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swo nuc vs swo
- Thread starter bruce
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$$$, if things have not changed since it was explained to me. You go to a small boy and do a tour. Then go to nuke school and go to a carrier (used to be able to go to nuke cruisers, but those don't exist anymore) as a nuke officer. You get nuke pay and nuke bonus, and then get to be a reg swo again with all the privelges of swon.
That is the way it was the last time I had it explained in ROTC, I am sure if it has changed someone will correct me.
That is the way it was the last time I had it explained in ROTC, I am sure if it has changed someone will correct me.
The above is true but moot if you don't understand the real difference. To qualify for nuke you have to have a hard science or engineering degree and outstanding grades. You have to satisfactorily complete 3-5 technical interviews with working engineers at Naval Reactors and then have a personal interview with the 4 star admiral in charge of navy nuclear power (who also happens to be one of the deputy directors of the Dept of Energy). Get through all that and you attend nuke school and make the big bucks.
bch and wink, Thanks for the info on nuke surface. Here is another question. In making your selection as a Mid 1st Class in NROTC, does your second choice in any way affect your chances of getting your first choice? ex- If I want NFO as my first choice, are my chances inhibited by selecting surface nuke as my second choice since there seems to be a greater need for the nuke program?
no and here is why. If it is your second choice, you will not be sent to an interview. No interview = no selection. I did the same thing on my service selection... SNA, Sub, SNFO.
Wink you sure about the tech major thing. I have quite a few freidns that I graduated with that went nuke with BA's?
Wink you sure about the tech major thing. I have quite a few freidns that I graduated with that went nuke with BA's?
i heard bad things about swo nuke... first of all you are pretty much limited to the engineering spaces on a carrier. This means it'll be difficult for you to get your quals or do anything else. I heard that goign swo nuke is a career killer for that reason. I knew a Swo Nuke who ended his commitment with only a national defense ribbon....
bch is right. You will get an interview only if you do not qualify or are not selected for your first choice. I hear swo nuke is pretty bad too. Although you do get your quals done. You pretty much get your pin on your first tour. Then it is off to the dungeon of some CVN. The money is good though. Frankly, if I was going to go nuke, I would go subs, but that's just me.
The posts about the order of your choices are correct. Will have no bearing. As to the Tech major thing...If you are a BA in Chemistry or Math or other wise have a minimum of two semesters of calculas based phyics you may be considered. Fact is, if you are an OCS guy then you pretty much need to be a Chem, Physics, Math or Eng guy. If you are NROTC or especially Academy you can be considered regardless of degreee if you meet the coursework requirement. Everyone that goes to USNA gets the clac based physics requirement. I met a USNA English major that was a nuke.
ok, that's right, so the more correct answer is any degree with at least 2 semesters each of calc and calc based physics.
Lastly, from what I understand, you qual on a small boy on your first tour. Go to the eng spaces on a carrier. The rest of your career can be on small boys. I was under the impression that SWOn were actually more competive than their conventional counterparts for screening for command. It would be no diff than being Cheng on your dept head tour on a small boy, just that you have a more impressive educational background.
As far as the ribbon thing, you also have to look at the individual. Some people are just TURDS. And then they bad talk the community they came from, to make up for their own personal short comings. If you are ROTC talk to your Nuke advisor and see if he can get you some good gouge on the pipeline or if he can get you in touch with some SWOn guys.
Lastly, from what I understand, you qual on a small boy on your first tour. Go to the eng spaces on a carrier. The rest of your career can be on small boys. I was under the impression that SWOn were actually more competive than their conventional counterparts for screening for command. It would be no diff than being Cheng on your dept head tour on a small boy, just that you have a more impressive educational background.
As far as the ribbon thing, you also have to look at the individual. Some people are just TURDS. And then they bad talk the community they came from, to make up for their own personal short comings. If you are ROTC talk to your Nuke advisor and see if he can get you some good gouge on the pipeline or if he can get you in touch with some SWOn guys.
Fredster809
Registered User
I am an enlisted Surface Nuc mechanic, with an NFO OCS package submitted waiting an answer. I spent 4 years on the USS Carl Vinson and now train Nuc SWO and SUB, Enlisted and officers in Charleston. There is a world of difference between Nuc and Regular SWO. Here are a few reasons why I would recommend going Nuc SWO. First of all you will have the smartest enlisted people in the Navy working for you. This is both good and bad, the bad is sometimes you might feel like you don't get as much respect as you think you deserve, the good they are more competent, more competent than you would ever believe without seeing it. The Nuc training pipeline is second to none. All your enlisted guys will have 1.5-2 years of training including six months learning to and actually operating a nuc power plant before they even come to your ship. If you decide you don't like it and get out after your obligation is up you will be 10 times more sought after than a regular SWO officer(and twice as paid). There is a downside though, Nuc DIVO's work their asses off. My divo's on the carrier worked as much as most department heads. Last, but not least you will have amazing comradery with your enlisted guys. The comradery is one thing is what I think I will miss if I do get to go NFO. I consider myself very good friends with a lot of the officers I have worked for and from what I have observed the aviation community has more of a disconnect between the enlisted and officer. Bottom line if you aren't afraid to be challenged and be held accountable by even the enlisted guys workng for you go nuke, you won't regret it.
I'm gonna have to chime in on this one. Having been an enlisted nuke and spending the last 15 months on the LINCOLN as the Auxiliaries Divo, I think I can add some perspective.
First, you won't necessarily go to a small boy first and then to the carrier as a SWO(N). Although that is the preferred way, the navy also sends SWO(N)'s to the carrier for three year tours, forgoing the small boy experience.
Second, as Wink said, the hard science degree isn't a hard and fast rule. Plenty of liberal arts majors make it in the nuke community as well. The full year of calculus and calc based physics IS, however, a hard and fast rule. For example, even though I have been through the entire curriculum as an enlisted electrician and even graduating in the top 1/3 of my nuke power school class, Naval Reactors refused to allow me to switch over to SWO(N) (from regular SWO after I qualified) because I did not take the full year of Calc and Calc based Physics in college. They simply would not budge.
One thing is definately for certain. If you don't interview....you will have no worries about being selected.
There was a comment about the SWO(N)'s being primarily limited to the engineering spaces making it difficult to get their quals. This has some degree of truth to it. As I said before, the preferred method of qual progression is to go to a small boy first to qualify as a SWO and then go to power school and prototype and then ultimately, the carrier. Your tour on the carrier would be your second divo tour since you had already completed one on the small boy. Having already qualified as a SWO, you should no doubt expect to spend an absurd amount of time down in the main spaces so you can qualify as Propulsion Plant Watch Officer (PPWO). Watchbills in the nuke world are manpower intensive....for a reason. Now, if you show up to the carrier for the three year tour without having first done a first tour divo job on a small boy, you will have to earn both your SWO qual and PPWO right there on the carrier. Because the watchbills take up so much manpower, you may find yourself on two different watchbills (Nuke and Bridge). Depending where the carrier is in its operational cycle, the qual progress for this individual can get interesting.
As for being a career killer if you went SWO(N). Not hardly!
There was a comment in there about "The rest of your career can be on small boys." If you continue your career path in the SWO(N) commnunity, you will complete your tour on the CVN and then head off to shore duty (or go straight to Department Head school for the hard chargers). Then you'll start the Department Head (DH) pipeline and will go through DH school and then to some DH job (there's a plethora of them out there). Most likely you'd be sent to a small boy and you'll be assigned a top sider billet (i.e. OPS, WEPS, CSO). What you won't do if you're a nuke is be the CHENG of a small boy. After you complete your first DH job, off you'll go back to the CVN for your second DH tour filling some nuke billet.
Lastly, if you do decided to to leave the navy after your committment is up, you will not be sought after 10X that of a regular SWO, I'm sorry to say. And you won't be paid twice as much. While you will be more competitive based on the technical training you received as a nuke, you will only command about a 20% higher salary than a regular SWO will. As for the SWO(N) working his/her ass off. Yes that is true. But you will work your ass off as a regular SWO too...guarantee it.
First, you won't necessarily go to a small boy first and then to the carrier as a SWO(N). Although that is the preferred way, the navy also sends SWO(N)'s to the carrier for three year tours, forgoing the small boy experience.
Second, as Wink said, the hard science degree isn't a hard and fast rule. Plenty of liberal arts majors make it in the nuke community as well. The full year of calculus and calc based physics IS, however, a hard and fast rule. For example, even though I have been through the entire curriculum as an enlisted electrician and even graduating in the top 1/3 of my nuke power school class, Naval Reactors refused to allow me to switch over to SWO(N) (from regular SWO after I qualified) because I did not take the full year of Calc and Calc based Physics in college. They simply would not budge.
One thing is definately for certain. If you don't interview....you will have no worries about being selected.
There was a comment about the SWO(N)'s being primarily limited to the engineering spaces making it difficult to get their quals. This has some degree of truth to it. As I said before, the preferred method of qual progression is to go to a small boy first to qualify as a SWO and then go to power school and prototype and then ultimately, the carrier. Your tour on the carrier would be your second divo tour since you had already completed one on the small boy. Having already qualified as a SWO, you should no doubt expect to spend an absurd amount of time down in the main spaces so you can qualify as Propulsion Plant Watch Officer (PPWO). Watchbills in the nuke world are manpower intensive....for a reason. Now, if you show up to the carrier for the three year tour without having first done a first tour divo job on a small boy, you will have to earn both your SWO qual and PPWO right there on the carrier. Because the watchbills take up so much manpower, you may find yourself on two different watchbills (Nuke and Bridge). Depending where the carrier is in its operational cycle, the qual progress for this individual can get interesting.
As for being a career killer if you went SWO(N). Not hardly!
There was a comment in there about "The rest of your career can be on small boys." If you continue your career path in the SWO(N) commnunity, you will complete your tour on the CVN and then head off to shore duty (or go straight to Department Head school for the hard chargers). Then you'll start the Department Head (DH) pipeline and will go through DH school and then to some DH job (there's a plethora of them out there). Most likely you'd be sent to a small boy and you'll be assigned a top sider billet (i.e. OPS, WEPS, CSO). What you won't do if you're a nuke is be the CHENG of a small boy. After you complete your first DH job, off you'll go back to the CVN for your second DH tour filling some nuke billet.
Lastly, if you do decided to to leave the navy after your committment is up, you will not be sought after 10X that of a regular SWO, I'm sorry to say. And you won't be paid twice as much. While you will be more competitive based on the technical training you received as a nuke, you will only command about a 20% higher salary than a regular SWO will. As for the SWO(N) working his/her ass off. Yes that is true. But you will work your ass off as a regular SWO too...guarantee it.
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