What is an ELT?

[darkmatter]

By all means, Xhelix, be an ELT if you can. I've thought it has been worth it, I was an ELT over 20 years ago and have found it most usefull during my career. Didn't hurt me none anyway (unless you ask my co-workers who think I'm a bit brain damaged)
I've been laughed at cause I'm different, I'm laughing cause they're all the same type of losers.

[hutch]

working in a shipyard that deals with subs i can tell you an ELT is pretty much a RCT without as much training and they know how to do chemistry.  I can tell you it seems like they get the short end while in port for overhaul/repair.  They cant work in GB's w/o training and then all the trainers give them is a 3hr course(we have guys whive been qualed for years and cant work in a GB for crap) so its kind of funny.  But what i will tell you is that most of them are great guys and i love working with them.  Of course there is always exceptions like the guy that got picked up for NR...what a jerk cant wait to see him on the deck plates.  They always need bags, rad rope, and tape,  the meters they use suck, and remember they NEVER EVER eat or drink in the lab, especially while doing primaries .  So, i really enjoy working with them and they can pretty much get whatever you need while on board, so if you go ELT, remember when you get to the shipyard be nice to your RCT buddies, they can get you all sorts of stuff and get you out of alot of trouble.....

[Fermi2]

There are some who say an ELT is a Godlike creature who walks the earth.

Mike

[hamsamich]

I was an ELT for the 91 DMP in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire on my Fast Attack (714)....the Radcon guys were cool at the shipyard, plus some of the girls were nice...It was hell working there, but the shipyard RCTs made it better.  But talk about culture shock, we tag everything with tracking tags and log it in a book, they just tag SOME things and then forged aboud it, sorta like working in commercial.  Took me a while to get used to it, but it is so much easier...

[M1Ark]

There are some who say an ELT is a Godlike creature who walks the earth.

I am one who'll never say that, LOL.  I was a real mechanic and if I could do it over again I wouldn't change a thing.  I understand the ELT bias on this forum and have tried to abstain.  Broadzilla, you weren't selected as an ELT.  On reviewing your post you were a SPU who re-enlisted to get a 'C' school right after your SPU tour. You then went the fleet as an ELT.  The only thing separating you from me is that I was smart enough to not re-enlist after prototype and went to the fleet as a mechanic and enjoyed every minute of it.  ELT's are no better or worse than their counterparts.  There are good ELT's and lousy ones.  Let's not tell these kids that ELT is the bomb... because it's not.  Being an ELT doesn't give you more career options because it does not.

Sorry for ranting on you but tell these kids the straight scoop and that your rating has less to do with your nuclear success as your own drive and initiative.

[Fermi2]

LOL I was being sarcastic. I was a mechanic for my first 4 years in the Navy prior to becoming an ELT. I was a DAMN good mechanic and still am. I didn't reenlist to become an ELT, when I was getting ready to leave prototype I was offered either SPU Duty or ELT. Since I was dating an Idaho Falls girl I decided to be a SPU. Later I did reenlist, I was already a second class, I earned thatg on my own, one of three mechanics that year to get promoted from E4 to E5 based on the test and not because I was a Star Baby. When I got married I viewed the reenlistment bonus as a good thing to allow me to get some stuff for my wife. To be honest I didn't want to be an ELT, I don't view it as a really skilled position, anyone can do chemistry and rad con, it's not that tough. At prototype once we started shift work I qualified ELT in 9 days. Again it wasn't that tough.

On the SSN 687 you were an MM first an ELT second, trust me, when MMCS Dix was the Leading Chief you couldn't be an ELT unless you were a proficient Mechanic First. In fact you couldn't even do your ELT card until you completed at least two MM cards plus SRW.

Overall going to ELT School gave me a better paper background but it didn't really teach me any skills I didn't already have as I was a chemist prior to entering the Navy. And as for taking surveys....

In the end, I broke both my elbows and got out of the Navy just 1 month after my initial EAOS. I kept my reenlistment bonus, got paid the rest of my bonus, got 20K in severance pay, get 275 a month in disability, and I have a well over 6 figure job. None of it had anything to do with being an ELT

Mike

[hamsamich]

""Being an ELT doesn't give you more career options because it does not.""

what does this mean, and, of course you have more career options as an ELT, it opens up opportunity to be an HP, dosimetry, chem tech, work in waste water treatment plants and a bunch of other stuff. and if you want to you can still do the mechanic stuff.  Case in point: I was asked to interview for a job as a nuclear mechanic based on me being a mechanic, even though I wasn't heavy as a mechanic.  I didn't want to be a mechanic, so i didn't bother, but I was recruited.   Maybe they wouldn't of hired me, but I was qualified for the interview by resume only.

[shayne]

There are good ELT's and lousy ones. 

This could be said of all the Nuclear Navy Rates. 

[Rad Sponge]

I agree 1199% with Hamsamich.

The ELT sets you up for everything post-Navy in Nuclear Power except for I an C.

Chemistry: Operations, Waste Treatment, HAZMAT

HP: Operations, Dosimetry, ALARA, Rad Engineeering

Mechanical: Operations, Maintenance, Repair

And move on up into RO/SRO if you wish.

And get a degree...then you will be never w/o a job.


Its up to you to decide how much of a Mechanic you want to be. As I have stated elsewhere, if you plant going past 8, you better get involved with M-Div.

To disagree with those that say ELTs are picked out of groups of guys not good at being Mechanics....BS, because up until I was selected for ELT, I was a class honorman and had stellar Mechanical grades. Some of the best Mechanics I knew were ELTs. Some of the worst Mechanics I knew were Mechanics.

[taterhead]

Well, here is my take...

Being chosen to be an ELT is 33.3% needs of the Navy, 33.3% grades, and 33.4% popularity contest, or at least it was in 1998.

In my class, they only took a few ELTs.  They took even fewer SPUs.  I had high scores, but I do not remember if I put a package in for ELT or SPU, honestly.

As soon as we got to prototype, we got the word to cozy up to the ELT staff guys if we wanted to be ELTs, and get in tight with the real MMs if we wanted to be SPU MMs.  Alot of this unfortunately came down to off duty interaction (not allowed, by the way) and how many smokes/how much dip you could carry with you to dole out in the to staff in the cubes.  I was married, didn't smoke or chew, and was a little too old to kiss ass, so off to the fleet I went.

I don't envy ELTs, nor do I wish to be one.  We need ELTs, just like we need regular mechanics.  Did I get nervous on my first actual Chief Reactor Watch when I came down to find that it was ELT proficiency night, so ELTs were on all mechanical watchstations?  Well, yes, luckily we were steady state steaming .  However, I would have been equally nervous to have to draw a primary sample under the watchful eye of NRRO.

I really don't understand the debate.  Is being an ELT good?  Sure, why turn down more school?  As far as Navy advancement goes, I do not think it is a any advantage to be one or the other.  The CPO exam is no different for ELT/non ELT, and the test is much more mechanically heavy than it is chemistry/radcon heavy.  ELTs who do not bother really learning the mechanical side are at a distinct disadvantage, however.  As JMK said, if someone wants to make Chief, or even LDO, the EWS/PPWS qual is almost "required", and you had better be heavy on the mechanical side of the plant, since that is about 70% of the qual.  Career minded ELTs who do not bother getting out of nucleonics to learn the plants are not making good career decisions.

I will say that ELT shore duty, at least in the shipyard, is a little bit of a raw deal.  ELTs are almost exclusively RCTs, and from what I can tell, that is a pretty crappy job (shift work, uber-controls, high visibility, etc).  This makes off duty college a bit challenging.

There are good ELTs, and there are earthsack ELTs.  The same can be said for almost any category of people in the world.  We tease ELTs on the ship, but part of it is jealousy and the other part is that we aren't quite sure what they do in nucleonics, but we are sure that only 1/2 of it is legal.

Post Navy, I want to teach history in a military school/academy.  To be honest, not much about the technical side of my job will help me then, anyway.

Oh, what was the original question again?

[visserjr]

Taterhead said it all, as with JMK on making MMC. From my limited shore duty experience(1st Shore duty was at my 11 year point) I am a Nuc planner at TRF KB. We write the procedures for nuc valve repairs and resin discharges. The ELTs in the code mostly work as repair mechanics or rcts. I have to say when there is not much work it seems to be ok. However, when we do get a job or two or ten going, those guys are hurtin bad. A good portion were hard chargers at sea, got to be a navy rct and decided it was time to get out. I personally feel that life is 10% of what happens to you, and 90% how you choose to react to it.

John

[M1Ark]

JMK/Hamsamich

If you're a navy nuke... you WILL get a job after the canoe club.  I spent six years in the navy and maximized my time (SPU, E-6 in 4 years w/o re-enlisting). I have spent the last 12 years in civilian nuclear power and I have hired, worked with, worked for, and supervised all of the rates including O-gangers and they are fundamentally equal in my mind. 

As a lowly mechanic I think I could have landed a job in "HP, dosimetry, chem tech, work in waste water treatment plants and a bunch of other stuff."  Although, I don't think I would have wanted a job in a waste water plant.

My only point is that Nuke Depper's scan these forums for what they want to be when they grow up and we have to try not to be biased.  It pains me to say this and will forever be disowned by my fellow snipes... But I'm not sure that EM wouldn't be the way to go for complete job marketability post-navy and not ELT.  There... I said it.

[shayne]

It pains me to say this and will forever be disowned by my fellow snipes... But I'm not sure that EM wouldn't be the way to go for complete job marketability post-navy and not ELT.  There... I said it.

I'll be the first to disown you... (No hard feelings though)  I have had no problems with my Navy Nuclear EM background.  But it could be said that maybe being an EM gives them more of an advantage in other fields, such as automation, PLCs, or during field service jobs on UPS systems, low, medium, and high voltage equipment.

If you're a navy nuke... you WILL get a job after the canoe club.  I spent six years in the navy and maximized my time (SPU, E-6 in 4 years w/o re-enlisting).

Very true, Most Navy Nuclear should have no problems finding a decent job after 6 years.

[hamsamich]

I'm only talking what you are qualified to do without bull$hiting about what types of jobs you "could" land.  I've seen people land all kinds of jobs they were more or less qualified to do, but hey, an ELT did Radcon, chemistry, mechanics, and operated.  Could an EM or MM be an HP, sure, but an ELT was qualified to do it and DID it in the navy, usually.  I think if a hospital was looking at 2 guys to run a dosimitry program and it was between a mechanic and an ELT, the ELT would be more apt to get the job.  I   don't think I understand M1ARK's post about a mechanic being qualified to be a dosimetry guy.  Is this a conversation about the capabilities of a mechanic vs. ELT or are we letting guys who want to be nukes know what they are qualified to do after doing a 6 or 8 year stint?  I think nukes CAN do alot of things, but being a mechanic in the navy does not qualify you to be an HP on the outside, and you will have a much harder row to hoe than an ELT unless you can get RCM school if you want to be an HP.

I just meant an ELT (in general ONLY, not the case for everyone) has more job opportunities then a MECHANIC because he has been an ELT.  That's all, by virtue of his qualification.  But arguably, it seems an ELT does have a small percentage chance of getting more jobs then any other NEC in the NUCLEAR field. 

EO - qualified to be I+C and Operator?
RO - qualified to be I+C and Operator?
MM - qualified to be Mechanic and Operator?
ELT - qualifed to be HP, Chem tech, Operator, Mechanic.

Of course this list is not all encompassing, and many people don't fit the exact prototype.  For instance, EWS, EOOW, some SROs can be instant SROs right out of the NAVY.  But any nuclear rate can be an EWS, so this gives no catagory any "bump up."  EOOW I think is more slanted torwards ROs maybe?  But your average run of the mill nuke, like I was and alot of other guys were, fall into the 4 catagories up there.  ELT opens you up for 4 major jobs at a nuc power plant, while EO, RO, MM seem to give you 2, although RO probably makes it easier to get to the control room in a commercial nuc, while straight MM (no ELT attatch) makes it more likely you will get a nuclear mechanic job vs ELT?  Could I be an I+C tech if I wanted to move over to that job?  Maybe after getting my foot in the door and making some friends.  I'm just talking about types of NUCLEAR jobs here, maybe EMs are the most marketable outside of nuclear, i don't know.  If you want to come out of the navy and be a contractor without much extra training, I think one of the easiest ways is to be an ELT, or get to R-5 and qualify RCM. 

Looking at it with the point of view as being straight out of the Navy with no extras but qualifying your senior watchstation and trying to get a NUCLEAR job based on being an RO, EO, MM or ELT, it seems to me it is obvious the ELT has a small advantage on the number of TYPES of jobs to do without extra training or college.  Let's try to give these guys the straight poop instead of being jealous we didn't get ELT or RO or whatever.  I don't know if that's the motivation here, but some of the posts here belong in the "my rate is better than yours because" or "I can do what you can do so nah nah nah" catagory.

ps, I didn't mention QA, but all nucs could do that one, huh?

[Xhelix]

Well guys, its months later.  Months and months and months.

I'm in Prototype now ... in Milton (for those of you in the know; you know.)

Reading some of the posts I made on this site from years gone by, makes me hate myself for being so stupid!  , I know much better now, questions that were so big to me then are nothing.

Thanks for all the stories, they helped keep me focused through Power School, helped remind me why I wanted mechanic.

Well, I've got some qualifying to ... do?

[M1Ark]

XHelix,

Have you figured out what an ELT is?

MM1

[Xhelix]

Hahaha... It's almost over.

I'm almost there.

Just one more thing left to do.

It's been 33 months since I started this thread, and almost 14 *thousand* views.

I really appreciate the guidance, the stories, and the opinions (the rants too, if I have to).

I'm getting this "Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 90 days... blah blah blah"  but I feel like I really should provide some closure to try to justify the 14 000 clicks made to read what I started.

On Thursday; September 6, 2007 at 0830 I'll be in my Final Oral Board for my ELT qualification.  It's funny really.  Every day I go into work and say to anyone who'll listen "Did I tell you lately just how happy I am to be an ELT?"  After seeing how the mechanics are and what they do, I can't help but know I made the right choice by wanting this.  Now anytime a mechanic student asks me "Is it worth the extra work to be an ELT?" I answer "Do you *really* want to be a mechanic?!"

After more than a year here I'm leaving in 9 days.  Nine days to find some sort of closure with this place, to pack my things, and to leave with the knowledge that I may never see another D1G-alanche.  Then again, I don't have any orders yet (or bonus for that matter!). 

I don't know what else to say, theres so much I want to know about but I have a feeling that I'll be best off just to go experience it myself.

Thanks again guys, sincerely.

--Chris "Xhelix"

(Edit: Typos)

[shovelheadred]

The ELT sets you up for everything post-Navy in Nuclear Power except for I an C.
this was a post from Jason...

...you must be new school brother, because in the late 70's and 80's we had EM/ELT's and I do belive an EM can and did I&C work.....also, most nukes are trainable,well 99% are and there are puhlenty of avenues for getting the required I&C knowledge, while you are at sea......red

[hamsamich]

I was always proud, happy and glad I had made the choice to be an ELT.  I do wish I had embraced the mechanic side of things more.  We had a piece of crap MMC m-div LCPO who was horrible, so I tried to stay as far away from M-Div as I could mainly because of this guy.  This ended up being to my detriment; today, if I had done more of the M-div stuff, I would feel good about applying for some jobs on RoadTechs that I don't feel I am quite qualified for because of my lack of M-divishness.  There are other reasons too I wish I would have done more m-div stuff.  Go help with that reduction gear inspection, it is kinda cool, get involved if you can, especially if M-Div seems like a good one.  Good luck.

[Marvin]

I knew an ELT who was an ELT before there were ELT's.  His name was Gene J. and he was a corpsman in the Navy working with medical radioisotopes when Rickover decided that he needed specialists on the USS Nautilus to obtain and analyze reactor coolant samples.  So Gene volunteered and was selected, since he had experience with radioactive samples and all.  Then Rickover flew this little group to colleges all over the USA learning about engineering things.  The rest is history.

Gene was one of the most knowledgeable nukes I have ever met.  He had forgot more about things nuclear than most of us will ever know, especially me.

Gene still had his "nuke school notes" when he passed away.  I still think of Gene and will always remember him fondly.

Marvin

[Xhelix]

Thats right, I'm done.  D, U, N, dun.   

I hardly know what to think, the entire board felt like I was watching it through someone else's eyes (which would explain why I did so damn poorly...)

I think it's kind of funny that I'd end up sticking with this post to the end.  If you look at the dates theres some huge gaps there when I went to boot camp, was in A and powerschool, went to prototype, ect... But finally; from going to "Derrr, ELT good... right?" to "F*** yes ELT good." you can trace my ignorance from the start.

Now for my favorite part:

I got orders to the USS Topeka (SSN-754) out of San Diego, which was my first homeport choice!

For a while there I had given up on San Diego and decided to settle (haha... settle) for Pearl.  So I had mixed feelings when I heard I got San Diego after all ... I was so PUMPED to go to Pearl too.

I have a bud who got Pearl and wants to switch orders and I'm tempted but I think I'm gonna pass.

1.  I have family near San Diego, it's where my grandmother grew up and where my grandfather was stationed for quite some time.

2.  The Topeka is 754 and his is 701 the La Jolla.  Thats 13 years difference people, and I don't think I want to mess with  an old boat.

and 3.  This way I get to take a nice road trip across the US while I'm on leave.

HAHAHAHA! Free!! (Kind of but not really in a twisted sort of way)  Now I get to wake up tonight and really mean it when I say "I'm finally done with this place!"





Note: Edited by moderator for language.

[hamsamich]

there was a guy who worked at North Anna with us earlier this year who worked at Naval Reactors Facility very early (early 50's, I believe 1952).  He was 78 years old I believe and still working as a Senior Tech!  very cool.  anyway, if i have the story right, he was one of or even THE ORIGINAL guy who qualified ELT at NRF in the early fifties and then qualified navy guys.  He was not in the navy but had to qualify ELT/help develop the quals then qualify navy guys.

I can't remember his name but he was a very neat guy, not full of it.  I'm pretty sure he qualified ELTs to go on the Nautilus but not 100% sure now.  If I could've made it happen i was going to interview him and write down his story, but North Anna was very draining so I didn't get around to it, my mistake!  i'll try to remember his name. somebody from north anna help me.

[Roll Tide]

Thats right, I'm done. 

Congratulations!
And thanks for your service. Whether you decide 6 is enough, STAR baby is your route, an extra enlistment, or stay in long enough to retire, your service is appreciated. It's a sacrifice, but there is a ton that you can do while you are in and much more when you get out.

Don't get lazy: go for the extra distance to excel in every assigned task. It will pay back.

[JustinHEMI05]

What plant were you at? Oh and congrats. I never wanted to be an ELT but had it shoved on my anyway. Although I preferred being a mechanic, I didn't mind the lack of work to do on a friday either. I was really good at both and got to write some things for the fleet, which was cool. I was happy when I got to say goodbye to all of it though when I qualified EOOW at MARF. ELTs hated it though because I busted them on everything and saw through their lies. Enjoy!

Justin

[maxparity]

Having served as an ELT many moons ago, I was curious as to just what were the lies that your superior vision afforded you the ability to see through, and could you somehow enlighten us mortals as to what were some of the basic components that entailed the "everything" that you busted the ELTs on. As an obviously Khan-like being as illustrated by how "good"  you lay claim to being in both the mechanical and chem/rad con realms as well as being a cool writer for the fleet, and by no means last nor least the finest EOOW in the many EFPH burned at the MARF facility, one quick question seems to shine as bright as the sun setting off the coast of Naples-did your anyway suffer any damage when the ELT was shoved upon it ?  BOHICA. USS NIMITZ CVN-68 1980-1984  MM2/ELT.