Shore Duties
 

Besides recruiting, RDC/OCS instructor, and ceremonial guard, what other shore duties are available to Nukes?

Well there is always Power school or Prototype instructor positions for shore duty Nukes.

Power/A school instructor, Prototype instructor, Power/A school SLPO, and depending on the job you end up getting, working in a shipyard fixing things. There are other opportunities, but those are the main ones.

Inspector is another big one.

Wow. I didn't realize there was all of that to choose from! Which one would you most recommend for first shore tour, especially from a career standpoint for advancement, billets and potential commissioning down the road?

While I haven't reached that point in my career yet, I can tell what some chiefs and first classes have told us regarding shore duty.

Actually, rather then speculating I'll mention what I do know. The instructor positions at the prototypes are the only chances to get a qual that's required to be considered for chief. So if you don't get it at sea, the prototypes are the only place to get it while on shore duty.

I will definitely keep this in mind for when that time comes. How difficult is it to secure an instructor position or is it pretty much a gimme provided you stand out on sea duty?

Take this with a grain of salt because I did. I was told that the instructor positions in A school and power school go to the top performers returning from the fleet.

Unless there have been some major changes since my son was in as a MM nuke, since your training is so long you really wont have any shore duty well into your second enlistment...unless you are picked up as an instructor while in Prototype and graduate at the top of your class.

That's perfectly fine. I just wanted to know what all I could spend the shore periods occupying myself with before going back out to sea :) But since you've mentioned it, how many in each class does your son estimate got chosen to fill an instructor billet right out of schooling?

Mickey, I will have to ask him when I talk to him next time...he is very busy with his job right now...he isn't in the navy any more and lives in Texas working for a large power company..I will probably talk to him on Sunday.

Realistically, most Nukes will go to one of the Prototypes for their first Shore Duty just due to the manning requirements at the Prototypes. I was an outlier because I navigated a 20 year career as a Navy Nuke without ever doing a Staff tour at Prototype. I sold my soul and did Recruiting for my first shore duty. I DO NOT recommend Recruiting Duty. My last shore tour was an Instructor tour at Power School. This is, hands down, the best Shore Duty for Nukes. If you want to go to back to Nuke School for Shore Duty, you must be ranked in the upper half of your class in both Power School and Prototype. There are no waivers for this requirement. It's pretty easy to get orders to Prototype as long as you keep your nose clean in the Fleet and perform satisfactorily (getting all of your quals done on time, etc.). RDC duty is available, but your detailer has to release you from their control to the special programs detailer and there is a screening process. The same holds true for Recruiting Duty. There are other shore billets available for nukes at maintenance facilities, but those are usually few and far between. Some of those can end up being good deals, some not so much. A few of my friends that have had Shore Duty at those facilities say that the Navy personnel that work there constantly get called out to work outside of "normal work hours" because the civilians aren't authorized for overtime. So the sailors essentially get used and abused.
What it boils down to, is that Nukes are pretty limited on their options for Shore Duty (and homeports for Sea Duty, especially if you're Surface Designated). Your chances of getting something outside of the Nuke training Pipeline are pretty slim unless it's Recruiting (I would rather get up every morning for the rest of my life and eat a bowl of broken glass for breakfast than go back to Recruiting Duty) or RDC Duty. While the possibility of getting something else is pretty slim, always ask the question, though. The worst thing they can do is tell you no.