Military?

[Coyote_Rage]

Any military Active duty or prior in here? If so what branch, job... ?

USAF 14yrs and counting, B-1 Crew Chief

[bszopi]

I spent 6 yrs (93-99) in the Navy on board a fast attack submarine.

[Coyote_Rage]

Reminded me of a joke my Father in law told me whats long hard and full of seamen? A SUBMARINE... HA HA HA HA HA

I know its a lame joke but coming from him its funny as hell.

[robertisaar]

leaving for marine corps basic training in san diego in 3 days.

[Coyote_Rage]

Good luck bud, I couldn't/wouldn't do it not in my prime and definatly not now. It will change you though and I hope you can succeed in your training.

Just a hint... don't volunteer for anything they tell you is a cushy detail, cause it isn't.

[bszopi]

Just a hint... don't volunteer for anything they tell you is a cushy detail, cause it isn't.

Never
Again
Volunteer
Yourself

I agree, good luck. I just had a brother in law go through Army basic and he said it was cake. I know when I went through in 93 it was more lack than "back in the day", but it sure sounds like its getting easier and easier these days. I'm just glad to see people still enlisting with the current world situation. I learned a ton, matured a ton, and had a blast, and I definately would do it again. The only reason I got out was because I was sick of all the political crap surrounding my job (I was a nuclear reactor operator). But I loved going out on cruises on the sub. Its just a totally unreal experience that such a limited number of people get to experience. Of course, I was single back then....

[Coyote_Rage]

The politics get under my skin, but Like my wife tells me only 6 more years then you can give em the finger.

Overall I have had fun, done some neat things in some cool places. Met alot of people, and made alot of friends.

[bszopi]

I'm sure with you dealing with the B1, you have plenty of political issues as well. I know for me, one of the things that just always got under my skin was that the Captain (CO) had to review and approve all of our maintenance items, since we dealt with the controls to the reactor. One time that I vividly remember is spending 2 months developing and fine tuning a maintenance procedure for something that was only done once every 5 years. About a week before performing the procedure, we had the Captain review it. Well, he didn't think it was straight forward enough, even though the people doing the maintenance were the people that wrote the procedure. So he made us rewrite the entire thing his way in 3 days. When we went to do it, his way was so confusing that, IIRC, we basically pulled out our original and do it that way.

Then there was always the issue with the fact that we had to get his permission to do ANYTHING, and that usually didn't happen until after lunch. So we're stuck twiddling our thumbs in the morning and busting our ass doing maintenance at the end of the day.

[Ajaxus]

I'm in the "going to be joining" group..but I've got 2 years of College left first..right now it's looking like the USMC, I think 2 years is more than enough time to get in shape..heh

[robertisaar]

I'm in the "going to be joining" group..but I've got 2 years of College left first..right now it's looking like the USMC, I think 2 years is more than enough time to get in shape..heh

OORAH!

Just a hint... don't volunteer for anything they tell you is a cushy detail, cause it isn't.

gunnery sergeant told me about that already

[merlot566jka]

us navy here. staioned on the good ole cvn 70(carl vinson). im a engineman (EN3). in case you dont know the carriers are nuke powered. i work with the nukes....they are an interesting buch of folks to say the least!

my job is to cover thier ass when the f' up. our diesels provide emergency power. weve never had an emergency...

but right now im in alaska for the JTF Alaskan road project. this place is a joke. im sure im not supposed to bash the military, but if uve been in, you know how it is. this place is ran by army reservist...need i say more?
I leave alaska on sept 2nd and go on teminal leave sept 3rd...

bszopi, im right there with ya...politics are the worst here. ever been in the yards when NRO is in control? i think there is WAF to wipe my ass. and it has to go to control, watch plant officer....wait doesnt the lpo have to sign that first....no its chief...wait youve got to go to 1 plant and get that signed first then bring it down to whats his nuts.....im glad im outa the navy in a couple of months. and yea i volunteered to go to alaska, stupid mistake. i tie a boat (33ft out board boat) to a peir 2 times a day. total of 15 mins of work. when we have an engine related problem, im told to investigate but not touch. theyve contracted out the boat to a local boat shop. so im an engineman who isnt allowed to work on the engines! whisky tango foxtrot. the rest of my day i spend on this forum. to add to the bs out here, ive been here since march, and still havent gotten my family sep pay or the 'hardship duty' pay. im so fed up with the crap ive been delt. and when i get back to my ship im going to shit in my hardhat and leave it on the quarter deck and walk off.

ok off my soap box....

for those of you just going in...its a big game... play along and youll do fine. suck dick and youll make your rank, swallow and youll be rewarded. get the schools you want, and dont let anyone tell you that you 'can't' do something. it just means there too chicken sh!t to do it themselves. make no friends and youll make no enemies. and if you go to thialand or singapore...watch out for that hooker with a penis.

[bszopi]

i work with the nukes....they are an interesting buch of folks to say the least!

Hehe... Yes we are!

And yes, I was in the yard for the first 9 months I was stationed to the sub for a refueling overhaul. Was there when we brought the reactor critical for the first time and everything. Was also there (out in the middle of the ocean) when we had a computer glitch and lost control of the reactor for over a minute. Couple hours later, during troubleshooting, the computer decided to start shutting valves by itself for the reactor. Needless to say, it was not a fun experience. But hey, we basically wrote the book on what to do when shit like that happens since it had never happened before. If you get bored sometime, try looking it up - USS Memphis (SSN691), probably in 1998 sometime, IIRC.

[MeMadMax]

Navy. 4 Years, MM2(SW/AW) U.S.S. Camden(AOE-2), Decommed, using it for target practice. There when we started bombin again. Loved that ship. She was 40 years old, and I single handedly held the #1 MMR together, with a little help from my good buddies: duct tape and bubble gum lol. Made the most water on the evaps and got the most vacumn out of the main engine's and TG's. One time messed up one of the Main feed pump for the boilers (sorry BT's!!!)

[merlot566jka]

Brad...ill look that up some time....sounds like it was a fun expeince!

memadmax, lol, weve all single handedly held something together with duct tape and gum! by the way, bt's are gone. merged with ht's now. i say they got the shitty end of the deal....

[MeMadMax]

Yea, even though BT's are gone they still got segregated when it came to Qual's and such. We had the EngineRoom side and the BoilerRoom side even though technically, they were in the same main space. The guys on the Boilers were more laid back then us, and gungho too. So I was always catchin them sleepin. There was quite a few times were I would be on the upper level and would look down at the BTOW(Boiler Technician On Watch) and he would be PASSED OUT. Since the floor of the upper level is essentially grating so you could look down on the guy..... A bucket of water came in handy in SQUARING that BTOW away. The ensuing chase and flying pipe wrenchs always broke a monotonous watch, and made time fly a little quicker LOL. Oh yea, no offense, EN's suck, all they do is sit next to their EDG all passed out, doing NOTHING, as usual LOL. MR's PN's and the post office guys are JUST AS BAD LOL.