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| image of odd looking sailor |
I do not need to tell anyone reading this posting that used to be nukes attending nuke school and completing at least one tour of duty at sea can change a person forever.
Many guys before they become nukes are bright, part of the reason they were able to do well enough on their ASVAB to qualify to go nuke but happened to be bit unfocused and unmotivated which resulted life results, in a lot of ways, below their true ability. Later in life many seemed to get things going in the right direction and amounted to productive lives either after doing a tour and returning to the civilian sector. Perhaps the required mandatory”tac” hours during nuclear power school provided some benefit. O.K., I would not go that far but I will l say the structure has aided in creating many successful ex-nukes.
More specifically, I have picked up subtle habits from my time as a nuke I still do to this day. For example, I still fold my skivvies; I mean underwear, in the same fashion I learned in boot camp. Why you ask? Honestly, I never had the motivation to come up with a better way of doing it.
Another skill I acquired which is a bit more useful than folding underwear is the ability to be able to look through large documents like reactor plant manuals and find the one paragraph or sentence of valuable information within a very short amount of time.
Another habit a number of my shipmates picked up was smoking cigarettes and chewing dip. In the long term the detrimental health effects cannot be questioned but after the first few weeks of a long deployment at sea who wouldn’t need a little bit of nicotine to help get them through. Now if they could quit.
Are there any strange habits you picked up from your time as a nuke?
6 comments:
Even the simplest description must be described in detail. I also developed a very acidic sarcasm. That I had to un-learn.
I think I developed a distinct lack of fear of superiors due to the system of nucs, especially submarine nucs training JO's etc.
this has served me well as the safety engineer at a university research facility when I have to tell PhD's they are not going to do something.
How very interesting DETAILS DETAILS DETAILS, Sarcastic personality, no fear of superiors. The ability to find and recall information quickly, accurately. I was called the walking tech manual on more than one job. (NPTU 7704 last day dropout)
Still jump up and start heading aft when the lights blink, and I've been out for 20 years
Still repeat back instructions of all kinds especially at home. "Vacuum the living room rug, Aye." Still will announce I am having a loss of attitude accident. I and my children wll light off the dishwasher, fans and other assorted devices. Still the first one to notice that the lights have flickered and I have been out for forty years............
Yeah, I fold my skivvy shirts Navy style, have no fear of supervisors or any other authority figures, detail kind of person, made a few thrmosiphon water heaters for hunting shacks and saunas and locals can't figger out how they work, am also a tech manual freak - electric motors good, gasoline engines bad... been out since 1971
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