The Subsim Veterans/Active Duty Thread

[derstosstrupp]

Former Marine here, 0313 LAV crewman, 2002 to 2006. Did one tour in Iraq, 2004-2005, participated in the 2nd Battle of Fallujah in November 2004.

Great idea for a thread Red! And I can’t commend you enough for doing this cadet training now, I know you will do great.

[Kaye T. Bai]

Currently in the process of joining the USN as a corpsman (specifically HMDA). Leave for training today.

[3catcircus]

Former submarine reactor operator.

[Torpex77]

1985-2005
USS BOSTON SSN 703
USS SUNFISH SSN 649
USS PASADENA SSN 752

Diving Officer Qualified on all 3
Contact Coordinator on 649 & 752

Punched holes in Every major ocean. As a Torpedoman We were a test platform on Boston, launching over 700 torpedos.

Hard life, damn well worth it. ❤️

[HW3]

Former Air Force, 42370 aircraft electrician, 1969-1976, spent 2 years in the Azores 1972-1974.

[ET2SN]

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it in the past.

[Texas Red]

Originally Posted by derstosstrupp

Former Marine here, 0313 LAV crewman, 2002 to 2006. Did one tour in Iraq, 2004-2005, participated in the 2nd Battle of Fallujah in November 2004.

Great idea for a thread Red! And I can’t commend you enough for doing this cadet training now, I know you will do great.

Awesome, didn't know you were in a battle!
To be honest, I am surprised that no one else had thought of this idea before. I think that it is best for everyone to be remembered and their story told to keep the flame going. Also, about the cadet training, we had a Marine Staff-Sergeant come to do PT with us on Saturday last week. He was a recruiter that the CO's daughter had met while looking at the Marines. He did some tours in Iraq, I think he said.
That PT though was hard but I felt relaxed and happy for the rest of the day. I was reading the POD (Plan of the Day) earlier before I left for the drill and it said:
"1130, secure chow and change into PT gear for our motivational speech with Staff Sergeant (insert name here)"
Normally you don't change into PT gear for a motivational speech..
We did some running and ab workouts to "warm-up", and some people were already exhausted by then. Next thing we had to do was some more intense workouts in a series of 6 workouts. I will explain it here.

There were 6 cones out in the field behind the drill site, the 6th cone was probably a good 60-80 yards. We were told that our first workout for the first cone would be "low crawling (Army Crawling) and then sprint back to the start" The second workout for the second cone would be high crawling and then we would sprint back from the second cone to the start. The third workout for the third cone would be bear crawling and then sprinting back to the start. The fourth workout for the fourth cone was an inchworm up to about maybe 40 or so yards and then sprint back to the start.
By that point many people were about ready to collapse on the ground (including me, but I still came in second behind the Leading Petty Officer)

The fifth workout for the fifth cone was lunges and then sprint back to the start.

The sixth and final workout was squat jumps, which is basically you doing squats while jumping, it looks like this:


We had to do that for 80 yards and then sprint back to the beginning and wait for other people to finish. I was practically dying by that time, and yet I pushed myself further and further.
If you have ever done a squat before, like multiple of them, then you know how your legs and abs hurt like hell, but imagine doing all of the workouts I did previously and then doing this final workout. The end result was basically me trying not to puke in front of everyone.

And then we had a competition where I got buddy-dragged like this:
for 10 yards or so. That wasn't bad at all. Yet I was still really fatigued and about to fall over.

Finally, I won a Marine lanyard by sprinting the 80 yards and back. I narrowly beat the other guy I was racing, in fact I had to dive to beat him. And the Staff Sergent gave me the lanyard.
After that I did puke.

Later the LPO singled me out saying I was "probably the most physically fit person in here besides the Chief Petty Officer, him, and a few other POs. Yet you still need to work out to improve yourself."

Also a few days ago, I registered for Recruit Training (RT, which is basically like boot camp for cadets) in Florida. And the COTC later approved me, as did my CO, for attending. And so I leave in June for Florida for RT.

Currently in the process of joining the USN as a corpsman (specifically HMDA). Leave for training today.

Good luck! What made you choose to be a dental assistant? I am curious as I haven't met a person who chose a job like that. There are some kids in my unit who are qualified as Corpsmen at like 16. There is some training that I can attend where the subject is "Tac Med" which, from what I have heard, is REALLY demanding physically, mentally, and academically.

Former submarine reactor operator.1985-2005
USS BOSTON SSN 703
USS SUNFISH SSN 649
USS PASADENA SSN 752

Diving Officer Qualified on all 3
Contact Coordinator on 649 & 752

Punched holes in Every major ocean. As a Torpedoman We were a test platform on Boston, launching over 700 torpedos.

Hard life, damn well worth it. ❤️

Reactor Operator? That must be a cool job operating the heart of the submarine, though it must be nerve-wracking knowing that those things can kill you if something goes wrong.
I plan on being a Weapons Officer on a submarine since I LOVE weapons and I shoot shotguns on courses with my grandparents regularly. Plus I think that it would be the job that fits my interests best.

Former Air Force, 42370 aircraft electrician, 1969-1976, spent 2 years in the Azores 1972-1974.

Aircraft electrician? What do you do as an Aircraft Electrician? You probably operate an Aircrafts Electric systems but what else do you do?

Rats, I could not get a reservation.

Since you were the first one to post, you get a free reservation!

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it in the past.

Let me guess, submariner?

[HW3]

Aircraft electrician? What do you do as an Aircraft Electrician? You probably operate an Aircrafts Electric systems but what else do you do?

Troubleshoot, maintain, repair, and update assigned aircrafts electrical systems.

[mapuc]

Have removed my input in the discussion, since it is a 100 % American military veteran thread.

Markus

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Kaye T. Bai

Currently in the process of joining the USN as a corpsman (specifically HMDA). Leave for training today.

Originally Posted by El Whacko

Good luck! What made you choose to be a dental assistant? I am curious as I haven't met a person who chose a job like that. There are some kids in my unit who are qualified as Corpsmen at like 16. There is some training that I can attend where the subject is "Tac Med" which, from what I have heard, is REALLY demanding physically, mentally, and academically.

Young Lad: be advised, Rule 1 of modern warfare: "An army (and navy or airforce) travels on it's stomach"! Basically we killed all the buffalo and practised biological warfare (smallpox) and simply out-ate the natives to make good Indians!...On submarines mealtimes are considered major moral boosters. You yourself discovered this when quaranteen'd in your bedroom with Covid and mommy occasionally slipped pizza under the door...but didn't confiscate your computer! A critical function of this military logistical principle is...GOOD TEETH! No one can effectively go "over the top" with an excrutiating abscessed tooth to bayonet the foe in no man's land. Hence, a dental assistant, with pliers and a bag of flossers, is essential equipment on any fighting front. They will not blow ballast for a sailor's toothach on a boomer! Even the Earps had Doc Holliday-dentist with them at the OK Corral!! EDIT: and take that TAKMed training; it's very useful at accidents, heart-attacks in your neighborhood/household etc. You'll be the "go-to man" holding the line until the EMT cavalry arrives; generally 10 min. on a dispatch, but essential to a victim in mortal distress. And it beats standing around gawking uselessly....

[ET2SN]

El W; I'll try to keep this as basic as I can for now, if you want to talk submarines- we can do that. But not now.

Figure out what you want to do and what you want to be. Keep your mind open, you don't even have to join the military at this point.

Next, figure out your goals. Where do you want to wind up when it gets close to your retirement? Keep a little wiggle room in your plans but definitely start to think about long-term goals. You want to be a what? Why do you want that? What other options are out there?

If you are sold on that military career, do you want to be an officer or enlisted? Both have their plusses and minuses. Both are separated by a "glass wall", you can't really be both (there's the concept of a Warrant Officer, but this career path tends to be very tricky to navigate) but both can be rewarding in their own way.

Also, keep in mind that at its core, a job in the military is a Federal job. Some of this can be a headache, they tell you exactly what is expected and what isn't tolerated and there's very little room to innovate or experiment.

[Texas Red]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

El W; I'll try to keep this as basic as I can for now, if you want to talk submarines- we can do that. But not now.

Figure out what you want to do and what you want to be. Keep your mind open, you don't even have to join the military at this point.

Next, figure out your goals. Where do you want to wind up when it gets close to your retirement? Keep a little wiggle room in your plans but definitely start to think about long-term goals. You want to be a what? Why do you want that? What other options are out there?

If you are sold on that military career, do you want to be an officer or enlisted? Both have their plusses and minuses. Both are separated by a "glass wall", you can't really be both (there's the concept of a Warrant Officer, but this career path tends to be very tricky to navigate) but both can be rewarding in their own way.

Also, keep in mind that at its core, a job in the military is a Federal job. Some of this can be a headache, they tell you exactly what is expected and what isn't tolerated and there's very little room to innovate or experiment.

Thanks, man, I have told my CO my goals and he said he would help me accomplish them to the fullest. I plan on being an officer on a submarine, and I hope to go to the Naval Academy later in life. Our chief had signed up like maybe two weeks ago for the academy and on Saturday he told us that he had just received an Army ROTC scholarship at Purdue, another kid in the unit before me had also made chief and signed up to the academy but he ended up going to West Point instead, lol.

Am I seeing a recurring theme here?

[Jeff-Groves]

Follow your dreams. I did.
I became a ParaTrooper in the 82nd AirbBorne.
Kind of strange for a high level modder of subsims right?

[3catcircus]

I highly advise going the officer route via the quickest parh, given the chance.

If you are going as strictly a WEPS, I'm thinking nowadays you'll have to do it by enlisting into a source rate, make chief (well, board-eligible E-6) and get the nod to be commissioned as a 626x Ordnance (Submarine) LDO on an SSBN. This'll take probably 7+ years to even get your foot in the door.

If you intend to serve on a fast attack, unless you want to be a 'chop, I think now it has to generally be as an unrestricted line officer - and every submarine ULO goes to nuclear power school.

Are ya good at calculus and physics? Can you draw a single line diagram of piping or circuitry and identify the functions of all the components? Are ya good at cramming info into your head at a rapid pace? Can you handle 20-25 hrs of study outside of 8 hrs of class Monday-Friday?

Get through power school and prototype and then its off to SOBC. Only then do you get your first assignment as a DivO. You'll then spend your first assignment qualifying all your watchstations culminating in OOD and getting your gold fish. The most important part of this education is learning from the chief or LPO who is the guy who is really running your division while protecting you from yourself...

After your first sea duty, you'll alternate sea and shore duty - going to advanced schools, serving as a Dept Head, the obligatory joint and staff assignments until you get assigned as a PCO. Pass, and you'll get your own boat.

A college buddy of mine was an enlisted nuke electrician's mate. Went to captain's mast and reduced from E-4 to E-3 while still in the training pipeline. Got through training and assigned to various boats, eventually making chief before being picked up for Nuclear Enlisted Commissioning Program. He's now the CO of a west coast SSN. His second sea duty assignment after commissioning (and going through nuke school all over again as an officer) was as the WEPS on an SSN.

If you *really* want to serve as a submarine officer, just go to college first - USNA, ROTC, OCS - doesn't matter. It's *far* easier to go that route than competing for a much smaller number of officer program slots as an enlisted.

In fact, the NUPOC program will *pay you* as an E-6 or E-7 while you are going to college. They only downside is if you don't make it through and commission, they send you to boot camp for assignment as a non-designated E-3...

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by El Whacko

Thanks, man, I have told my CO my goals and he said he would help me accomplish them to the fullest. I plan on being an officer on a submarine, and I hope to go to the Naval Academy later in life. Our chief had signed up like maybe two weeks ago for the academy and on Saturday he told us that he had just received an Army ROTC scholarship at Purdue, another kid in the unit before me had also made chief and signed up to the academy but he ended up going to West Point instead, lol.

Am I seeing a recurring theme here?

OK, I think you may have some mis-conceptions.
If your unit has "career days", be a pain and try to get a submarine officer to attend.
Buy them lunch, do what you have to in order to get a one-to-one sit-down meeting. I'm not 100% certain (I left the Navy in 1993), but being an officer on a US sub means that you graduated from "Nuc School" (aka Prototype). Getting to Nuc school as an officer can be tricky. Off the top of my head, you'll want to have good grades and at least a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a heavy concentration in Physics and Thermodynamics. This is the tricky part, the Navy prefers to train their Nucs their own way. You don't have to have a BS/ME but you DO need an outstanding GPA. Understand that I'm not talking about "party on Thursday-to-Sunday" college. This is a very narrow pathway that looks a lot like a wire over a canyon.

Aside from being the Permanent Supply Officer, this is the only path I know of to getting gold Dolphins. Most of the junior (NUC trained) officers I knew didn't even want a shot at being the Captain, they wanted to be the ENG more than anything. There's some twisted logic behind this and it takes a long time to understand it.

Just a quick disclaimer. I enlisted about six months after I earned a BS/EE and AS/EET degrees. I enlisted mostly because the civilian industry went into a severe downturn and I needed to get the experience for when things got better.
I had asked about OCS when I enlisted and my recruiter said it was better (in his view) if I went enlisted first and let a CO nominate me for OCS. This turned out to be really good advice, by the time the skipper of my first boat asked me if I wanted to go, I already knew that I didn't and I was lucky there was another guy in the crew who wanted it more. It still took a lot of diplomacy to turn down "the old man" without having him go ballistic.

Service Academy vs ROTC/NROTC- The Service Academies don't train future lieutenants, they train future Admirals and Generals. This will make more sense later. If your goal is WEPS on a fast attack, there are easier ways of getting there than going through Annapolis. If your goal is getting your own personal flag and staff car, then you want "the big ring".
You should also understand the difference between Line Officer and Staff Officer. To you, it could make a lot of difference. To the Navy, it makes NO difference and they will assign you where they need you to be. This is known as "needs of the government" and its a double-edged blade. You can use it to your benefit but it can just as easily knock your legs out from under you.

Just to cut it short for now, there are other folks on this forum who have old uniforms and poopie suits hanging in their closet. You want their opinions as well. Just understand that a LOT of this comes down to being prepared plus being in the right place at the right time.