SWO vs. NFO

[NozeMan]

Honest question: do you think SWOs have a wider variety of missions and/or things to do underway such as fighting pirates etc instead of creeping around as a sub? It is hard for me to imagine what a sub's mission is these days. I'm sure there is one, but I'll have to talk more to my sub LT about it when school starts.

Yeah....you should talk to your sub LT. Of course they have important missions, and he'd know it. A lot of their stuff they can't talk about.

 

[BullGator]

Yeah....you should talk to your sub LT. Of course they have important missions, and he'd know it. A lot of their stuff they can't talk about.

They hunt other subs, support fleets, and probably most importantly they are armed and ready for nuclear missle launches, if ever needed...As far as I know, but that was just from watching a US submarine special on the military channel. I'm sure they have many "untold" missions (other than strategic location areas for potential nuke launch).

 

[NozeMan]

They hunt other subs, support fleets, and probably most importantly they are armed and ready for nuclear missle launches, if ever needed...As far as I know, but that was just from watching a US submarine special on the military channel. I'm sure they have many "untold" missions (other than strategic location areas for potential nuke launch).

Haha, you made my point. They have a lot of cool unique missions. I'm sure the coolest stuff is totally hush-hush.



I'd still rather fly helos, though

 

[navy09]

They hunt other subs, support fleets, and probably most importantly they are armed and ready for nuclear missle launches, if ever needed...As far as I know, but that was just from watching a US submarine special on the military channel. I'm sure they have many "untold" missions (other than strategic location areas for potential nuke launch).

I'm pretty sure the SSN's get to do all the cool squirrelly stuff. From what I've heard from other Mids that have done patrol cruises, it's pretty :sleep_125

 

[phrogpilot73]

I'm sure there is one, but I'll have to talk more to my sub LT about it when school starts.

So you must want a nuke interview then, don't you...

As previously mentioned - they do A LOT. You just don't know it, and they can't tell you much about it... At least they can tell you more than the IW officers can. When I was a mid, they had two different briefs (don't remember what year) where we were read in TS - and pretty much shown the low-down on the silent service. Some of it's pretty neat. I would consider it, that is - if it didn't involve being under water the whole time...

 

[navy09]

vulcanx: Almost forgot, I was recently told that they're getting so hard up for nukes they're offering paid vacations...err "recruiting trips"...to SD and Pearl. SD prob isn't a big deal for you, but if you're really interested (or at least act the part) you can probably swing a trip to Oahu.

 

[vulcanx]

Well I'm totally undecided.

I just got PRK done in July and it worked great but I had it done just so if I wanted to go pilot I could, but I'm not set on it. I try to scour the internets to find good info on all the communities but it is kind of hard and at the end of the day, I think brown shoe has the best time.

But I'd really like to get all the perspectives first. I'll probably look into that recruiting trip, but I think just going for a senior cruise on a sub would be best. Although some would argue that I should just go on a FOREX or something fun for cruise and not waste it underwater.

 

[navy09]

Although some would argue that I should just go on a FOREX or something fun for cruise and not waste it underwater.

Ya, I would argue that. Surface and aviation (afloat) cruises give you a better chance of hitting decent ports.

 

[NozeMan]

Well I'm totally undecided.

I just got PRK done in July and it worked great but I had it done just so if I wanted to go pilot I could, but I'm not set on it. I try to scour the internets to find good info on all the communities but it is kind of hard and at the end of the day, I think brown shoe has the best time.

But I'd really like to get all the perspectives first. I'll probably look into that recruiting trip, but I think just going for a senior cruise on a sub would be best. Although some would argue that I should just go on a FOREX or something fun for cruise and not waste it underwater.

Do it, especially w/ Japan. I did FOREX my senior year and it was a great time.

 

[Spekkio]

Among other reasons, I went SWO(N) over Subs because I didn't want to end up on a boomer steaming in 5 knot circles for three months at a time.

There is always the possibility of being voluntold to go to a boomer. However, chances are that if you want fast attack, you're going to get it. The number of SSNs are greater than the number of SSBNs. On top of that, there are always going to be married people or priors who have "been there and done that" who want the consistent 3 month out/9 month in schedule.

The big thing that most guys are going to be competing for is SSGNs, which have the spaciousness of a SSBN, but travel to foreign ports. Myself? I'm hoping to score a Virginia class boat, but any fast attack will do. My class is on the young side due to the academy and NROTC graduating, though, so we'll see what happens.

The short of what SSNs do: go places we don't belong to perform missions that we don't want people to know about.

The CO and XO of NNPTC managed to do their entire careers on SSNs.