Don't know about the navy, but damn did we eat good in the Coast Guard, not to mention the fishing was great.

Problem is, the Coast Guard and Airforce have 3-4 month waiting lists, because they're that full.

From what I've heard, Navy Submarine cooks go to some prestigious cooking school, as good food is good for morale and what not.

Yes the Navy will always be short of nuclear personnel due to the high requirements of the job. Propay is an extra pay incentive that nucs get in addition to sea and sub pay. I'm not sure how much propay is but being broke and being a nuc shouldn't happen, even at E-3. The advancement for a nuc follows a typical line, they enter at E-3, once they complete nuc school they get E-4 without having to take the exam, then once they get to their boat they reenlist and are given E-5. And you are correct, nucs do not attend Sub School in Groton, CT.

I remember my dearly departed dad singing this to me when I was a LOT younger:

I joined the navy to see the world
But what did I see?
I saw the sea

Talked to the recruiter yesterday, they told me that they'll start talking to me once I'm closer to my height and weight, and they told me to study for the ASVAB. But as far as everything else goes, I still qualify for nuke.

One of the recruiters seems like a pompous asshat, and just barely answered my questions about sub life.

On a side note, I can't say I care for the new Service Uniform. They look like marines.

That sounds about right for recruiters, if you can't help them reach their quota for the month then they really have little interest in you. If none of them had their dolphins then that could be another reason your questions were barely answered as well. Myself and a lot of sailors agree with you about the service uniform, however I for one am glad they have BDU's now instead of the Utilities.

The one I was asking had his dolphins. The head recruiter(who will probably be my recruiter) wasn't that bad.


Although the recruiters that were there the first time I thought of joining were friendlier.

And the Navy Work Uniforms look pretty nice.

Anyways, my question is, what is the lifestyle like on a sub? I understand that on some fast attack subs you have to hot rack, what ranks don't have to do this?
What do you do when you're not out at sea?
Where do you live?

Also, should I get an account with Navy Federal Union when asked?

The Virginas don't have hot racking anymore. Not sure about the Ohio SSGNs or Seawolfs.

On subs that do (688s and Boomers) I think all enlisted do. Not sure about the officers but the Skipper dosn't.

My best friend liked to complain when his ship was the bottom of the list to get those, he said the old utilities made them all look like convicts. :haha:

Yes? I dunno... You don't seem sure enough that I should. :hmmm:

your father must have been a Fred Astaire fan. That came from the movie "Follow the Fleet". The song is entitled "We saw the sea".

Lyrics can be found here

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/follo...esawthesea.htm

Every recruiter is different, some like the job and genuinely want to help you join the navy and do something you will enjoy, some just see you as a number and want to get you to join no matter what, while some are good sailors that have become fed up with some of the BS that goes on in the recruiting world and that negativity translates to their performance.

Now as for life onboard, that depends on what class of boat you get. All 688 and 688i boat you will have to hot rack if you are E-4 and below from what I've heard (this was from guys I served with that had been on a fast attack). Your schedule is really up in the air and at the whim of the powers that be. I've heard of 2 week deployments last 6 months.:o In port there is always some maintenance to be done on the boat. You may live on the boat or they may have a barracks room for you, pretty sure you get a barracks room though. On a SSBN/Ohio class/Trident sub there is no hot racking at all. Every man has his own rack, even if they have to set up a temporary rack in the torpedo room. There's also two crews to every boat, one takes the boat out to sea while the other spends their time training ashore. There's a transitional period of about 3 weeks in which both crews perform maintenance on the boat before heading back out to sea. My longest patrol was about 86 days, but the Blue Crew on the Maine just completed a 100+ day patrol. When the other crew has the boat you have a barracks room to stay in. Usually they are two man rooms and your roommate will be from the other crew. You keep this room even when you go to sea. The SSGNs are still using a two crew system and they fly the relieving crew out to Guam to change commands. That's about all I know about them. I would imagine that the Seawolf boats are the same as a 688. And the Virginia's I know nothing about as they came out after I got out.

About Navy Fed, when I went to Great Lakes we had the choice of either Navy Fed or Armed Forces Bank. I recommend going with Navy Fed because where ever there's a naval base you can pretty much guarantee that a Navy Fed will be nearby. I still have and use my Navy Fed account and the closest branch to me is 200 miles away. They've never screwed me over in any way.

Well.. let me chime in on the nuke stuff..

Great training. If you can hack it you will be able to learn just about anything later in life. Just passing the schooling puts you in the top 1% of the Navy. If you go subs, you are in an even more elite class of sailor.

I served on a 688 and E-4's and below pretty much hot rack. It depends on the watch rotation and the whims of the COB. I was lucky and I did not have to hot rack much even as an E-4 but I have some collateral duties that precluded a regular schedule.

Life on a boat can be rough. You be around the SAME guys for weeks on end. I am not talking about just underway, I am talking ALL the time. Even in port you are going to spend a majority of your time on the boat. If you are LUCKY you can get 4 section duy. If you are a nuke, FORGET it, you are going to be three section. This means that EVERY third day you WILL be on the boat 24 hours. Then you have you regular 10-12 hour work day on the non-duty days. You will keep your rack pan stocked and ready at all times.

You WILL be onboard 8-12 hours EARLY on EVERY underway and you WILL leave 8-10 hours AFTER the coners (the front of the boat guys) leave when you get back. There is ALWAYS some maintenance that has to be done within some many hours of shutdown and/or startup. When not fixing things that are broke or fixing things before they have a chance to break (3M maint system) you will be in training. If not in training, you will be performing some collateral duty that is assigned you. After that you work on quals. (repeat after me - I will not go dink... I will not go dink....)

If you are caught up in all that then you sleep. It was not uncommon for me to go 24 hours between 4-5 hour naps (subject to watch, drills, training, maint and field days of course).

Sounds bad right?? Not really...

You will learn things about your shipmates that they would not tell their reacher, confessor, parent. You WILL tell them things that you swore you would take to the grave. There are guys that I have not seen in almost 20 years now that I would give the keys to my car if they showed up and asked me tommorrow for them. They would do the same for me. Even guys that I did not really get along with would do the same for me as I would do for them. If is hard to describe the depth of trust and respect you develop.

Do I miss it? Yes I do.. but I enjoy my family more.

:sign_yeah: