I picked NAV/ET when faced with that same SECF choice at SUBSCOL in 2000, and it was great ! Navigation is the oldest division in the Navy (positional authority is THE NAVY- everyone else is a hired geek), and the electronics used for it are some of the newest. The most rewarding work I did involved the GPS...geospatial intel ROCKS! And, standing radar watch is cool too, because sometimes it is actually YOU that is steering the damn boat. Plus, as an AEF you are not stuck in a chair or standing at the plotter for six hours while on watch, instead you are all over the fwd compartment (that's probably why they stuck me on GEOPLOT after each my AEF watches). And, you are on the bridge ALL THE TIME, plenty to do up there. Who wants to sit around and listen to whale farts as a sonar tech? And besides, FTs have to be on the boat more than anybody when in port, making sure their systems are "go." NAV DIV is the s*** , y'all ! The next thing I would pick after that would be Radioman.

so i just found out that i'm gonna have to do hard math on the boat...math i haven't been taught...and i'm worried...i didn't know secf would be math heavy...i hope i make it now...gah...

For what rating?

Basic algebra and trig is the only math we do, and you can generally fudge the numbers more than you think. The difference between 4,107 yards and 4,216 yards is not enough to worry about from the point of view of an FT...they're both 2 miles.

You may be thinking of the basic electronics portion of school. For that I ask you to remember that school is NOT the boat. You will not be doing that math on baord, you'll be swapping parts and following line diagrams.

The only ETs who do "hard math" on board are the Nuke ETs when they are doing maintenance. Especially calorimetrics, Nuclear Instrument alignments, and such. The rest of you clowns just "pretend". Feh... you're cones... what do you expect

quote:

Originally posted by ErikBloodaxe:
The rest of you clowns just "pretend". Feh... you're cones... what do you expect

How cruel , here he was sweating bullets and you tell him it ain't that bad just to set up he couldn't do the real stuff anyway
Direct hit with all three fish , down she goes
Good hunt put a broom on yer mast

Why the hell would anyone want to be a nuc?

After watching my best friend from school go through that unrewarding hell I made a decision NOT to be a nuc, much to the dismay of my recruiter. Took the test....yeah, I'm able to do 'the real stuff.' I'm just smart enough to tell 'em where to stuff it.

I'm HAPPY when my stuff blows up. And before you get too excited, just remember..."The purpose of the reactor plant and all associated subsystems is to provide power and propulsion to the weapons system."

I'll just stick with mine was support , breathing yougot it , take a dump yougot it , manuvering yougot it , push water around yougot it , submerge AND surface yougot it and a few others . Pure support and I got to play with wrenches and hammers

quote:

Originally posted by ErikBloodaxe:
The only ETs who do "hard math" on board are the Nuke ETs when they are doing maintenance. Especially calorimetrics, Nuclear Instrument alignments, and such. The rest of you clowns just "pretend". Feh... you're cones... what do you expect

Actually that stuff is pretty easy - mostly plug and chug. (just need a good calculator)

quote:

Originally posted by dbil:
Actually that stuff is pretty easy - mostly plug and chug. (just need a good calculator)

Actually, you just described pretty much ALL math... mostly plug and chug.

quote:

Originally posted by nhegge:

quote:

Originally posted by ErikBloodaxe:
The rest of you clowns just "pretend". Feh... you're cones... what do you expect

How cruel , here he was sweating bullets and you tell him it ain't that bad just to set up he couldn't do the real stuff anyway
Direct hit with all three fish , down she goes
Good hunt put a broom on yer mast

Well, I DID put a winkey after it... /shrug...

quote:

Originally posted by ErikBloodaxe:
Well, if you have to be a cone, being a Sonar girl always seemed to be the slackest of the slack. Them and NavETtes 'bout the same.

I worked with the FTs a lot as I was Ships Silencing PO. Never really saw them around much underway. Don't know if it was because they were busy, or just a buncha rack backs. LOL. The FTs do run the LAN, but also have responsibility for ships silencing, and monitoring all the machinery noise. Important job if you want to stay quiet.

Uhhum...I can't confirm..I mean dignify that, I meand deny..anyway...

Any one of those rates are well suited for someone that likes to think and work with things that go zap. By qualifying everything in my specific job rating I was able to qual sonar, AEF, TMOW, ect, so I got to see it all. As far as the most important job..FT. As stated above, when our job was done right, you never heard from us, but if the **** hit the fan, look out because the CO is going to be up your azz. We can make the boat look top notch, but if we are slacker on the sound silencing aspects, the UYK 7's crashed...(they were phasing the 43's in the year I left) or coms aspects...heads will roll.
Man I actually miss it all, too bad I can't go back in. Never get a subdermil hematoma and spend three weeks in coma.

quote:

Originally posted by Bleah:
For what rating?

Basic algebra and trig is the only math we do, and you can generally fudge the numbers more than you think. The difference between 4,107 yards and 4,216 yards is not enough to worry about from the point of view of an FT...they're both 2 miles.

You may be thinking of the basic electronics portion of school. For that I ask you to remember that school is NOT the boat. You will not be doing that math on baord, you'll be swapping parts and following line diagrams.

HAHAHA, TMA kungfu!

Sound silencing for FT's. . .(shakes head). . .Trident girls. . .

On a Trident the FT's are only there so the MT's can live long enough to do their job. You don't fire weapons to kill. . .you fire weapons to "distract."

Oh..I take it you are an MT....do you guys still have jobs? Actually if I'm going to respond to your comment I'll have to get as smart as, lets say a yard rat at Bremerton...Wait, ,,,,owwww, can't do it, it's just a level of stupidity I can't go to...I tired. LOL

And actually, we allow the MT do their job. If XXX went to hell, we'd never huv.

Actually I'm a real FT.
Fast attack tuff
MT - MT's babysit missiles they will never shoot.
FT's on tridents do Sonars Job and babysit MT's who won't shoot. . .by not shooting.

Excuse me!

quote:

Originally posted by Wolfgang808:

IF YOU LOOK LIKE THE CAVEMEN ON THE gEICO COMMERCIAL you could be an A-GANGER

This is what DH says:

"From an FT based in Pearl Harbor...prior to coming to a boat, you're all NUBS who do not have a clue about subs. That's okay b/c we were all there once before, so to you guys, a rate doesn't mean anything b/c when you get to the boat, you're gonna be the grunt for EVERY division forward. Once qualified, FT is by far the best. Even as a junior FT, you're put in very senior positions. Fire control is the backbone. We work with every division forward. Radio-comms, sonar tracking, TMs, weapons, odiv contact management. Basically, we are our own supervisors. I'm on a byg1 boat and since converting from a legacy system, I have been able to enjoy underways a lot more. If you wanna be an FT, you have to be able to take criticism and throw it right back at em. You have to be a quick thinker and you have to be kinda cocky because everyone's going to call you a liar and you'll have to be able to prove yourself right. Words of wisdom to any FT wanna-be: 20kyds, 12kts, 30 degree off the bow...can never go wrong.

As far as the boomer versus fast attack life, you see about the same amount of ports. Boomers just see U.S. Boomers are the way to go if you don't wanna do anything."

PHew...

Well i am going to subschool right now, and they say that you really get a choice in what rate you will be trained in, but the truth of the matter is they put you where they need you..My first choice was FT but i was put into ET Nav, which was one of my last choice. They may say you have a choice but you really dont, unless it is guarenteed in your contract.

It is a shame. When I went in 21 yrs ago we had the choice. But in my case there was a difference between ET/ESM and ET/Nav. They were two different pipelines after A school.