Life on a ship

Diesirae27 · 01-11-2014, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marzack

The recruiters are pushing/leaning my son towards nuke do to his scores.. Me being a mother and very concerned with other things that may not be brought up ahead of time to dissuade from taking the position. I have heard that they are pretty much alienated from the rest of the crew and on the small confines of a sub I worry stress and close confines being new to the whole deployment thing... or am i just be an overwrought overbearing mother.. if you can help settle my nerves in any way it would be greatly appreciated... BTW he hasn't picked his job yet so the field is wide open... he scored really well so they say he can have his pick... i swear i think it would be less stressful if he had less choices... thanks in advance for any help/ advice you can offer.

I think you should encourage your son to go Nuke. It's one of the best career paths the Navy has to offer. Whether your son will be alienated from the rest of the crew will depend entirely on how social he is. He will naturally fall into a brotherhood with his Nuke buddies at the very least.

TrustnDatThrust · 01-11-2014, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diesirae27

I think you should encourage your son to go Nuke. It's one of the best career paths the Navy has to offer.

Debatable. AVIATION RULES!!! Represent.

LT Guppy · 01-11-2014, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diesirae27

I think you should encourage your son to go Nuke. It's one of the best career paths the Navy has to offer. Whether your son will be alienated from the rest of the crew will depend entirely on how social he is. He will naturally fall into a brotherhood with his Nuke buddies at the very least.

Ehhhh.....

He should go nuke if it something he is truly interested in.
Recruiters push nuke on EVERYONE who has decent scores, because the dropout rate is so high, they always need more people.
Nuke school is hard, and nukes work very long hours. It's something you need to be truly interested in to be successful.

Diesirae27 · 01-11-2014, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guppy2010

He should go nuke if it something he is truly interested in..

absolutely! I thought added that tidbit... been chasing 2 toddlers around all day/evening.

sweetmtn · 01-12-2014, 01:04 PM

As a mother of a sailor that went nuke...I truly wish he had not gone that direction. Yes now that he is done with his time in the navy and in the civilian world, it has done him VERY well, he makes the big bucks now. HOWEVER, it was VERY hard on him...5 sailors in his department of nuke tried to commit suicide and sad to say, so did my son. This happened while on deployment. My son's best friend went nuke as well, and his roommate at Power School did commit suicide while he was away for a weekend, came back to find the guy..very sad. The program is hard, and very stressful. Nukes are always the first on the ship, and last off. They work long hard hours, and on deployment it was not unusual to work 12 to 24 hours at a time. My son did his entire enlistment, and even re-enlisted, however he did not finish his second..but did get a full Honorable discharge and has all the benefits. My son originally wanted the medical field, and was talked into nuke..his original goal was to be a doctor and was even accepted at Iowa State in pre-med. Sadly he no longer wants that and is working as the plant mechanic for Owens/Corning in Texas, and is going to school to get his Engineering degree.
As a mom, you really dont have a lot to say about your son's choice..however, ask your son what his LONG term goals are, what does he see himself doing in 8 years. Does he want to be a nuclear mechanic or nuclear electrician? Does he want to be a plant mechanic in the civilian world later? I know my son originally wanted to make it a career and become an officer. His evals were so good he was recommended for STA-21 program, TWICE, and written that MUST promote, but after 6 years in..things changed. (the reason he got a straight up Honorable discharge as his discharge went all the way to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs who approved his Honorable)
If you have questions, I can ask my son for you..he refuses to come on here, as he is way to busy with work and school. Just dont let the recruiter talk your son into the nuke field by waving the big $$ enlistment bonus at him...

Atom_breaker · 01-12-2014, 02:40 PM

I was wondering if the Nukes have separate barracks because I thought I saw that somewhere could you ask about that?

kforbs126 · 01-12-2014, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atom_breaker

I was wondering if the Nukes have separate barracks because I thought I saw that somewhere could you ask about that?

You'll probably have a different berthing but that is typical of most ships. They put the same rates together or by division/department.

sweetmtn · 01-12-2014, 10:23 PM

My son said on his ship the nukes were all in the same birthing area close to the reactor department so they were close to their jobs. He was on a carrier..the Nimitz. He also said there was lots of noise from when they launched the jets...

Diesirae27 · 01-13-2014, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetmtn

As a mother of a sailor that went nuke...

Thanks for the perspective!

Benjamin · 01-17-2014, 07:13 PM

Coming from experience as being in the Nuclear Field. I would strongly recommend against the program. Don't get me wrong this program will set you up for success if you can handle it. I've been here a couple of months and i've seen 3 suicides. You lose a lot of happiness that you have coming here and personally I would strongly recommend telling your son to do what he is passionate about. Don't let the money and advancement persuade him. It's extremely easy to get E3 in bootcamp so it won't be any different and if he's got a good work ethic and being an intelligent guy he will do very well in any field.

sweetmtn · 01-18-2014, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Coming from experience as being in the Nuclear Field. I would strongly recommend against the program. Don't get me wrong this program will set you up for success if you can handle it. I've been here a couple of months and i've seen 3 suicides. You lose a lot of happiness that you have coming here and personally I would strongly recommend telling your son to do what he is passionate about. Don't let the money and advancement persuade him. It's extremely easy to get E3 in bootcamp so it won't be any different and if he's got a good work ethic and being an intelligent guy he will do very well in any field.

Good advise!

01-12-2014, 01:04 PM	#5
sweetmtn Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: N. CA Posts: 3,792 Rep Power: 0	As a mother of a sailor that went nuke...I truly wish he had not gone that direction. Yes now that he is done with his time in the navy and in the civilian world, it has done him VERY well, he makes the big bucks now. HOWEVER, it was VERY hard on him...5 sailors in his department of nuke tried to commit suicide and sad to say, so did my son. This happened while on deployment. My son's best friend went nuke as well, and his roommate at Power School did commit suicide while he was away for a weekend, came back to find the guy..very sad. The program is hard, and very stressful. Nukes are always the first on the ship, and last off. They work long hard hours, and on deployment it was not unusual to work 12 to 24 hours at a time. My son did his entire enlistment, and even re-enlisted, however he did not finish his second..but did get a full Honorable discharge and has all the benefits. My son originally wanted the medical field, and was talked into nuke..his original goal was to be a doctor and was even accepted at Iowa State in pre-med. Sadly he no longer wants that and is working as the plant mechanic for Owens/Corning in Texas, and is going to school to get his Engineering degree. As a mom, you really dont have a lot to say about your son's choice..however, ask your son what his LONG term goals are, what does he see himself doing in 8 years. Does he want to be a nuclear mechanic or nuclear electrician? Does he want to be a plant mechanic in the civilian world later? I know my son originally wanted to make it a career and become an officer. His evals were so good he was recommended for STA-21 program, TWICE, and written that MUST promote, but after 6 years in..things changed. (the reason he got a straight up Honorable discharge as his discharge went all the way to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs who approved his Honorable) If you have questions, I can ask my son for you..he refuses to come on here, as he is way to busy with work and school. Just dont let the recruiter talk your son into the nuke field by waving the big $$ enlistment bonus at him...

01-12-2014, 02:40 PM	#6
Atom_breaker Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 411 Rep Power: 0	I was wondering if the Nukes have separate barracks because I thought I saw that somewhere could you ask about that?

01-12-2014, 10:23 PM	#8
sweetmtn Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: N. CA Posts: 3,792 Rep Power: 0	My son said on his ship the nukes were all in the same birthing area close to the reactor department so they were close to their jobs. He was on a carrier..the Nimitz. He also said there was lots of noise from when they launched the jets...

01-17-2014, 07:13 PM	#10
Benjamin Newbie Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Coming from experience as being in the Nuclear Field. I would strongly recommend against the program. Don't get me wrong this program will set you up for success if you can handle it. I've been here a couple of months and i've seen 3 suicides. You lose a lot of happiness that you have coming here and personally I would strongly recommend telling your son to do what he is passionate about. Don't let the money and advancement persuade him. It's extremely easy to get E3 in bootcamp so it won't be any different and if he's got a good work ethic and being an intelligent guy he will do very well in any field.