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If you were planning on committing suicide anyways, nuke is a good choice.
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Oct 22, 2014 07:00
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dragondir posted:Don't know if I missed an earlier post, but how bad is nuke life? I'm genuinely curious as I'm contemplating the navy. Haven't had the conversation yet, but some information you know would be appreciated. Edit: It's not just an earlier post, it's an entire saga spanning years. Just check all of Ket's post history. Because it's a nice little story of nuke life and then the freedom of the reserves. Also wishing I had saved some of those IRC logs with Ket.
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Oct 22, 2014 07:09
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poopkitty posted:It also helps if your CPO can write. Awards too. Deck Division on USS Last always got the shaft because BMC was barely literate and so was CMC. I got praised on the regular for having my troops win "Region SOQ" because I speek gud English and can write effectively. This CMC said "bambalance" seriously. Also "deer in a headlock." Jesus! Was your chief Ricky? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfq3c4Cf1Fs
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Oct 22, 2014 07:20
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Fart Sandwiches posted:Jesus! Was your chief Ricky? This is the best collection of malapropisms ever.
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Oct 22, 2014 08:03
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dragondir posted:Don't know if I missed an earlier post, but how bad is nuke life? I'm genuinely curious as I'm contemplating the navy. Haven't had the conversation yet, but some information you know would be appreciated. My post history is probably clogged up with video games and engineering chat. I'm bored and waiting for breakfast to start so I'll justpost With two years of hindsight and the freedom of the mostly civilian world allowing nostalgia to gloss over the bad parts... I can say that it's still one of the low points of my life...that lasted for most of my adult life. Here's my least favorite thing that makes life less enjoyable.. Traditional duty day: Show up, do 8 hour work day, stand 6 hours of watch, eat, poop, do scheduled work for that night, take a short 2-3 hour nap, wake up, stand 6 hours of watch, do 8 hour work day, go home. Repeat in 2 days (1/3 days are duty days). This results in having one full weekend per month where you will still wake up on the ship on Saturday at 6am so you can muster and clean until 8am. Basically, you pull an all nighter at work every third day, including weekends. When underway, you will work some watch rotation (5 hours on, 10 hours off being most common/6 hours on, 6 hours off/etc. The best I have ever heard of was 5 on, 55 off on another ship) on top of your normal 8 to 10 to 12 to 16 hour workday+training+after shift maintenance+cleaning. Sleep is usually not accounted for and missing it is just part of the game. Shore duty wasn't much better. I still worked about 12 hours a day on a rotating shift 9 day workweek. Every 7 days I got 24-70 hours off to readjust to a +8 hour bump in the time my shift started. After 3 years of that, I no longer had a properly functioning circadian rhythm and would wake up at 3am fully alert and starving. Throw in randomly working for 30-60 days straight for maintenance outages just for fun. Those times would actually make me feel better because I was able to sleep on a regular basis. So considering how little sleep you get and how much work is your lifestyle... you cannot make a mistake. Ever. Mess up verifying a signature on something at 3am after you havent slept for 2 days? Tough, enjoy being disqualified and put on extra working hours until requalified. You're lucky you don't get demoted over it. I can't count the number of people I've known to make a small mistake that got them sent to captain's mast. It makes for a tense workday.. especially since we have an internal auditing agency that might have a permanent office next to yours so they can do constant audits of everything you do with every mistake being personally briefed to the captain. Now imagine doing that for 9 years. That's why I was so emo here back in the 2010-2012 timeframe. I still remember my first few weeks out as some of the best in my life. I started sleeping and eating normally again. I had time to start doing hobbies. I saw my wife on a regular basis. It was crazy. I joined the Reserves for healthcare since my school doesnt provide it and have talked to dozens of former active duty sailors. The only people that ever experienced that lifestyle were the nukes, several of which washed out before completing their active duty time. Edit: Oh, don't forget that they're throwing out about 12k to enlist with people regularly getting 90k reenlistment bonuses...yet fleet retention is still a Big Problem. They pour money down a bottomless pit trying to keep people from getting out but nope. I think my reenlistment bonus would've been around 40-50k for adding 4 years. Lol. This leads me to believe that being a nuke kind of sucks. KetTarma fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Oct 22, 2014 |
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Oct 22, 2014 12:13
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KetTarma posted:Nuke Bitching. Listen to this man. This is the blight of all nukes, sub nukes have it even worse due to smaller watch sections and commands tend to be more on "edge"
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Oct 22, 2014 13:40
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krispykremessuck posted:to be fair navy correspondence is a complete shitshow so really the person sending up the award should probably also get an award "For outstanding professional write up of 58 sailors in the superior performance of his duties while serving as LPO, Shitboat, Bumfucknowhere, Penisland from May 2013 to March 2014. Petty Officer Shitdick's outstanding performance, initiative, and perseverance reflected credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval service." dragondir posted:Don't know if I missed an earlier post, but how bad is nuke life? I'm genuinely curious as I'm contemplating the navy. Haven't had the conversation yet, but some information you know would be appreciated. Seriously, listen to Ket, Nuke is more than likely the shittiest job in the Navy to join in the history of ever unless you're down to follow his path of doing w/e it is to work at a plant for six figures. Or you could just sit down, open up books and go down his scholastic path without blowing away 6 years of hating your decision.
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Oct 22, 2014 15:47
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Pandasmores posted:Seriously, listen to Ket, Nuke is more than likely the shittiest job in the Navy to join in the history of ever unless you're down to follow other peoples' path of doing w/e it is to work at a plant for six figures assuming that plants switch back to hiring nukes instead of local vocational school grads like many plants are now doing. Or you could just sit down, open up books and go down his scholastic path without blowing away 6 years of hating your decision. ftfy I wanna work on airplane stuff (ideally radar optimization) when I graduate. Not gonna work at a power plant unless my current employer doesn't have any full time spots when I graduate and none of the local firms are hiring and oh god my mortgage. Also yeah, I had it pretty bad as a surface nuke+NPTU tour but being a submariner nuke is way worse. Their suicide attempt/completion rates are crazy. At least on a carrier we had the hope of one day going to 4 section if we could just get more people. Subs are like "lol its either port and starboard or 3 section gl hf ps commence e-6 and below field day"
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Oct 22, 2014 16:18
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This may be an anomaly, but around four people on my ship who got out around the same time as myself got SRO jobs in the civilian sector (which is quite a bit considering the sample size of a submarine). So civilian plants are still hiring nukes due to them meeting NRC requirements, it's just a matter of proper career planning to set yourself up while in and not being an incompetent poo poo head. That said, I quit the job to go back to school since I don't want to be on rotating shift work for the rest of my life.
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Oct 22, 2014 16:38
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SpaceJustice posted:This may be an anomaly, but around four people on my ship who got out around the same time as myself got SRO jobs in the civilian sector (which is quite a bit considering the sample size of a submarine). So civilian plants are still hiring nukes due to them meeting NRC requirements, it's just a matter of proper career planning to set yourself up while in and not being an incompetent poo poo head. That said, I quit the job to go back to school since I don't want to be on rotating shift work for the rest of my life. Getting hired isn't a problem but those supposed 6 figure payrolls are a navy legend unless you're qualified reactor operator/EWS (only one rate can qualify RO and EWS is a senior watch station that can be difficult to qualify at sea) with a couple years of experience, and even then you're probably gonna be brought in as a different position and have to work up to SRO. dragondir posted:Don't know if I missed an earlier post, but how bad is nuke life? I'm genuinely curious as I'm contemplating the navy. Haven't had the conversation yet, but some information you know would be appreciated. 3 suicides during my year in the training pipeline and one more on the waterfront that I heard about. I don't know how many attempts there were. My old roommate used to sleep with one of his rifles and our house had a firewatch or sorts to make sure he didn't suck it off. So its bad enough to warrant about a suicide per year of someone you probably know. Good luck have fun Kawasaki Nun fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Oct 22, 2014 |
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Oct 22, 2014 17:04
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Kawasaki Nun posted:Getting hired isn't a problem but those supposed 6 figure payrolls are a navy legend unless you're qualified reactor operator/EWS (only one rate can qualify RO and EWS is a senior watch station that can be difficult to qualify at sea) with a couple years of experience, and even then you're probably gonna be brought in as a different position and have to work up to SRO. Depends on location. The non-licensed operators (the "lowest" position in operations) all made made six figures at the plant I was at, and this was in rural PA.
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Oct 22, 2014 17:25
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Wasn't there a dude a few years ago who asked about nuke, heard all this advice, and joined as nuke anyway? I recall he came back a few months later and was all "THIS SUCKS! I wish I had listened". Don't join nuke. Sure you actively not joining contributes to the overall manning problem, but just don't do it.
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Oct 22, 2014 18:20
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Fart Sandwiches posted:Wasn't there a dude a few years ago who asked about nuke, heard all this advice, and joined as nuke anyway? I recall he came back a few months later and was all "THIS SUCKS! I wish I had listened". I think our ratio of dudes who listen to dudes who go "No, gently caress you Dad, I know better!" is pretty bad. There are a few rare success stories.
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Oct 22, 2014 19:14
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Our baby nuke from the recruiting station broke down and cried in front of his division during his second day at boot. Said his instructors told him that's ok it just shows how much you care. His letter to us....was interesting to say the least with such helpful advice as "sleep on the flight there" (he stayed on facebook the whole flight from CA chatting). I don't think nuke was such a good choice for him.
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Oct 22, 2014 20:21
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LingcodKilla posted:Our baby nuke from the recruiting station broke down and cried in front of his division during his second day at boot. Said his instructors told him that's ok it just shows how much you care. His letter to us....was interesting to say the least with such helpful advice as "sleep on the flight there" (he stayed on facebook the whole flight from CA chatting). The baby nuke we had got saved at the last minute because someone at MEPS screwed up. He was going to go Nuke and somehow ended up in an FC contract instead. When he got to the ship and spoke to a Nuke he was happy. Thanks for the correction Ket!
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Oct 22, 2014 21:17
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Kawasaki Nun posted:Getting hired isn't a problem but those supposed 6 figure payrolls are a navy legend unless you're qualified reactor operator/EWS (only one rate can qualify RO and EWS is a senior watch station that can be difficult to qualify at sea) with a couple years of experience, and even then you're probably gonna be brought in as a different position and have to work up to SRO. Eh, I got a legit offer for 95k/yr+10k/yr bonus at a plant starting as a maintenance supervisor based on being able to speak intelligently during the interview and having a professionally written resume. However, they fired the next 3 people to accept an offer so who knows oh, I've had two friends kill themselves over work. go navy
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Oct 22, 2014 21:51
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Damnit where's that story of the Nuke that worked 45 days straight or some bullshit and ended up shooting himself in the head on watch on Christmas eve? Was that yours ket?
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Oct 22, 2014 21:57
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As a former sub nuke on the officer side, as others have indicated I can say it's a massive amount of work and not a lot of sleep. I would not advice going nuke. Being on a trident, when the other crew had the boat, it wasn't that bad, but it really did suck when out at sea. When I got out, the stated retention rate for sub jo's was 14%. The real rate was more like 5%
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Oct 22, 2014 22:06
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Guys, let me know if you're in the orange stress zone
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Oct 22, 2014 22:23
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Sir Lucius posted:Guys, let me know if you're in the orange stress zone I don't think nukes are in "orange" until at least two months after discharge.
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Oct 22, 2014 22:30
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KetTarma posted:Eh, I got a legit offer for 95k/yr+10k/yr bonus at a plant starting as a maintenance supervisor based on being able to speak intelligently during the interview and having a professionally written resume. Most of the jobs I looked at that didn't require working outages were for ~75K pending qualification and whatnot but I never bothered with any headhunters or really delved too deeply into it. Didn't you qualify EWS at prototype too? Regardless dragondir my advice to you is that if you want to join the navy first determine what you want to do. I wanted to see the world, thinking that the navy was a natural choice over army/marines/airforce/coastguard. Sadly I didn't do my research relating to where I would be stationed and visiting and as a consequence ended up being stationed out of Kingsbay GA and only ever saw greece. If you're joining for training/benefits FTs seemed to get a pretty good deal as far as submarines go.
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Oct 22, 2014 22:45
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Sir Lucius posted:Guys, let me know if you're in the orange stress zone It's all good. I got my stress card.
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Oct 22, 2014 22:52
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Kawasaki Nun posted:Most of the jobs I looked at that didn't require working outages were for ~75K pending qualification and whatnot but I never bothered with any headhunters or really delved too deeply into it. Didn't you qualify EWS at prototype too? No. I made the mistake of qualifying Load Dispatcher instead of EWS on the carrier because it seemed the natural choice as an EM. For the uninitiated, LD is basically the role that Scotty on Star Trek fulfilled. It was by individual selection only with a good number of people failing out of the qual due to the extensive nature of what you had to know/do. I definitely enjoyed telling JOs to go away if their requests didn't match what I wanted for the carrier's electric plant alignment. I reported directly to the EOOW/RDO with 9 subordinate watchstanders plus being 2nd in command of DC Central. I was also the ultimate authority for what happened to every generator and switchboard on the ship so officers had to come to me for permission to do things. If they tried to pull rank, I'd sic an O-4 or an O-6 on them that'd back me up every time. Best watch ever. Anyway... When I showed up to prototype, I discovered that not being qualified EWS previously + being a surface guy = not put into initial EWS quals. They then made EWS mandatory for making chief after I reported to prototype so everyone requested to be put into quals. However... We got a new CO shortly after I showed up who said that unless we were returning to the fleet, we were not going to be put on the waiting list to qualify EWS because "I don't want to hook up people that aren't going to return to the fleet to be disciples of nuclear power. If you want EWS, put in your reenlistment chit." Yeah, didn't do that. Got out. No regrets. As it turns out, no one outside of nuclear power plants even know what EWS is. At this point, I only use about a third of the space of my resume to talk about Navy. The rest is all school/internship stuff.
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Oct 23, 2014 00:51
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if you have your heart set on joining either of the maritime services, choose a really loving dumb rating like YN or LS where breathing without reminders and speaking english sets you ahead of the vast majority of other people. then abuse TA and get out after 4/6 years and use your GI bill to do something cool. alternative path is to pick something that gives you real skills, but those jobs come with expectations and also a lot of dickheads in/along the way. also don't join the navy. join the coast guard. it's a way better deal, most of the same travel opportunities exist but are mostly voluntary, you probably won't get shot (except by coworkers) and the buoy lot isn't filled with navy chiefs. same pay and benefits, slightly less dod retardation.
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Oct 23, 2014 04:04
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See, I'm the surface precom nuke, and we have the fun of being a new platform, where we are literally writing the rulebook as we go along, combined with as Ket mentioned, the internal audits, but at least we have 4 section, (so worst case is 6/6, ideal is 4/8). The thing about this is, we were supposed to have more ~automation~ and ~reduced watchstanding requirements~ but we have the issue of having .. well not enough people (half of a Nimitz lolololololololol), for the potential maintenance, but that's another bridge to cross. BUT we have it better than most, since we have actual fleet support, and big navy seems willing to work with us, and they are giving everyone as many qualifications as possible since we simply can't support everyone not being qualified.
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Oct 23, 2014 04:05
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krispykremessuck posted:if you have your heart set on joining either of the maritime services, choose a really loving dumb rating like YN or LS where breathing without reminders and speaking english sets you ahead of the vast majority of other people. Except then you'd have to learn tagalog to communicate with your coworkers.
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Oct 23, 2014 04:09
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Nick Soapdish posted:Except then you'd have to learn tagalog to communicate with your coworkers. that's why I recommended the coast guard, it doesn't have that problem
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Oct 23, 2014 04:10
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Ryand-Smith posted:See, I'm the surface precom nuke, and we have the fun of being a new platform, where we are literally writing the rulebook as we go along, combined with as Ket mentioned, the internal audits, but at least we have 4 section, (so worst case is 6/6, ideal is 4/8). The thing about this is, we were supposed to have more ~automation~ and ~reduced watchstanding requirements~ but we have the issue of having .. well not enough people (half of a Nimitz lolololololololol), for the potential maintenance, but that's another bridge to cross. Are you on the Ford? I got propositioned by the detailer to come there for my next billet, as I still have 24 months left on my contract. I'd be working in N6/ADP/Printer Bitch, but how is the command from your perspective as the most run down motherfucker on the ship?
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Oct 23, 2014 04:23
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Hey man only English allowed in the workplace!!!!!
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Oct 23, 2014 05:08
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Christoff posted:Hey man only English allowed in the workplace!!!!! Shut up, eat your dicks and like them. Even the gray sickly looking one.
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Oct 23, 2014 05:11
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krispykremessuck posted:if you have your heart set on joining either of the maritime services, choose a really loving dumb rating like YN or LS where breathing without reminders and speaking english sets you ahead of the vast majority of other people. then abuse TA and get out after 4/6 years and use your GI bill to do something cool. YN actually requires a clearance. The Filipinos hit up PS (formerly PN+DK), the dudes who gently caress up your pay and leave balance. I used to be a YN for 4 years. Horrible existence and boring work.
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Oct 23, 2014 06:29
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If you like fixing things and slacking off at sea, ET is an excellent rate too with decent job prospects post-navy. The workload in-port is pretty high though. (Small boys only, I have no idea what its like on the big decks.)
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Oct 23, 2014 13:58
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Was talking to some people earlier and thought back on how I qualified on the 50 mount.  This picture is from 2002 but the mount was still like this but on the starboard side when I shot it. Yeah had to qual on this double 50.
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Oct 24, 2014 00:38
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Biggest things I ever got to shoot was a shotgun and waterslugs.
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Oct 24, 2014 01:58
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ded posted:Biggest things I ever got to shoot was a shotgun and waterslugs. I sure hope you logged the serial number of those waterslugs.
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Oct 24, 2014 02:32
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ded posted:Biggest things I ever got to shoot was a shotgun and waterslugs. Airslugs.
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Oct 24, 2014 02:44
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Ryand-Smith posted:See, I'm the surface precom nuke, and we have the fun of being a new platform, where we are literally writing the rulebook as we go along, combined with as Ket mentioned, the internal audits, but at least we have 4 section, (so worst case is 6/6, ideal is 4/8). The thing about this is, we were supposed to have more ~automation~ and ~reduced watchstanding requirements~ but we have the issue of having .. well not enough people (half of a Nimitz lolololololololol), for the potential maintenance, but that's another bridge to cross. I pitty the first officer going to engineer quals on that ship. I heard stories when I was still in about the first one going for quals on the Seawolf...was a nightmare. I got out before going through that mess
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Oct 24, 2014 03:01
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Vriess posted:I used to be a YN for 4 years. Horrible existence and boring work. not disagreeing, just saying that being basically competent sets you apart in that rating
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Oct 24, 2014 04:02
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SPACE HOMOS posted:Was talking to some people earlier and thought back on how I qualified on the 50 mount. Holy poo poo thats loving metal as gently caress. According to my LPO, it isn't total bullshit that some E-3 getting bluejacket/stopping to check if anyone is hurt at a vehicle accident in a shore command gets a NAM but an E-3 saving a life on a battlefield under fire just gets a pat on the back in some cases. Is it just hospitals that give NAMs away like crazy or do sea going commands do it as well?
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Oct 24, 2014 14:07
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Pandasmores posted:Holy poo poo thats loving metal as gently caress. The broad brush rule of thumb is yes. It can vary by CO and even by department depending on different people's take on it, but it's pretty common to see a first term sailor with 2 or more NAMs prior to tranfer. From what I understand the Marines are stingier with awards.
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Oct 24, 2014 15:34
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