To go Nuke or not to go Nuke....do you have an option?

[milky-f18]

When I was graduating in '99 from GT, they were considering requiring all technical majors to interview because they were short Nukes. That would be almost every MIDN from GT. In the end, they just put a lot of pressure on our CO, and every one of us was required to sit with him and talk about Nuke school. He was a former A-6 BN CAG, so you can imagine the pressure wasn't really that hard.

I'm pretty sure they will never force anybody in, but they'll be doing crazy things for every warfare soon as they don't have enough senior JOs all across the board.

 

[insanebikerboy]

I'm pretty sure they will never force anybody in

I've seen it happen with a few people I know, similar to FMRAM's post. They were told they were interviewing for nuke and didn't have any other choice, and lo and behold, they ended up being a nuke.

 

[rookie7734]

My son was verbally told he got SNFO about two weeks ago. Last week he was called into the CO's office for a thirty minute recruiting talk on Nuke. He was told to think about it and to fill out the application for Nuke. Here's my question. Should he fill out the application? He said he was ordered to do so. By filling out the app. does that make it appear he is interested in Nuke, and therefore someone they can push toward Nuke.

Any advice as to what he should do? He does not want to go Nuke.

 

[MIDNJAC]

This is just my gut feeling, but I would not fill out the app. If I were your son, I would go back to the LT and tell them that I though about it, and decided for sure that I'm not interested in going nuke. I would ask if I were being ordered to go nuke (as in get the LT to actually say "this is an order"), or if it was just a request for me to reconsider. If they actually are ordering your son to do it, then of course he should fill the app, but otherwise that is a huge pandora's box that one need not open. He can count on, at the very least, having to waste the Navy's time if he fills it out and is not actually interested.

On a side note, I started NROTC as a college program freshman, and almost right off the bat they offered me a scholarship if I "showed interest in the nuke community". I thought about it for all of one second, and told the LT that I wasn't interested and wasn't going to lie to the CO about it. Never heard another peep about going nuke, in spite of being a mech engineering major w/ > 3.0 gpa. Just food for thought

 

[DanMa1156]

Quick question from NROTC guys - if you select nuke or subs do you get the $16,000 bonus?

 

[Huggy Bear]

They had a big nuke draft when I was a senior middie, many moons ago. They wanted all the engineers in my class. I suppose my invitation must have been lost in the mail.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Quick question from NROTC guys - if you select nuke or subs do you get the $16,000 bonus?

yes, but only after you complete your interview with the ADM

 

[SnipeDude]

I thought Nuke was voluntary?

 

[raptor10]

Voluntary/VolunTOLD it's all the same thing...

 

[insanebikerboy]

I thought Nuke was voluntary?

Sub nuke, yes, surface nuke, they can stretch "voluntary"

 

[MIDNJAC]

Sub nuke, yes, surface nuke, they can stretch "voluntary"

Which makes this interesting, as if I'm not mistaken SWO-N's do a first tour as a conventional SWO before going to power school (?). So it seems like there would be a long wait for any draftees to actually hit the community...is this not true?

 

[insanebikerboy]

Which makes this interesting, as if I'm not mistaken SWO-N's do a first tour as a conventional SWO before going to power school (?). So it seems like there would be a long wait for any draftees to actually hit the community...is this not true?

Yes, they do a conventional surface cruise first, but the number crunchers are always looking several years down the road and predicting needs. So, it's always possible that any prediction of a shortage in nukes could happen but it's also possible there could be a glut in a few years too. That's the tough part of planning out manning issues.

 

[C420sailor]

It happened at my school as well. I was on the list of "qualified" individuals---even though I pretty much failed out of engineering before switching to business. A few people were forced to fill out the app, although it was said that the interview is non-binding. The rest of us have to draft up a letter explaining why we don't want to go nuke.

 

[phrogpilot73]

I never had Nuke (subs or surface) on my selection card at USNA. Then again, my grades sucked enough - if I had wanted it, they would have just laughed me out of the Academy.

 

[war eagle]

as far as i know, you still get the bonus... we had something similar happen last thursday - all graduating senior MIDN had to go see the Nuke LT and it went something like this...

"Good afternoon MIDN XXXXX, do you have any interest in going into the submarine community?"
"No, sir, none whatsoever."
"Thanks... have a good afternoon"

There wasn't really any threats or scares about it but they asked about 8 guys who have selected SNA/SNFO. there is definitely a check in the "No" box next to my name...