[Snowman999]

Couple of nits . . .

In order to be a commander you must be an officer. To do this, there are 3 ways the navy will make officers. 1. The Naval Academy Midshipmen, 2. ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) Midshipmen, and 3. OCS (Officer Candidate School).

First statement is true. Second is not, completely. There are also LDOs, WOs, EDOs, a number of staff corps whose officers don't attend OCS, and inter-service transfers. I think the NUPOC porgram still exists, although that's a variation of OCS with extra nuke fringe. Most unrestricted line officers come from your sources, however.

Also, given your sig you should know, mister, that it's NROTC, not that doggie ROTC version populated by people who sleep in the mud and scratch themselves when they think no one is looking.

The Naval Academy and ROTC give you a college education during your military training, and to even be considered for OCS, you must have graduated college.

Except NUPOCs.

During the summers you actually deploy to the fleet to continue your training on an actual vessel or in a flight squadron. I'm currently waiting to recieve my orders for my submarine tour for this summer.

Hope you get it. Those cruises are fun. Whatever ribbing you get take it like a man. If you fight back . . . stand by. Sailors can be vicious. (P.S. The shaft seals like a nice piece of Atlantic Square Fish now and then. Make sure you wake the supply officer up at 0200 and ask him for some.)

This whole time, during the school year, you're actually attending classes, earning your degree. In the end of your Junior year (2/c), you service select. Based on many different things like GPA, Physical Aptitude, Personal preference, and the "needs of the navy," you are ranked among all the other people who will be commissioned with you, from the Academy, ROTC, and OCS alike.

Yes and no. OCS graduates year-round in phased chunks. Their detailihng is somewhat separate from Acad./NROTC, although very few nukes ascend through OCS.

If you select submarines, you will first attend an interview with an Admiral, the guy who's in charge of the whole submarine fleet of the US navy.

Unless they've changed things it's the CO of Naval Reactors, the four-star in Rickover's chair. He's in charge of all nuclear propulsion, not just subs'. CVNs soak up a LOT of baby nukes.

Kind of an important guy, to say the least. If he deems you an acceptable sailor for his sub fleet, you will wait until you get your degree, then you are commissioned as an Ensign, then attend Nuclear Power School and other schools before you can even step foot and take charge of men on a boat.

A bunch of other schools. Don't forget there's a whole lot of junior officers in the weapons track on SSBNs as well.

Once you get there, you will most likely stand engineering watch while you try to qualify in all the areas and earn your gold dolphins.

You'll do some engineering watches in port, but also a lot of CDO UI. At sea you'll focus on EOOW at first (to make you worth air and groceries), but that doesn't take long. Getting dolphins is very, very much harder than EOOW quals.

And as soon as you can stand watch forward it's all-out studying for the Engineer exam.

On submarines, at the rank of Lieutenant Commander, you will most likely become an XO

If you're a nuke you'll be an O-4 as a department head, often early. This is done for compensation and status purposes. A lot of nukes do two department head tours, the second as Nav/Ops. As a senior O-4 you might be an XO. On an Ohio the XO is often an O-5; the CO an O-6. For a while on my boat both the CO and XO were O-5s.

, and if you become a Commander, you will most likely be given command of your own boat. By this time you pretty much know everything about submarines, and you are an extremely intelligent person.

If you can make it through Power School you are an extremely intelligent person. That doesn't make you a WISE person though. <g>

Important Note: the above bears no resemblance to how one became a submarine skipper in WWII.

Good luck to you.