Navy Nukes

Comment

Comment by KenH on April 2, 2013 at 11:14pm

I just received the invitation for my son's NPS graduation; hoping he makes it through comps.
Thank you all for the insight on what comes next.

Comment by John Caporal on April 1, 2013 at 7:32pm

Thank you all for providing your insights and your sailor's prototype experiences.  I will provide as much support as possible to my sailor.

Hopefully he will have the drive, self-motivation, and perseverance to see it through.

Comment by Daniel Cederborg on April 1, 2013 at 5:11pm

Good News!  Our son cleared medical at the THU in GL and will be shipping out to SC tomorrow.  Now he can undertake the challenges you all have been describing.

Comment by lsdemme2001 on April 1, 2013 at 9:57am

@John- The entire Nuke pipeline is a long and difficult journey.  I thought that Prototype would finally offer some relief from the stress of the classroom schooling.  Prototype would be hands on work with real time operation of the plant, thus not so tedious and draining as all of the schooling had been for my son.

Wrong.

Prototype is designed to be even more challenging.  Nothing along the way in Nukes gets easier.  My son wanted to quit many times.  He even had a room mate that worked very very hard and was washed out of Nukes with only two weeks left to finish prototype!  

Getting the qualifications and the "checkouts" seemed to be a challenge.  the insturctors are busy and your sailor is at the mercy of the time availability of the instructors for the "checkouts".  That seemed to be a pretty big source of frustration for my son.  Also, if something goes wrong in the plant. which happened twice during my sons time at the Ballston site, the delays can last weeks. During that time nuclear inspectors and top officials must make corrections and inspections of the corrections before prototype training can continue. Problems never happened during my sons watches, but even so the entire program comes to a complete stop and everyone must wait it out till the corrections are made.  Again, this could take weeks and was very frustrating.  

My son said that he orals at the end were meant to be tricky and you absolutley must know your stuff.  They will try to trick you into making wrong decisions in your answers.  But this is designed to make sure that you have mastered critical thinking and can handle the stress of making correct decisions on the spot.  

Things really don't get any easier for the nukes, at least not for the ET's like my son, until they are fully qualified during their first deployment.  After they get fully qualified while at sea things get significantly better for them on subsequent deployments.  

Stay tough and realize that your support will be needed for a long time.  

Comment by Michal Hodge on March 31, 2013 at 9:59am

Dennis McMillen - I believe our sons are friends and have graduated together and are planning to room together at their next duty station. I sent you a friend request and would like to stay in touch and share any information we each receive to keep us up to date with their activities.

Comment by John Caporal on March 31, 2013 at 9:36am

Dennis - are the sign-offs a verbal kind of 1 on 1 test?  Setting the app't sounds like a good idea to make sure he makes steady progress with the sign-offs.

Comment by John Caporal on March 31, 2013 at 8:36am

My son just started his 24 week prototype training in Saratoga Springs.  He visited this weekend (I'm only 2.5 hours from there by car).  Compared to boot camp, A-school, and Nuclear Power School, Prototype seems to be taking a toll on his morale, so far.  I've been encouraging him and telling him he has what it takes to accomplish this.

Has anyone in this group had a similar situation with their sailor?

Also, what kind of testing will he go through in order to complete Prototype?

Comment by Daniel Cederborg on March 30, 2013 at 3:22pm

And notice even as a land-lubber whose father was in the Army, I still know the difference between a ship and a boat.

Comment by Daniel Cederborg on March 30, 2013 at 3:21pm

Steven -- what was the sub training like for your Nuke sailor?  I understand that they pick up the sub training once they're assigned to the boat.  We'd be thrilled if our son got on a sub berthed in WA as we live in CA now.

Comment by Steven S on March 29, 2013 at 8:31pm

Checking back in after a long break, I really enjoy reading about your sailors.  If your son decides to go subs, you will find that its not as hard, as a parent, as you might think.  Does anyone else have one on the Nebraska out of Kitsap?  We visited up there last summer for a week and it was wonderful.  The Seattle area is beautiful.  Ask away if you have any questions.  My son is an EM. 

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