Keelhauled ? Poor guy :arrgh!:

Have to admit that keelhauled avatar is pretty cool :rock:

I ask a simple question based on a professional periodical and this thread turns to this??? I get the MO of this stuff in the general section of the forum's. But here, this is about DW and related submarine topics. Keep it this way or ye be my next waterslug.:arrgh!:

I guess it was just random incident. Look at his post count.

It was a drive-by argument!

We spent 600.000.000 euros in two years on our mission in Afghanistan. We have our own transport, we even have 30 AH-64D's, Ohh.. and 16 soldiers died during that litle bit of peacekeeping.
And... we are just a small country.

I have to agree with the downfall of the public education system here. I got into the Navy NUPOC program several months back but I did terrible on the technical interviews. Mostly because they stressed the importance of WHY something happens over simply WHAT happens.
So I've spent everyday for the past 3 months backtracking through all of my high school and college education trying to learn the WHYS that they never taught me, and believe me there's a ton.
I can't comment on the enlisted nucs but the other nuc officer candidates I've met have mostly been brilliant, I guess the poor economy is driving many talented young people into the security of a gov't job.
But still the acceptance rate into the nuc field is riduculously high, they'll take anyone. My recruiter told me that there's about a %93 acceptance rate for nucs. I'm not sure about the drop out rate however.

Congrats! And a hearty thankyou for serving your Country. Once you are done with all your training and qualifications. Take advantage of continuing your education. Are you going into the Sub Force? I would do it again in a heart beat. Good luck!:up:

I appreciate it, you know that's one of the first 'thank you's" I've gotten. And likewise, thank you for your service. It looks like I'm going surface, so I've got to qualify as a SWO before heading to Nuc Power School. Have you ever heard of the Nuc path being a 'career killer'... I guess in terms of rank progression? Not that it matters to me, like you said, it's the education opportunities that appeal most to me.
By the way the stories you former nucs have posted... you guys have planted way too many seeds in my head... I don't know if I'll ever be able to walk by a goat without thinking bad things.

It is not a career killer per say. What happens is that the 'needs of the Navy' will get in the way of your advancement. Once you are in the nuc field the navy HATES to let you get away from it. Thus you are limited in your shore duty assignments as they want to 'keep you in the pipeline'. You have to fight all the others who want to get that shore duty that keeps the detailers happy and you in the pipe.

It creates a definte speedbump unless you learn to kiss butt real early and have a sea daddy who watches over your career. The problem with that is if your daddy gets in trouble, you are gonna get dumped in a corner while someone elses 'kids' get the good treatment. I have seen MANY a good officer get the shaft becuase of the limited upward mobility.

Keep us posted on how things go for you. We like ya even if you are a 'skimmer'.:D Yeah the goat thing was fun. I have to post another one on BN's thread soon. My own family never thanked me for my service, even on veteran's day! (Wah!) But, I make it a habit with all active duty, reserves and veterans, to thank them. It is a good thing to do. BN was the nuke. I was a non nuke MM on SSN-678 and SSN 687. If you ever get the chance to go to NDSTC or NUMI in Panama City FL. Do it! It was a blast there, not too mention the bikini's on the beach....:up:

Well...itś a matter of money more than anything else. We don't have conscripts any more so no point in this.

About the strategic things.... yes, we don have a "real" aircraft carrier (Charles DeGaulle?) but what use will we do of it, for the cost of it? another point is "nuclear power". In Europe only Britain and France (+Russia) have nuclear ships, again, what for? Only because they have colonies, and Europe is very worried with the "nuclear problem" so it's a suicide to build a nuc ship here, green planet is important for us. The rest of us, we are happy with our SSK's : stealthier than your SSN's, more agile than your SSN's, slower than your SSN's( but fast enought for protecting our shores and ships). for surface ships, we have some "toy" carriers like Britain, Italy and my Spanish carriers, but they are good enought for us...and the Spanish f-100 frigates (thanks to US we have the AEGIS system on them)

Airforce....not really big transport planes yes...but as far as I know (from airmen in Kosovo) we europeans (Spain to be more precise) commanded 50% of the air attacks into Serbia : it meant 1 Spanish plane, a lot of american and brit planes behind......and we now have the eurofighter....

And Airbus has built the biggest transport, civilian, but the biggest.....I saw american soldiers going to Irak in civilian planes...on CNN....

And land forces...we have the leopard, and the leclerc....and the eurochopter....and the best infantry of the world (only american marines can catch us up there, in the spirit of our troops. Tech, you use far more tech of course)

BUT JUST REMEMBER, WE ARE ALLIES. SO YOU NEED HELP IN SOMETHING, WE NEED HELP IN OTHER THINGS. we cooperate, and that'a better than spent money in ...galaxies if you have them....and why US will spent money in SSk's..or small aircraft carriers like Tarawa..if we have them?

The only problem is money, you are the leading country in science researchs, but most of the researchers are from Europe (Spanish bios and meds are there investigating for you, and many many collegues in computers and programming). In my country we only spent 2% of our budget in research, and that's a pity.

Anyhow, and at the endl, aren't we allies?

Keep your crap running and clean knucledragger and you can ve the first guy over the brow as well. Well second we know the data systems guy is always first. :rotfl:

But seriously. I feel for you. Nuke stuff fascinated me but I joined unrated. I don't think it is even possible to strike a nuclear rating. I had to craw through glass practically to become an ET. In the end I had qualified all of their watchstations and been in for more than two yearswhen I managed to get to Orlando for BE&E. They played the game to send me TAD by making my orders show me returning between that and EW A school in Pensacola. I may have been the very first submariner to go there. I loved it and I think get much more out of it than I would have going to the Great Lakes since I was standing ESM watch most of the time. I think it would be the better school no matter since the other major watchstation for ETs was Inertial Navigation which wasn't a major forus of ET A school anyway.

From a gaming standpoint the best thing about my time in was being in the fire control party. I worked the plot and eventually became geoplot coordinator. It has been immensly valualble doing TMA but also in giving me a very good familiarity with the other areas. I also am grateful I spent a lot of time in/with sonar as that would have been my second rating choice. I actaully fit in better there as I am kind of a hippy/wild guy. The ETs were a little more straight/clean/geeky.

Anyway, I guess I can quit running off the mouth now. You guys just got me thinking back with your experiences

Agree whole-heartedly RIP! You are right on. You cannot strike for nuke. I was in the "Subfarer" program which meant I basically got Sub school and then went right to a boat. The ST's and FT's had a full deck, but A-Div was shy three men, so that is where i landed. It was OK. The CAMS and O2 Genny were fun to work on, the rest was hydraulic or pneumatic repairs and maintenance. The only payback we had was when we gave non-quals one hell of a check out on the Trim and Drain, Steering and Diving and HMV systems. One favorite question was, "You are a molecule of sea water, explain how you become O2 in the boat. It covers a lot of systems to answer that one correctly. Hmmmm! Lemme see if i still remember...:up: