Navy Nukes

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Comment by Douglas H on December 9, 2011 at 6:19pm

Bill, the wait isn't out of the ordinary now.  Mine finished A school mid Sept and just started power school yesterday!  The weird thing is he get Xmas leave from the 20th - 2nd. 

I do appreciate Old Lt and your advise about putting in for chits.  You seldom get what you don't ask for.

Comment by Mike K on December 9, 2011 at 5:26pm

Archie, all 3 schools for ETs and EMs are 24 weeks each.  A School for MMs is shorter by about 6 weeks as I understand it with Power and Prototype being the same.  I should say that Prototype is kind of fluid as there is no formal end per say with the end depending upon how fast they get all their checkoffs completed and take the boards.  Some get done sooner, others take longer.  Also in Prototype, if their are training reactor problems, that lengthens the schooling.

Comment by Mike K on December 9, 2011 at 5:16pm

Yeah, I don't understand the leave bit as far as Christmas/New Years is concerned.  When my sailor was there he had just started Power School after Thanksgiving.  He said they shut the school down for two weeks and actually encouraged everyone to take a couple weeks off and get out of there and unwind.  With the holidays on the weekend this year though, that all may be different.

Comment by Bill on December 9, 2011 at 4:06pm

Old Lt 

Thanks, sounds like when I was in.  I told my son it sounded odd, and petty (typical Navy BS iirc) to make them stay over Christmas when they graduated this week and will be milling about smartly for 2 months.  As I used to say to my guys, run the damn chit;  I'll send it up and you might just get a yes. Especially if its a power playing senior chief enjoying Rickover style head games setting the "policy".

Comment by William in Nashua on December 9, 2011 at 12:15pm

proud dad my son scored 99th percentile on the AFQT too but they also have the line scores that are not part of the AFQT, including electronics knowledge (EI) and another is general science (GS) and another is mechanical comprehension (MC), but those scores determine whether or not a person qualifies for nuclear field or not, and I also believe determines which rating you qualify for.  This is how some people can score a 99 but still not make nuke at all.  It is also possible to qualify as nuke for a mechanical rating but not an electronic/electrian rating, and vice-versa.

The formula for AFQT score (which your scored 99th percentile  in ) is 

AR + MK + (2 x VE) where VE = PC + WK.

[VE is called the "verbal" score for short.  The other abbreviations are:

• Word Knowledge (WK)
• Arithmetic Reasoning (AR)
• Mathematics Knowledge (MK)
• Paragraph Comprehension (PC)

]

However to auto qualify for nuclear field you have to satisfy at least one of these formulas:

VE+AR+MK+MC = 252

AR+MK+EI+GS = 252 

One way to get into the nuclear field is to have a high AFQT score plus  good mechanical comprehension score (MC) which is the first formula, but that first formula does not look at electronics or science aptitude at all.  I think people who enter nuclear field by that route along would be destined to become MM's.

The  second formula to qualify requires high electronics information (EI) and general science (GS) scores.  Notice that the second formula does not even consider a person's verbal score, even though to pass  AFQT in the 99th percentile you would  need a very high VE score anyway.  The second formula does not care if you are mechanically inclined either.  I think people who qualify nuke under the second formula and score very high on EI and GS are going to get ET if they want it or else EM.    Notice if a person gets offered ET or EM but not MM, and lets them decide, it would seem they must have passed formula #2.

Why else would they have a second formula that looks at science and electronics knowledge, but disregards mechanical knowledge?  With maybe the ones who score highest in electronics information getting the nod for ET if they want it or as a tie breaker between the ET and EM ratings.  The only time it is really a crap shoot is when a person qualifies for nuke using BOTH formula #1 and #2.

So yes it is the needs of the Navy but I am convinced that to fulfill the needs of the Navy,  NR are looking at your test scores as well as your preference, otherwise it would be silly for the Navy to have one qualifying formula for nuke that biases towards mechanical and a different formula that looks at electronics.

My son had auto qualified under both formulas which MEPS found interesting and he said he would be fine with whatever rating they selected him for but his preference was ET because he had built electronics projects before and like soldering little component onto circuit boards LOL. It was a kind of interesting side note because a week later after he had already qualified they called his recruiter and brought him back to MEPS to take the NAPT exam as part of a "control group" (his original scores did not require the NAPT).

Comment by Archie Bell on December 9, 2011 at 10:57am

If everything is passed how long is Power School?

Comment by old Lt on December 9, 2011 at 7:14am

Bill, have him put the chit in. Mine did a few times and was granted the time.

Comment by old Lt on December 9, 2011 at 6:43am

Just to show that there is a mixed bag for assignments, my son was offered ET or EM at BC and given 2 days to decide. They even let him speak to 2 sailors in those rates to help him decide. He chose EM and is now about to start prototype in GC.

Comment by Bill on December 9, 2011 at 6:32am

Congratulations to class 1149a!  My FN becomes MM3 today!  Great job Pat and friends. 

Weird thing:  they have a month or two of wait for power school, but can only take leave from Dec. 27 to Jan 2 according to his SLPO. 

What happens if he just runs a chit for more?  I understand group leave restrictions in the fleet , but hanging around a base?  Not like they need to get Goose Creek underway in a pinch...

Comment by proud dad Nuke sailor on December 8, 2011 at 10:38pm

Archie, I live on Joe Pool lake just south west of Texas Stadium 

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