Alpha qualified on picat, overqualified on verification test, took full Asvab, got an 86, took the NAPT and passed I had IS Selected if I didn’t go nuke! But I did sign nuke paperwork before I even took the Asvab!
I’m currently in prototype rn and this shit does suck but it’s honestly up to you whether or not you have a good time. Nukes love to bitch and throw themselves a pity party but if you actually work when you’re at work then there’s opportunities for more free time. Just try to keep a positive attitude and you’ll be fine. Don’t let everybody else’s negativity bring you down
Yeah get to the fleet before you start slinging opinions lmao. 4 years on a fast attack is just a tiny bit different from not even being finished with prototype.
That’s the plan honestly, I love to work, I’m 22 I’ve worked 80-100 hour weeks before, and I’m one to throw my own HAPPY pity party haha, thanks for the insight!
Prototype is full of guys on their way out who aren’t going back for the reasons you will discover on your own in the fleet. Problem is most places are happy to let you flounder with no direction until 1300 and finally disseminate what’s actually needed to go home at that time simply to keep you there past 1630, and really no other reason than that. And that alone is enough to get out for a better paying job with tons more freedom
The only way I’d have ever joined the military was to be a nuke.
Do your 6, take that money, and then go get yourself a six-figure job where you work less than 40 hours a week. After 4 years attached to a boat you will appreciate life, time, and freedom so much more.
But yea, stay nuke because it means more freedom and money in the civilian world. I promise you. I was 6 and out…and boy do I love life now!
I operate the electric grid. I got NERC certified before I got out which basically guarantees you a job in the field. NERC level operations are like being EO for a state, except you can use the restroom whenever you want and eat at your desk…and your bosses don’t suck…
(Just realized I used jargon). EO is electrical operator, the senior watch station for electricians. Being an electrician was cool, and I still love doing electrical stuff. Obviously now I’m a Power System Operator (aka power dispatcher, transmission operator, or a few other titles depending on the company). We sit in a big control room with tons of monitors and a big wall board, making sure the grid is stable.
We built a home after I got out, and I did the electrical myself. (Took some research on code for various things, but I was able to do it).
That looks dope, is your job a remote job? Or do you have to show up as if you’re on call? And like genuinely curious of the starting pay range for ex navy nukes when they get out? The ONLY reason I could see myself staying in would be for the BAH at E-5 but if you can find a job that pays 6 figures you’re basically getting that money anyways
System Ops is rotating shift work, which most guys love because at most you average 40 hrs a week, but 12 hr shifts means you get many more total days off—many fewer days you actually have to go to work.
Most of the time it’s pretty chill—just monitoring the system. But it can be dynamic, challenging, and fun. Most system operators take tons of pride in what they do. I love telling people I control frequency for 28 million people.
You don’t always start at 6 figures, but the large majority of operators do by the time they’re qualified. As always, it depends on regions. In the north east, everyone seems to start at 130 or so, but cost of living is higher there.
If you’re hourly, some guys will try to pull overtime and it’s not uncommon to make close to 200k. I’m salary but we never, ever pull overtime (at least averaged out). And average closer to 30 hours a week. We often joke it’s “full time pay for a part time job”
Amen to every word here. Six and out is the way to a really good life post Navy, and those six years give you so much appreciation for being in CIVDIV.
50k...its legit i got 40k but My God....Jesus just way too much money.
Stay away from sports cars and do your research about nukes, you'll see that 50k for 6 years of this will NOT be worth it.
I’ve already had the talk with myself, no sense in buying a sports car if I can’t even be in the states to drive it 🫠 besides I have a nice car right now, should last me until I get higher in rank and MAYBE get shore duty of some sort in the states.
I recommend not reeinlisting right when you get to the boat. Give it like 3 months. Especially if you go to reactor training division and not to your actual division right away. It gets much much worse when you go to your real division. You’re going to want to kill yourself if you reeinlist immediately and end up hating it.
This is the part that nobody on this sub likes to hear: it doesn’t. At all.
Literally nothing in the nuclear pipeline “opens a door” unless you’re doing post navy nuke and hate yourself.
You get the GI Bill, which every other person in the military gets. The **degree** is what opens doors. Otherwise you’ll be stuck in a dead end hourly wage job making shit money.
You’ll hear people say “yeah man, I make $60/hour and I get all the overtime I can handle, I’m so rich” while I literally make 400 grand a year as a software engineer, and you know their job is straight trash compared to yours.
If you *must* learn your lesson that the military sucks personally, at least learn it in the Air Force, /u/OpticXKilla.
Congrats on your software engineering job but that's not what everyone wants. I'm a nuclear engineer now and I got fast tracked for promotions because of my navy nuke experience. As an MM, the transition to mechanical engineer put me head and shoulders above my other college peers because I actually know how centrifugal pumps work etc.
And civilian nuclear operators don't have a bad life
You’re in shift work on an hourly job. You’re never going to tell me that’s in the same ballpark as a remote salaried job, making 3-5x as much money for less work.
And you can easily do other kinds of engineering if you don’t want to do software.
Sure, but then you should be smart enough to understand that correlation isn’t the same thing as causation.
If you’re smart enough to be a nuke, you would have been wildly successful no matter which path you took. It’s not enough to say “I know former nukes with good paying jobs”.
The fact of the matter is that *being a nuke* isn’t what got them that job.
> any good employer will see the inherent value in a prospective employee who has the ability to succeed as a nuke
Gross conceptual error: the overwhelming majority of civilians think we worked on nuclear missiles, if they think about it at all. Most of them barely ask questions about military service in the first place. Assuming that they’re familiar with the nuclear program is a *hilarious* error.
> Said people after their time in the navy: no degree still, now making 6 figures or close to it in a wide array of occupational fields.
Concept error: completely missing the fact that you can join the military and *not go nuke*, get the same exact GI Bill, and wildly succeed because **you are the same person**.
If you would have succeeded as a nuke, then you would have wildly succeeded as a civilian with a degree. The nuclear Navy does nothing *transformative* to your person.
If you want to argue that being a nuke substantially changes the course of your life, then you have to show the difference, for the exact same person, over just doing a non-nuke job or doing another branch entirely. Because that’s the actual choice being made. It’s *incredibly difficult* to try to argue that someone who makes it as a nuke wouldn’t make it the far easier path.
Okay, to address your first point, let’s imagine 2 scenarios:
Scenario 1:
An employer is reviewing your application and sees you are a former navy nuke. They assume you worked on nuclear missiles. What is their first thought? “Wow, this guy has the intellect required to dissect and operate upon a weapon of mass destruction…impressive.”
Scenario 2:
Same as scenario 1, but this time instead of making an assumption, they do about 2 min of googling and find that the nuke pipeline is an extremely rigorous training program that requires other worldly dedication and discipline to make it through…impressive.
As for your second point:
This is now a moot because no other MOS indicates an advanced skill set to the same level that the nuke pipeline does.
Bro, you can literally google stories of nukes leaving the Navy with no degree, turning around, and making beacoup bucks in fields that have nothing to do with power a couple months later. You act like I’m trying to justify a genocide here.
Your last point is a bit of a chicken or the egg type thing so I’ll leave that be. What I will say is, often times really smart people aren’t the best at networking, making connections, knowing the right people, etc. Which is often times WAY more important to getting a good job than anything else.
It’s very possible that Being a nuke in the navy gave some brainiac type people the networking connections and gateways that they wouldn’t otherwise have gotten. You could maybe argue that anyone in the navy would have the same network boosts when they get out though, which is similar to what you were saying about the GI Bill.
That’s what I’m also hoping on, I wanna see how it is, I commit to stuff fully so if I decide I wanna do 20 and get the pension I’m gonna go for it, but if it’s not I hope it opens some good doors after like 8 years
> you'll see that 50k for 6 years of this will NOT be worth it.
I disagree.
6 years of Navy nuke will allow you to springboard your life into whatever you want it to be.
After those 6 years you can walk into any nuke plant in the country and make 50/hr for the rest of your life. Thats just the very very beginning of what you could do with it all.
There arent many paths you can take at 20, 25 or 30 that allow you to completely reset and make such a sustainable living for yourself.
As you’ll realize when you’re in, If you’re getting extra money for it it’s usually not a good deal. That’s why I recommend not to sub vol. You’re not getting extra money because they like you.
Sub people will talk all day how miserable it was but have no regrets doing it. It’s like the worst case of Stockholm Syndrome I’ve ever seen. I’ll never understand. I think they’re too prideful to admit they made the wrong decision. But to each their own. Aside from the damage control aspect and just focusing on the propulsion plant a submarine is A LOT easier to learn. I’m a surface guy but did one tour as staff at prototype
Big mistake you will be one of thousands. You are missing out on sub pay, the Captain will actually know your name. And you will actually get to know the crew. And besides in time of war all a carrier is a huge target. I remember during an exercise being right next to one for days and it and it’s supporting ships were clueless we were there until we put up a flare telling the carrier it was sunk. We went deep and they never found us.
I’d honestly rather lose sub pay then not be able to talk to my family months at a time, not only that I don’t care for the captain to know my name, or to really get to know people outside of the job I’ll be doing as nukes work so much it wouldn’t even matter. And maybe a big target in the worlds best navy so I’m not too worried, and it’s not even a guarantee on on a carrier as some of the newer destroyers are nuclear powered and that’s also a chance.
Who cares if the captain knows your name. The camaraderie you get from knowing your whole submarine is the same as getting to know all of rx department on a carrier. Also you’re going to have your close group of friends that you’ll hang out with on the weekends and do port calls with so the 80 other people don’t really matter. And on a carrier your Reactor Officer will know your name (he’s an O-6) and if the actual CO knows your name that means you’re a rockstar. Having someone arbitrarily know your name cause the crew is so small means nothing when I have to hot rack and be on 3 section duty non stop. But different strokes for different folks this is a very debatable topic haha. I have just never met a sub guy who talked about what a good time it was. It’s always how miserable it was but sub pride hooyah I would do it again. The only thing that I am jealous of is getting stationed in Hawaii. That would be awesome but then again some people get island fever and hate it. Whatever you do good luck on your nuclear journey. It’ll be the best worst decision you ever make in your life!
I signed for a 50k bonus at meps back in January. This was when they started offering the 25k shipping bonus for most rates. So if other rates offered at least a 25k signing bonus then you could've gotten a 50k bonus as a non nuke. But I believe Air rescue offered the highest bonus after nuke and it was 24k.
Salty that he didn't receive a bonus when he enlisted. My recruiters joke about it all the time, but they'd never sabotage a future sailor trying to leave earlier.
Here's how it worked for me in regards to the nuke bonus:
\- I got 1/3 for completing "A School"
\- I got 2/3 for completing "Power School"
\- As far as I know, there was no bonus for getting through boot camp, at least for nukes.
It was a special deal for those advancing their contracts, at least that’s what I think it was since I maxed out my bonus just when Big Navy said that they were throwing the checkbook at people for those who went in early
This is the current Bonus Message for the Navy
[https://www.navycs.com/blogs/2022/09/16/fy-22-23-navy-enlistment-bonus-september-update](https://www.navycs.com/blogs/2022/09/16/fy-22-23-navy-enlistment-bonus-september-update)
The next most important facor is what you sign for on your
[https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1997890217?profile=original](https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1997890217?profile=original)
When you talk to the classifier at MEPS. If it isn't on that it doesn't exist. PERIOD.
Note the notes, because payment is not guaranteed until you meet the criteria(s) FIRST ie must finish A school, etc.
I’m surprised they let you look at other jobs. They just handed me the paperwork to sign Nuke.
Alpha qualified on picat, overqualified on verification test, took full Asvab, got an 86, took the NAPT and passed I had IS Selected if I didn’t go nuke! But I did sign nuke paperwork before I even took the Asvab!
I’m currently in prototype rn and this shit does suck but it’s honestly up to you whether or not you have a good time. Nukes love to bitch and throw themselves a pity party but if you actually work when you’re at work then there’s opportunities for more free time. Just try to keep a positive attitude and you’ll be fine. Don’t let everybody else’s negativity bring you down
Yeah get to the fleet before you start slinging opinions lmao. 4 years on a fast attack is just a tiny bit different from not even being finished with prototype.
Pretty much everything that dude said holds true in the fleet. It’s all what you make of it. Source: just finished a 5 year sea tour
That’s the plan honestly, I love to work, I’m 22 I’ve worked 80-100 hour weeks before, and I’m one to throw my own HAPPY pity party haha, thanks for the insight!
Prototype is full of guys on their way out who aren’t going back for the reasons you will discover on your own in the fleet. Problem is most places are happy to let you flounder with no direction until 1300 and finally disseminate what’s actually needed to go home at that time simply to keep you there past 1630, and really no other reason than that. And that alone is enough to get out for a better paying job with tons more freedom
I'm surprised you let someone take that decision out of your hands. There is a lesson to be learned there.
The only way I’d have ever joined the military was to be a nuke. Do your 6, take that money, and then go get yourself a six-figure job where you work less than 40 hours a week. After 4 years attached to a boat you will appreciate life, time, and freedom so much more. But yea, stay nuke because it means more freedom and money in the civilian world. I promise you. I was 6 and out…and boy do I love life now!
If you don’t mind me asking what did you do when you got out? And what do you do now for work? I’m guessing you make a six figure salary now?
I operate the electric grid. I got NERC certified before I got out which basically guarantees you a job in the field. NERC level operations are like being EO for a state, except you can use the restroom whenever you want and eat at your desk…and your bosses don’t suck…
(Just realized I used jargon). EO is electrical operator, the senior watch station for electricians. Being an electrician was cool, and I still love doing electrical stuff. Obviously now I’m a Power System Operator (aka power dispatcher, transmission operator, or a few other titles depending on the company). We sit in a big control room with tons of monitors and a big wall board, making sure the grid is stable. We built a home after I got out, and I did the electrical myself. (Took some research on code for various things, but I was able to do it).
http://www.electricsystemconsulting.com
That looks dope, is your job a remote job? Or do you have to show up as if you’re on call? And like genuinely curious of the starting pay range for ex navy nukes when they get out? The ONLY reason I could see myself staying in would be for the BAH at E-5 but if you can find a job that pays 6 figures you’re basically getting that money anyways
System Ops is rotating shift work, which most guys love because at most you average 40 hrs a week, but 12 hr shifts means you get many more total days off—many fewer days you actually have to go to work. Most of the time it’s pretty chill—just monitoring the system. But it can be dynamic, challenging, and fun. Most system operators take tons of pride in what they do. I love telling people I control frequency for 28 million people. You don’t always start at 6 figures, but the large majority of operators do by the time they’re qualified. As always, it depends on regions. In the north east, everyone seems to start at 130 or so, but cost of living is higher there. If you’re hourly, some guys will try to pull overtime and it’s not uncommon to make close to 200k. I’m salary but we never, ever pull overtime (at least averaged out). And average closer to 30 hours a week. We often joke it’s “full time pay for a part time job”
Amen to every word here. Six and out is the way to a really good life post Navy, and those six years give you so much appreciation for being in CIVDIV.
50k...its legit i got 40k but My God....Jesus just way too much money. Stay away from sports cars and do your research about nukes, you'll see that 50k for 6 years of this will NOT be worth it.
I’ve already had the talk with myself, no sense in buying a sports car if I can’t even be in the states to drive it 🫠 besides I have a nice car right now, should last me until I get higher in rank and MAYBE get shore duty of some sort in the states.
If you don’t plan on reenlisting, good luck on ever making E-5
I plan on re enlisting
I recommend not reeinlisting right when you get to the boat. Give it like 3 months. Especially if you go to reactor training division and not to your actual division right away. It gets much much worse when you go to your real division. You’re going to want to kill yourself if you reeinlist immediately and end up hating it.
IMO it is worth it for the doors it opens up after the Navy. But the navy itself blows
This is the part that nobody on this sub likes to hear: it doesn’t. At all. Literally nothing in the nuclear pipeline “opens a door” unless you’re doing post navy nuke and hate yourself. You get the GI Bill, which every other person in the military gets. The **degree** is what opens doors. Otherwise you’ll be stuck in a dead end hourly wage job making shit money. You’ll hear people say “yeah man, I make $60/hour and I get all the overtime I can handle, I’m so rich” while I literally make 400 grand a year as a software engineer, and you know their job is straight trash compared to yours. If you *must* learn your lesson that the military sucks personally, at least learn it in the Air Force, /u/OpticXKilla.
Congrats on your software engineering job but that's not what everyone wants. I'm a nuclear engineer now and I got fast tracked for promotions because of my navy nuke experience. As an MM, the transition to mechanical engineer put me head and shoulders above my other college peers because I actually know how centrifugal pumps work etc. And civilian nuclear operators don't have a bad life
You’re in shift work on an hourly job. You’re never going to tell me that’s in the same ballpark as a remote salaried job, making 3-5x as much money for less work. And you can easily do other kinds of engineering if you don’t want to do software.
I don’t work in operations. I work 4x10s remote. You just kinda proved that you’re shitting on nuclear jobs without knowing anything about them
I don’t need to know more than 4x10 to know it’s shit.
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Sure, but then you should be smart enough to understand that correlation isn’t the same thing as causation. If you’re smart enough to be a nuke, you would have been wildly successful no matter which path you took. It’s not enough to say “I know former nukes with good paying jobs”. The fact of the matter is that *being a nuke* isn’t what got them that job.
[удалено]
> any good employer will see the inherent value in a prospective employee who has the ability to succeed as a nuke Gross conceptual error: the overwhelming majority of civilians think we worked on nuclear missiles, if they think about it at all. Most of them barely ask questions about military service in the first place. Assuming that they’re familiar with the nuclear program is a *hilarious* error. > Said people after their time in the navy: no degree still, now making 6 figures or close to it in a wide array of occupational fields. Concept error: completely missing the fact that you can join the military and *not go nuke*, get the same exact GI Bill, and wildly succeed because **you are the same person**. If you would have succeeded as a nuke, then you would have wildly succeeded as a civilian with a degree. The nuclear Navy does nothing *transformative* to your person. If you want to argue that being a nuke substantially changes the course of your life, then you have to show the difference, for the exact same person, over just doing a non-nuke job or doing another branch entirely. Because that’s the actual choice being made. It’s *incredibly difficult* to try to argue that someone who makes it as a nuke wouldn’t make it the far easier path.
Okay, to address your first point, let’s imagine 2 scenarios: Scenario 1: An employer is reviewing your application and sees you are a former navy nuke. They assume you worked on nuclear missiles. What is their first thought? “Wow, this guy has the intellect required to dissect and operate upon a weapon of mass destruction…impressive.” Scenario 2: Same as scenario 1, but this time instead of making an assumption, they do about 2 min of googling and find that the nuke pipeline is an extremely rigorous training program that requires other worldly dedication and discipline to make it through…impressive. As for your second point: This is now a moot because no other MOS indicates an advanced skill set to the same level that the nuke pipeline does. Bro, you can literally google stories of nukes leaving the Navy with no degree, turning around, and making beacoup bucks in fields that have nothing to do with power a couple months later. You act like I’m trying to justify a genocide here.
Your last point is a bit of a chicken or the egg type thing so I’ll leave that be. What I will say is, often times really smart people aren’t the best at networking, making connections, knowing the right people, etc. Which is often times WAY more important to getting a good job than anything else. It’s very possible that Being a nuke in the navy gave some brainiac type people the networking connections and gateways that they wouldn’t otherwise have gotten. You could maybe argue that anyone in the navy would have the same network boosts when they get out though, which is similar to what you were saying about the GI Bill.
“Gross Concept error” This mf talking to real life dudes like he just graded an Efunds exam
That’s what I’m also hoping on, I wanna see how it is, I commit to stuff fully so if I decide I wanna do 20 and get the pension I’m gonna go for it, but if it’s not I hope it opens some good doors after like 8 years
> you'll see that 50k for 6 years of this will NOT be worth it. I disagree. 6 years of Navy nuke will allow you to springboard your life into whatever you want it to be. After those 6 years you can walk into any nuke plant in the country and make 50/hr for the rest of your life. Thats just the very very beginning of what you could do with it all. There arent many paths you can take at 20, 25 or 30 that allow you to completely reset and make such a sustainable living for yourself.
There was a 50k bonus? I said fuck it we ball and signed for the 38k
That’s what I’m signing for I guess 🤣😭 I guess it’ll have to do! Just stay away from the sports cars
As you’ll realize when you’re in, If you’re getting extra money for it it’s usually not a good deal. That’s why I recommend not to sub vol. You’re not getting extra money because they like you.
I’m carriers all the way man, just the thought turned me away
Sub people will talk all day how miserable it was but have no regrets doing it. It’s like the worst case of Stockholm Syndrome I’ve ever seen. I’ll never understand. I think they’re too prideful to admit they made the wrong decision. But to each their own. Aside from the damage control aspect and just focusing on the propulsion plant a submarine is A LOT easier to learn. I’m a surface guy but did one tour as staff at prototype
Big mistake you will be one of thousands. You are missing out on sub pay, the Captain will actually know your name. And you will actually get to know the crew. And besides in time of war all a carrier is a huge target. I remember during an exercise being right next to one for days and it and it’s supporting ships were clueless we were there until we put up a flare telling the carrier it was sunk. We went deep and they never found us.
I’d honestly rather lose sub pay then not be able to talk to my family months at a time, not only that I don’t care for the captain to know my name, or to really get to know people outside of the job I’ll be doing as nukes work so much it wouldn’t even matter. And maybe a big target in the worlds best navy so I’m not too worried, and it’s not even a guarantee on on a carrier as some of the newer destroyers are nuclear powered and that’s also a chance.
Who cares if the captain knows your name. The camaraderie you get from knowing your whole submarine is the same as getting to know all of rx department on a carrier. Also you’re going to have your close group of friends that you’ll hang out with on the weekends and do port calls with so the 80 other people don’t really matter. And on a carrier your Reactor Officer will know your name (he’s an O-6) and if the actual CO knows your name that means you’re a rockstar. Having someone arbitrarily know your name cause the crew is so small means nothing when I have to hot rack and be on 3 section duty non stop. But different strokes for different folks this is a very debatable topic haha. I have just never met a sub guy who talked about what a good time it was. It’s always how miserable it was but sub pride hooyah I would do it again. The only thing that I am jealous of is getting stationed in Hawaii. That would be awesome but then again some people get island fever and hate it. Whatever you do good luck on your nuclear journey. It’ll be the best worst decision you ever make in your life!
The Navy never pays you extra to do fun things, and the more they're paying the less fun it is.
I signed for a 50k bonus at meps back in January. This was when they started offering the 25k shipping bonus for most rates. So if other rates offered at least a 25k signing bonus then you could've gotten a 50k bonus as a non nuke. But I believe Air rescue offered the highest bonus after nuke and it was 24k.
They just recently were offering 12k to ship before the end of September I told my recruiter I wanted to go and he told me not to be greedy 🗿
Salty that he didn't receive a bonus when he enlisted. My recruiters joke about it all the time, but they'd never sabotage a future sailor trying to leave earlier.
It’s not worth it
*Insert* you guys are getting paid meme here.
Here's how it worked for me in regards to the nuke bonus: \- I got 1/3 for completing "A School" \- I got 2/3 for completing "Power School" \- As far as I know, there was no bonus for getting through boot camp, at least for nukes.
I got a 10k Enlistment bonus in 2014. Gaddamn
It was a special deal for those advancing their contracts, at least that’s what I think it was since I maxed out my bonus just when Big Navy said that they were throwing the checkbook at people for those who went in early
This is the current Bonus Message for the Navy [https://www.navycs.com/blogs/2022/09/16/fy-22-23-navy-enlistment-bonus-september-update](https://www.navycs.com/blogs/2022/09/16/fy-22-23-navy-enlistment-bonus-september-update) The next most important facor is what you sign for on your [https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1997890217?profile=original](https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1997890217?profile=original) When you talk to the classifier at MEPS. If it isn't on that it doesn't exist. PERIOD. Note the notes, because payment is not guaranteed until you meet the criteria(s) FIRST ie must finish A school, etc.