Nukes at boot camp

[drbyyz]

So I've heard that while at boot camp Nukes get singled out sometimes and get selected to have extra responsibilities such as being Recruit petty officers or whatever those positions are called.  Is there any validity to that?  Did any of you guys on here have any 'nuke related experiences' at boot camp?

[cincinnatinuke]

Yes there is truth to both.  You will get singled out/ridiculed and be relied on to fill certain "head of household" positions.  But so will the big guys (they typically become Master at Arms) and guys of certain heights will get picked to carry the guide on (Flags), etc. 

I got picked to be Medical Yeoman.......that should read sick call B****.  I got to escort sick folks to Medical for everything (since NOONE goes anywhere to do anything without permission and a request chit.  When I mean everything I mean constipation, STD's, mental "anquish", refusal to train (didnt want to do anymore arm circles), blisters, in grown toenails (some of the worst sights I can remember), cant stop pissing the rack, cant stop shi**ing the rack, cant get to sleep, cant wake up, broken bones, and a host of diseases, viruses, and sicknesses that will breed in a compartment full of stinky dirty mostly adolescents.

You will get picked for these things because it is felt you can miss lectures and class while escorting some of America's finest to and from Medical and still make a passing grade.

Funny but true story:

First night we arrive we get the customary "you are the worst bunch of 'cruits I have ever seen" speech.  Well across from me is this Chinese kid who cant speak a lick of English and has one of these pocket translators.  So as the RDC (Drill Instructor) is walking up and down the compartment yelling and swearing, every once in a while you can hear this computer translating english to Chinese......like for example "F***in' shipwreck"  pause......and something in chinese is spit out.  Well the RDC thinks someone is making fun of him and repeating what he says.  Eventually he finds the source of this racket, picks up the tranlator and throws it against the wall.  It breaks. That kid never made it a week.  In fact I escorted him to medical for refusing to train, and he was picked up at the train station outside of RTC/NTC naked because as he made his escape (he tried to run away) somebody mugged him.  Cold, naked, cant communicate, broke......I think his recruiter probably won a NAM for that one...Not!

[Rad Sponge]

Yes there is truth to both.  You will get singled out/ridiculed and be relied on to fill certain "head of household" positions.  But so will the big guys (they typically become Master at Arms) and guys of certain heights will get picked to carry the guide on (Flags), etc. 

I got picked to be Medical Yeoman.......that should read sick call B****.  I got to escort sick folks to Medical for everything (since NOONE goes anywhere to do anything without permission and a request chit.  When I mean everything I mean constipation, STD's, mental "anquish", refusal to train (didnt want to do anymore arm circles), blisters, in grown toenails (some of the worst sights I can remember), cant stop pissing the rack, cant stop shi**ing the rack, cant get to sleep, cant wake up, broken bones, and a host of diseases, viruses, and sicknesses that will breed in a compartment full of stinky dirty mostly adolescents.

You will get picked for these things because it is felt you can miss lectures and class while escorting some of America's finest to and from Medical and still make a passing grade.

Funny but true story:

First night we arrive we get the customary "you are the worst bunch of 'cruits I have ever seen" speech.  Well across from me is this Chinese kid who cant speak a lick of English and has one of these pocket translators.  So as the RDC (Drill Instructor) is walking up and down the compartment yelling and swearing, every once in a while you can hear this computer translating english to Chinese......like for example "F***in' shipwreck"  pause......and something in chinese is spit out.  Well the RDC thinks someone is making fun of him and repeating what he says.  Eventually he finds the source of this racket, picks up the tranlator and throws it against the wall.  It breaks. That kid never made it a week.  In fact I escorted him to medical for refusing to train, and he was picked up at the train station outside of RTC/NTC naked because as he made his escape (he tried to run away) somebody mugged him.  Cold, naked, cant communicate, broke......I think his recruiter probably won a NAM for that one...Not!

HAAAAA HAAAAAAA

karma

[93-383]

best advice try to keep your rate low profile. Having the RDCs know your name for either good or bad reason sucks. The only advantage to having higher division position is during service week you will usualy get better jobs than the rest of the division that goes to work the galley. However I worked the galley and it dosn't suck that bad unless you get recomended for the scullery or deepsink (washing dishes). Usualy these jobs get reserved for the division trouble makers. Avoid most of the jobs I had friends on the ship that said yeoma is a good deal also port or stbd watch section leader helps since you write the watch bill and wont have to sacrifice any of your six hours of sleep for stupid compartment watch. Boot Camp is full of BS just keep your head down and push through it.

[Sirveri]

They don't have service week anymore. Should have the new battlestations building up and running now, or close to it. The Galley is broken up and spread out amongst the barracks (or ships as they call them) now.

I'm still in, went through Apr '04, so fairly recently. Basically I kept my head down and tried not to get noticed, I was successful. They don't pick up everyones file and search out the nukes, well they could, but they didn't for me. My advice, April is a great time to ship, all the high schoolers are still in high school, so it's mainly the more mature older type who are less prone to doing stupid BS. Plus the weather is almost perfect during that time period, it starts out a little bit too cold, and ends a little bit too hot. So you end up marching with black flags when marching counts, and you get to experience walking around boot with a towel wrapped around your face.

Basically, don't ask questions, everything that needs to happen, will happen, just sit back and relax and you'll get pulled thru basic and graduate in no time.

[Cycoticpenguin]

So I've heard that while at boot camp Nukes get singled out sometimes and get selected to have extra responsibilities such as being Recruit petty officers or whatever those positions are called.  Is there any validity to that?  Did any of you guys on here have any 'nuke related experiences' at boot camp?

As I was the last one here to go through I will tell you my experiences -

Basically you get mild teasing for being a nuke. In all honesty, no one could give a rats ass about you being a nuke. You and the 5-8 others in your division will find each other out, and most of you will hold leadership positons. you make it sound like its a bad thing . Being a section leader, I was in charge of almost 20 people everyday, and it was much MUCH better then being an average joe. Not to mention your RDC's will "enjoy your company" more if they "like" you. I got fired 3 times in boot camp and hired 4 times! Its all mind games and literally weeks after you are done you will think back and go "wow that was easy!". The extent of the nuke thing, my buddy had to go running around to the various compartments during a special training phase towards the end of boot camp yelling "Im the prettiest nuke in the world!". :-D Its all fun and games, remember that!

-Graham

[LaFeet]

Heck.  I liked the Flag Corp... got to go to Disney World, Circus World, Sea World... and oh yeah.. be with the girls and eat non navy food during service week.  Go ahead and tease this nuke...

[GordonFreeman747]

That's too bad they don't have service week anymore... When I went through, I was sent to "grounds crew" for service week... Basically just picking up trash, picking weeds, and painting curbs.  The best part though was when the chief in charge of us told us that if any RDC's messed with us, to tell them to call him and he'd take care of it.  And every afternoon we got to raid the soda and candy machines.  Quite fun.