school this spring and I'm goin straight in after that. When is the best time to apply for the officer program? I really want to go to USNA, do nukes' get any special slots at the academy? What should I do to increase  my chances? Thanks again for the replies!

[graydragon67]

When i went thru the Nukes didn't get any speical slots.  You can apply for it when you are in A-school (be it ET,EM or MM), they'll give you a physical (see how fast you can run, do sit ups and pull ups and the like), then send it on up.  Oh and you'll have an interview with the Captain of A-school, he's to be your sponsor for the application, if he likes you your golden if not, well there's always next year. 

Do not just limit yourself to the USNA, there is that new STA-21 thingy, which we didn't have when I was in.  Surf the net and get all the info you can.  While in school do your best, put in extra hours of study and maybe even help out a struggling classmate, keep your uniforms spotless and a good haircut.  These things will get you noticed as a team player and someone MIGHT put in a good word for you.  Some of the slackers there might harrass you there, due to looking like a suck up but, hey if it gets you those butter bars then it's all good, right?

good luck
dave

[cjones2106]

I don't know too much about the SA-21 program. If someone has some info, that would be great. Looks like it's gonna be a long night of research.

[graydragon67]

Jonesy you need to go to www.sta-21.navy.mil.  Seaman to Admiral-21.  It's got all of the qualifications stated for it and the associated programs.  Apparently they've wrapped all of the officer programs into this one title, ROTC, SAT, NECP, EECP so on and so forth.

[jericho]

If you want to go to the academy, just put in a ton of effort in A-School, and make sure you LET YOUR SLPO KNOW. Almost everyone who applied to get into the Academy when I was in A-School was accepted. (14 out of the 17 that applied from NNPTC last year.) Good luck and have fun!

[bmr176]

I agree with all thats been said so far.  Just like to add MM A-school is shorter.  this means you get your crow earlier maybe get into NNPS a class earlier.  This would give you maybe a month or so head start than if you get ET.  However, if you don't get into the program you will be an MM (not that it is a bad thing).  When I went through in 97 everyone who submitted a package made it.