Speaking of nuclear power, let's get into that. Of the two options I have current knowledge of, I pretty well know the most about this field. I was given a fairly informative booklet upon leaving the office, and the senior Petty Officer there told me he had a direct line to someone who works in nuclear power, and so he tends to have some clout in that area and can get some stones rolling when people interested in the field come in for enlistment. So that right there is a bit of a plus.
What Navy nuclear power deals with, mainly, is the understanding of the theory, construction, usage, and such of the nuclear reactors powering many of the Navy vessels. If I go into this field, I'll most likely end up stuck on either a recent-class submarine or an aircraft carrier, so I can pretty well look forward to a good stretch of maritime deployment.
However, before that, there's a bit more stuff that has to happen. I have to graduate BT, of course, and after that I'd be shipped down to Charleston, SC for a collegiate schooling in the nuclear power field. I looked at the curriculum, and a lot of what they have to teach you I've either already had or was taking at the time, so that right there is a very good sign.
I did get a bit nervous when I read about being on a Navy college campus, I'll admit. The first thought in my head was: "Oh no, I'm going straight back to a college environment; am I going to have classes at varied times on variable days, like so many here, here, and here on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and so many here and here on Tuesday/Thursday; I know how easy it was for me to slip out of a routine and become vegetative in that setting; I do not want to set myself up for failure."
So I called the office yesterday to ask about it, and the senior Petty Officer's response pretty well allayed my fears. He told me that the Navy had done a good deal of research into how best to prepare its cadets with the necessary information, and what they decided on was essentially an all-day learning process (sort of like primary and secondary school was), and then a test over the covered material at the end of each week. It keeps the students in a solid rhythm (unlike the variable schedule at my college), and it breaks up the amount of material absorbed into week-long increments, so that at the end when they test over stuff, everything's pretty well built up in your head already. It's still military, of course, so it's going to be something like wake-up-and-dressed at 5:30 in the morning, lights-out at 10:00 in the evening, and there will probably be some free time stuff in the evenings.
Anyway. Like I said, hearing that sort of put me more at ease about the program, because what I need (and I told the recruiters this) is structured environment where I can reteach myself discipline-of-habits, and knowing that I won't be going back to the same old stuff is a big relief.
Did I mention I'd be getting paid to go there? It's basically the same as above; as soon as I get out of BT I'm considered an employee of the Navy, so I start getting a per-month salary right when I head down to Charleston. However, the nuclear power field is, according to the senior Petty Officer, a hot field right now, and one of the few remaining with a sign-on bonus. I don't know how much that is, or if it conflicts with the post-service education fund stuff. What I do know is that going in as a nuclear power guy means I automatically start at an E-3 pay grade, instead of E-1. This means that instead of drawing ~$1,460/mo, I'd be earning more like ~$1,730/mo, which is pretty significant to a guy who's had no paying job for almost five years now.
Man. I can't even imagine what I'd do with seeing that much money regularly appear in my account every month. And it's not affected, yet, by things like residence or food or stuff, since I'd be housed on campus and eat in the mess hall and be given uniforms (I imagine). Any civilian stuff I'd have to buy on my own, but I'm so used to not worrying about having stuff that I don't know what I'd do when I'm suddenly able to have stuff.
Jeeze.
Anyhow. After the basic schooling there (which looked to be about ten or twelve individual courses, at least), I'd either stay at Charleston or go up to some place in New York for some further familiarisation with submarine/carrier reactor operation, and then after that I'd be shipped out on ... a ship.
>_>
Shut up.
SO. Checked some info on the subs and carriers, and it's a pretty drastic shift between them.
Submarines have a total crew complement of 163 people (15 officers and 148 enlisted men); enlisted men stay in the 16 U-shaped bunk rooms, so it'll be just like college!; there's a library on board that can hold about eight people, there's prerecorded television (since obviously a stealth vessel can't, you know, be broadcasting and receiving transmissions all the damn time), and there's a decent gym (which I'll probably know how to use finally). Pretty small quarters, sure, and I think that's the reason women can't serve on subs yet. That, and I have no desire to entertain what happens when people get into relationships in that small proximity.
Carriers have huge crew by comparison; I didn't get an exact number, but the analogy used was "akin to a small, seaworthy town", which I think is specific enough. They have their own closed-captioned television stations, much larger libraries, and various other stuff.
So clearly the environment for either option is radically different. I'm pretty certain that if I was on a carrier I'd have more opportunity for outside access, but at the same time it is still a US military vessel, and I imagine that such outside access would be somewhat restricted, or at least heavily monitored, because having someone continually send out compromising messages, possibly concerning vessel locations ... well, you get the idea.
But yeah. I consider this just as exciting a possibility as the Linguistics direction, and I'm not sure which one I'd choose yet. I also don't know what other things I might be offered, assuming I pass my physical (which I think I will), so there's still a great deal I don't know.
Oh man, is there ever a bunch I don't know. That's what's neat about this, really: the part where I have almost no idea what I'm getting into while at the same time knowing it's the right thing to do.
