| Topic Name: |
Should I join the Military? |
| Message Name: |
More more info on Submarines |
| Date Posted: |
06/08/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
Hey BGS,
OK, you asked for it:
1) Life on the "boat": As you may or may not know, a Los-Angeles class fast-attack submarine (the one I was on) is about 360 feet long. We have a crew of about 150-160 men (no women, at least not yet). The diameter is about 33 feet. When you show up as a JO, you'll probably get a bunk in a 6'X8' berthing area with 8 other officers or enlisted mixed. I'm not kidding. No desk, personal space, "frills." All the room you have to store your stuff is underneath the mattress, in an area we call a "coffin." It's about 4" thick and it runs the entire lenth of your bed. Now, imagine going out to sea for extended periods of time (we've been known to be underway as long as 90+ days, although this is usually rare), seeing the same people day in, day out, no sunlight, just flourescent lighting and white paint. It can get pretty dull. And God help you if your Captain/Executive officer are raging lunatics (as was the case when I reported). So, that's the bad news. On the plus side, eventually you will graduate to a stateroom as you become more senior which is always shared with a Department Head (your boss). It's about 6'X5', but you only share it with two other dudes. It's about as good as it gets on a sub, unless you're the CO or XO, they get their own staterooms. There's also two desks in each stateroom which can fold up to make more room. You also get a LOT more space for personal stuff. As far as command climate goes, I got lucky about a year after I had been onboard, because my second CO and XO were AWESOME. I would follow those guys anywhere. They made a hard job much, much better. As far as duties go, you'll have charge of a division, and you'll be responsible for pretty much everything that goes on in it, like training, maintenance, any disciplinary actions (usually rare on subs), etc. That part is pretty cool, the amount of responsiblity you get. If you go on a fast attack submarine, expect to spend a lot of time out to sea, but you'll get to see some pretty cool places. I've done two Western Pacific deployments and have been to India, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and Guam. I wouldn't give that up for the world. But you'll be putting in long days, usually standing a 6 hour watch every day and then doing divisional tasks or whatever else after that. It's hard to put my finger on it and explain to you in terms you'll understand without having "been there, done that," but I hope this gives you a feeling of why I'm glad to be on shore duty right now. |
| Message: |
2) Educational opportunities: I've done extensive research on this. Yes, it is possible for you to get an MBA while you're active duty, but it's extremely difficult to do it in your first five years in. The reason for this is that you're first year and a half is learning all about naval nuclear power and then about how submarines work. The nuclear power stuff is no joke man. You get 40 hours a week of classroom lectures, and then you have to study between 20-40 hours on top of that in your off hours. That's a six month school. Then you get another six months at a prototype training unit where you learn how to actually operate a plant. That's some more 12 hour days. Then you get 3 months in Groton, CT, where you learn all about submarines. That school is immensely easier than the other two, almost a vacation compared to them. Then you've got three years on a boat, and you will be plenty busy, although some guys have gotten degrees during their sea tours. Most of the guys get a degree in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University becuase ODU credits you with the training you got in nuke school. But it's no MBA. Here in Naples, there's a Navy College program and University of Phoenix offers an MBA online, but probably not your best choice if you're looking for a qualtity education, but the price is right. I'm sure there's other opportunities out there for online MBAs. There are several other programs you can use to get a graduate degree. One is Tuition Assistance. If you choose to use this, the Navy will pay up to $250 per course, you buy the books. However, in the fine print on that one, you owe an extra two years of active duty from the day you complete your last course. I opted not to do that. Another is the GI Bill, but I'm not sure if you would be able to qualify for that or not. Also, if you're from TX or IL (like me), they have veterans programs available where you can go to any public university there and get a grad degree. That's the one I'm pursuing. There may be more states out there with similar programs, but I know for IL at least, you have to have been a resident for at least 6 months before you went in to qualify for this one. There's a couple more cats and dogs out there, but I am reluctant to give you info on them because I don't know them well enough and don't want to give you bad gouge. I highly recommend you talk to a recruiter or a ROTC unit at your school to get more info from the horse's mouth. Lastly, there's one pretty sweet deal for sub guys looking for an MBA. Every year, they pick one guy to go to Wharton immediately following his sea tour. As you can imagine, it's pretty competitive. Of course, you owe the Navy another 3 year sea tour on a boat for that one, but a great opportunity nonetheless.
Wow, I feel spent. I hope this helps you out a bit more. I could go on and on but I think the webmaster would find out where I live and molest me if I wrote any more. Best of luck to you and if you have any more questions, throw them out here.
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