Welp, I'm all done with that.

[Camaero]

Hey folks,


Many years ago I became excited about submarines through Silent Hunter III. I inevitable began searching for some guides when I couldn't sink anything, which led me to these forums, which set me on a path of countless hours playing every subsim I could get my hands on. I eventually joined the Navy and ended up becoming a radioman on a Virginia class submarine, which still sounds wild to me. I actually did that? Dang. Now five years later my contract is up and I'm officially living on dry land once more.



I just wanted to say hi! It has been quite a ride. I really want to play something with some Virginia's in it now for comparison haha. Any recommendations? Anything new upcoming? The last modern subsim I tried was Dangerous Waters.



Also, I'd be happy to answer any submarine life questions anyone might have. Obviously I'm not going to comment on any technical details, but boy can I tell you about some of the ups and downs (quite literally).



Cheers all.

[Aktungbby]

Camaero!

[Onkel Neal]

Nice, you did what most of us only dream of!

Cold Waters is fun.

Look fwd to hearing any stories you want to tell. Which sub were you on?

[Commander Wallace]

Welcome back after a long Silent run, Camaero. It goes without saying but thank you for your service. With regards to simulations with Virginia Class Submarines, I think you may be out of luck for the time being considering how relatively new they are.


I have Sub Command which had the Los Angeles Class and also I believe, the Akula Class Russian Submarines. I remember the sonar used a waterfall display for tonals. I haven't played it literally in years so it's hard to remember how well it worked but I liked it.

[CJMars]

I don’t remember if a Virgina class is an option, but Janes I-688 is pretty good.

[Jimbuna]

Welcome back to the surface Camaero

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by Camaero

Hey folks,


Many years ago I became excited about submarines through Silent Hunter III. I inevitable began searching for some guides when I couldn't sink anything, which led me to these forums, which set me on a path of countless hours playing every subsim I could get my hands on. I eventually joined the Navy and ended up becoming a radioman on a Virginia class submarine, which still sounds wild to me. I actually did that? Dang. Now five years later my contract is up and I'm officially living on dry land once more.



I just wanted to say hi! It has been quite a ride. I really want to play something with some Virginia's in it now for comparison haha. Any recommendations? Anything new upcoming? The last modern subsim I tried was Dangerous Waters.



Also, I'd be happy to answer any submarine life questions anyone might have. Obviously I'm not going to comment on any technical details, but boy can I tell you about some of the ups and downs (quite literally).



Cheers all.

I thought they did away with RM and IC rates and they're all just IT now.

I hope they've improved the bodies-to-racks ratio than in my time where we got to hot-rack as junior enlisted(I was on 594 and 688 class boats when I was in).

[ET2SN]

Your best bet for a Virginia class would still be DW.
The RA mod(s) might flip you out a bit when you see where they came from but the work is first-rate.



RM's are always welcome, I used to work with youse guys. (SS-580 and SSN-698 NAVOPS)

[Mr Quatro]

Welcome back Camaero

So do you still have a Camaro or did you sell it?



Share an image of you with your dolphins or else it didn't happen

[Camaero]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Nice, you did what most of us only dream of!

Cold Waters is fun.

Look fwd to hearing any stories you want to tell. Which sub were you on?

Cheers Neal! I still have my rigged for dive mug you sent me years ago for being the first to reply to a post, as well as my 2007 Submarine Almanac. Any plans on making more of those?


I'd rather not say which boat it was exactly just for privacy reasons.

Originally Posted by 3catcircus

I thought they did away with RM and IC rates and they're all just IT now.

I hope they've improved the bodies-to-racks ratio than in my time where we got to hot-rack as junior enlisted(I was on 594 and 688 class boats when I was in).

When I first joined, NAV OPS was a mixture of Electronics Technicians where you were an ETR (Radio/ESM), an ETV (QMs), or you were an IT if you liked to go home early and work as little as possible. Right before I left they merged us radio types with the ITs. It was quite a time teaching those nerds how to radio after having no background in it.


I am here to report that there is still plenty of hot-racking going on during local ops and significant hot-racking during deployments! That was not the most enjoyable part of my job. I didn't mind the racks themselves though. I thought it cozy to be in that tiny space and be pleasantly rocked to sleep. I even slept through a (planned) EMBT blow and had a good time gently becoming weightless as we lurched out of the water.

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Your best bet for a Virginia class would still be DW.
The RA mod(s) might flip you out a bit when you see where they came from but the work is first-rate.



RM's are always welcome, I used to work with youse guys. (SS-580 and SSN-698 NAVOPS)

I don't know how it normally is, but NAVOPS was easily the best department on my boat. Fewest problems and best of guys.


And the Camaro is safe and waiting for me in storage!

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by Camaero

I don't know how it normally is, but NAVOPS was easily the best department on my boat. Fewest problems and best of guys.

Any department or division can become a septic tank but I was really lucky.

My first LPO was a bit of a Richard, he got short-timer's syndrome when he still had 7 months to go. That was back when we were tied with the YN's for the boat's Most Lonely division at three but we had a cool RMC watching our backs. After that, I got to work for some first rate ET1s and ETCs. The kind of guys you just shut up and watch (and take notes). Both the ET1's were frocked for ETC and both wound up with the same love/hate relationship with their khakis (no more getting their hands in the gear).

I got out in '93 after a six year hitch. Actually, six years and one month (C.O.G.) because the Bremerton and SQDN 7 were trying to force the Navy into letting me stick around.
I kinda knew the jig was up when I scored pretty high on my ET1 exam and had spare bullets in my service jacket but still got a memo saying "passed, not advanced".

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Any department or division can become a septic tank but I was really lucky.

My first LPO was a bit of a Richard, he got short-timer's syndrome when he still had 7 months to go. That was back when we were tied with the YN's for the boat's Most Lonely division at three but we had a cool RMC watching our backs. After that, I got to work for some first rate ET1s and ETCs. The kind of guys you just shut up and watch (and take notes). Both the ET1's were frocked for ETC and both wound up with the same love/hate relationship with their khakis (no more getting their hands in the gear).

I got out in '93 after a six year hitch. Actually, six years and one month (C.O.G.) because the Bremerton and SQDN 7 were trying to force the Navy into letting me stick around.
I kinda knew the jig was up when I scored pretty high on my ET1 exam and had spare bullets in my service jacket but still got a memo saying "passed, not advanced".

Did they give you the "what if you get out and get a job you don't like?" spiel to try to get you to re-up?

I got that speech and my "I have that job right now" response shut that conversation down quick.

My detailer was ,"you can go to A school and teach. Or Power School and teach. Or prototype and teach."

I said "when we pulled into Brisbane, there was an EM2 on the pier who said 'here's your shore power. If you have issues here's my number or this other number for ET2 xxx, who'll be on call later this week.' I want that job." No shore duty in Australia? No re-enlistment.

If you were on the Bremelo in 93, we were probably in the same squadron. I can't recall if she was in SUBRON 1 or 7 at the time.

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by 3catcircus

Did they give you the "what if you get out and get a job you don't like?" spiel to try to get you to re-up?

Noooo. The last thing they wanted me to do was re-up.

The boat and Squadron were really cool about it and it meant a lot that they were trying, but talking with my detailer painted a different picture. They had guys still in the training pipeline with no where to go.

By '92 the diesel boats were long gone, the 594s were history, and the 637s were all on the way to decom. The cold war was over (mostly) the same as Desert Storm. Attack boats don't do well when peace breaks out.

Its like hanging around a party late at night when the keg starts to pump foam. Sometimes its just better to split and hear about all of the horror shows that went down, later.

After I got out, I heard from some of the guys who had re-enlisted early and things went down about the way I imagined. How you did your job was no where near as important as how good you looked while you did it. A guy in his 30's could get rung up based on body fat % and kicked out. If they had re-enlisted with a bonus ($$$) and got the heave ho, the Navy wanted that bonus money back- RIGHT NOW.

I'm pretty sure some of the guys in the training pipeline were offered an early out after they finished A school, but don't quote me on that.

There was no where to go and nothing to do- besides getting written up over petty BS, and it stayed that way until 9/11.

Almost missed it, I did all of my sea time in "7". I was homeported in Sasebo, Japan and Pearl.

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Noooo. The last thing they wanted me to do was re-up.

The boat and Squadron were really cool about it and it meant a lot that they were trying, but talking with my detailer painted a different picture. They had guys still in the training pipeline with no where to go.

By '92 the diesel boats were long gone, the 594s were history, and the 637s were all on the way to decom. The cold war was over (mostly) the same as Desert Storm. Attack boats don't do well when peace breaks out.

Its like hanging around a party late at night when the keg starts to pump foam. Sometimes its just better to split and hear about all of the horror shows that went down, later.

After I got out, I heard from some of the guys who had re-enlisted early and things went down about the way I imagined. How you did your job was no where near as important as how good you looked while you did it. A guy in his 30's could get rung up based on body fat % and kicked out. If they had re-enlisted with a bonus ($$$) and got the heave ho, the Navy wanted that bonus money back- RIGHT NOW.

I'm pretty sure some of the guys in the training pipeline were offered an early out after they finished A school, but don't quote me on that.

There was no where to go and nothing to do- besides getting written up over petty BS, and it stayed that way until 9/11.

Almost missed it, I did all of my sea time in "7". I was homeported in Sasebo, Japan and Pearl.

As a nuke, they kept trying to throw money at me to stay but wouldn't give me what I wanted - shore duty in Australia or some type of staff position supporting people doing design/development work on new equipment. It was either teach in the pipeline, ride another boat, or a tour on a tender.

My first duty station was San Diego until we PCSed to Pearl to decomm. Then it was over to a 688 boat in 7 until we PCSed to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to decomm. Did a bunch of local ops and one full Westpac. I got the augment good deal during an Eastpac and spent the entire time in schools, so it could have been worse.

[ET2SN]

Yep, I didn't re-up early because I wanted to have max bargaining power once my hitch was almost up. Oops..

To be honest, I wanted to pull another sea tour if I could as an ET1 but would have also taken instructor duty in Pearl or back in Groton if I had to. By then I was also a QAI (masts and antennas) and a referee on the DC team so the only watches I had left to qual was COW or maybe ANAV*.
Like I said, I had some pretty nice bullets in the old personnel file.

BTW, if you were on the Pasadena we might know some of the same names. If you were there when we pulled the Bremerton in with an imploded
sonar dome, there's a great story behind it.

*- ANAV is one of those goofy quals that exist but usually no one goes for it. I knew a QMC on the Barbel who did it and as an ET1 I would have had plenty of time to qualify QMOW (I was already qualled Duty QM and Duty RM on my first boat as a back-up) before going for ANAV.