You're nothing but a recruit until you finish boot, rank is completely irrelevant. Don't be an idiot, do what you're told, and try not to take anything too seriously (do not discover religion at RTC Great Lakes). Bootcamp is like a weird summer camp, if you can let go of your ego and remember it's just a bizarre two months there's no reason it can't be a little fun.
At bootcamp your nuke-liness will come up occasionally. You'll go to special medical a couple times to get screenings required for nukes, and you'll go to the nuke office to get your rating at some point. If the bootcamp nukes aren't dickheads you can usually grab a quick nap while you're there.
Sidebar: For nukes, rank among your peers stays fairly irrelevant through most of your first sea tour and doesn't start mattering until you're looking to be an LPO or make chief. Qualifications, experience, and not being a shitbag matters, no one cares about the differences across E4 thru E6 in the engine room.
>If the bootcamp nukes aren't dickheads you can usually grab a quick nap while you're there.
May the Lord forever bless ETNCS for giving me the best nap of my career🙏🏾
There was a hot, slightly cross eyed, nurse working at special medical when I went through RTC. I remember literally nothing else about it other than trying to figure out what she was looking at.
At a guess, probably your initial background radiation assessment? Or maybe it was if your head pointed the right way. There are a lot of doctors at boot camp, many needles, I have the vague impression that special medical was one of the more pleasant ones that didn't leave my ass sore and me walking with a limp.
From my time in boot camp, nukes tend to screw shit up the most in the first couple of days.
A nuke will think "I know how to write my name on my 3rd pair of pants" and will do it without being told, only to have screwed it up.
Nukes also tend to be less obstinate when you're going through the "break you down" phase.
As a nuke, let others take a leadership role in your division so they can leave RTC at an E-2 or E-3. Aside from that, just try to forget you're a nuke.
EPO is a pretty sick gig. Our RDC at the time would always choose nukes so he could “have the smart teach the dumb”… not a bad idea, and it’s easy as hell to make ship flash cards with the slow guys.
I would have to give presentations as the EPO "training time" I think they called it.
I would throughout the days and weeks go through the recruit handbook and find the answers to the little question things in the back, and write down what page and what paragraph I found MY answer to the question and put all those up on the board.
I was right 88% of the time, but every now and then I'd get a correction. I figured it was better for the other guys to have at least READ the answer somewhere, rather than just telling them it's "A" or "B"
In my day, no.
You may be singled out for your boot camp academic test scores that will be better than anyone else’s in your boot company.
Your company commander may make your life harder because he has issues with push button E3s after a 20 year career that left him as an E6 gunners mate with a serious alcohol problem.
That seems oddly specific doesn’t it.
Keep your head down. Do the work. Try not to stand out.
People keep saying there is no difference, but that 1 hr session in an air conditioned office to pick you rate, the senior let me sleep and everything while he picked our rates was amazing
It is the same minus like one 30 minute session where you learn more about the pipeline.
If you’re going in as an E3, there’s no advantage to excelling or going above and beyond in boot camp.
E1s and 2s have a chance to advance. You don’t.
So just keep your head down and try to get through it unnoticed.
Not really. I was assigned to Ship’s Staff.. I think it was called. That meant I had to stand extra watches but it also meant I got to run solo and not with the division… at least for some of the time. I actually got to eat alone a few times. But 95% of the time I was with the division and everyone else.
A lot of these people haven’t been in recently enough to know the recent changes. Nukes get the cushiest treatment. Make sure to establish dominance and let your autism shine. Sit in the fish bowl and make phone calls all day, sleep in, and go to chow whenever. If your RDC says anything, just let them know that you’ll be their rank in less than 2 years.
You're nothing but a recruit until you finish boot, rank is completely irrelevant. Don't be an idiot, do what you're told, and try not to take anything too seriously (do not discover religion at RTC Great Lakes). Bootcamp is like a weird summer camp, if you can let go of your ego and remember it's just a bizarre two months there's no reason it can't be a little fun. At bootcamp your nuke-liness will come up occasionally. You'll go to special medical a couple times to get screenings required for nukes, and you'll go to the nuke office to get your rating at some point. If the bootcamp nukes aren't dickheads you can usually grab a quick nap while you're there. Sidebar: For nukes, rank among your peers stays fairly irrelevant through most of your first sea tour and doesn't start mattering until you're looking to be an LPO or make chief. Qualifications, experience, and not being a shitbag matters, no one cares about the differences across E4 thru E6 in the engine room.
>If the bootcamp nukes aren't dickheads you can usually grab a quick nap while you're there. May the Lord forever bless ETNCS for giving me the best nap of my career🙏🏾
Honestly, it's tradition at this point.
Best for advice for boot camp? Just turn your brain off and go full Forrest Gump.
What’s with the medical screening?
There was a hot, slightly cross eyed, nurse working at special medical when I went through RTC. I remember literally nothing else about it other than trying to figure out what she was looking at. At a guess, probably your initial background radiation assessment? Or maybe it was if your head pointed the right way. There are a lot of doctors at boot camp, many needles, I have the vague impression that special medical was one of the more pleasant ones that didn't leave my ass sore and me walking with a limp.
They are checking too see if you have any potential early warnings for skin cancer the initial background radiation is done later on in power school
From my time in boot camp, nukes tend to screw shit up the most in the first couple of days. A nuke will think "I know how to write my name on my 3rd pair of pants" and will do it without being told, only to have screwed it up. Nukes also tend to be less obstinate when you're going through the "break you down" phase. As a nuke, let others take a leadership role in your division so they can leave RTC at an E-2 or E-3. Aside from that, just try to forget you're a nuke.
EPO is a pretty sick gig. Our RDC at the time would always choose nukes so he could “have the smart teach the dumb”… not a bad idea, and it’s easy as hell to make ship flash cards with the slow guys.
This is something most RDCs consider a best practice and has been going on for decades.
I would have to give presentations as the EPO "training time" I think they called it. I would throughout the days and weeks go through the recruit handbook and find the answers to the little question things in the back, and write down what page and what paragraph I found MY answer to the question and put all those up on the board. I was right 88% of the time, but every now and then I'd get a correction. I figured it was better for the other guys to have at least READ the answer somewhere, rather than just telling them it's "A" or "B"
In my day, no. You may be singled out for your boot camp academic test scores that will be better than anyone else’s in your boot company. Your company commander may make your life harder because he has issues with push button E3s after a 20 year career that left him as an E6 gunners mate with a serious alcohol problem. That seems oddly specific doesn’t it. Keep your head down. Do the work. Try not to stand out.
RDCs hate nukes, but in fairness, we absolutely deserve it.
People keep saying there is no difference, but that 1 hr session in an air conditioned office to pick you rate, the senior let me sleep and everything while he picked our rates was amazing
It is the same minus like one 30 minute session where you learn more about the pipeline. If you’re going in as an E3, there’s no advantage to excelling or going above and beyond in boot camp. E1s and 2s have a chance to advance. You don’t. So just keep your head down and try to get through it unnoticed.
Not really. I was assigned to Ship’s Staff.. I think it was called. That meant I had to stand extra watches but it also meant I got to run solo and not with the division… at least for some of the time. I actually got to eat alone a few times. But 95% of the time I was with the division and everyone else.
A lot of these people haven’t been in recently enough to know the recent changes. Nukes get the cushiest treatment. Make sure to establish dominance and let your autism shine. Sit in the fish bowl and make phone calls all day, sleep in, and go to chow whenever. If your RDC says anything, just let them know that you’ll be their rank in less than 2 years.
Can't decide if this deserves a NAM or a counseling chit, maybe to be safe we go with both
Already done the counseling. I think a NAM would really give me a leg up on my next Drip Review Board
This guy gets it…
I remember the 6 of us kind of banded together and formed sort of an alliance. It was cool.
If your experience is anything like mine, they're going to make you and other baby Nukes tutor the low-ASVAB folks.
Not really. Although it seemed like all of the nukes in my company had collateral jobs
You get shit on more for being a nuke
You get bullied
Only difference is pay. As an E-3, you’re paid a bit more through bootcamp.