How did I wind up doing this for a living after my time as a nuke?

What did you do after serving as a nuke?

After leaving the service nukes may work in industries related to their nuclear training. Some typical paths include getting an Electrical Engineering degree on the GI bill and embarking upon careers in utilities, electricity or electronics related fields.  By tradition, in the old days guys would work in the nuclear power field as reactor operators, or in industries involving electricity (motors, pump), electronics, and semiconductors. My case was usual once I transitioned into a position as a product support engineer working on semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

However, in many instances once their nuke tour was finished the Ex Navy Nuke wound up doing something entirely different than their training and sea tour. One example is a Reactor Operator who ended up as a micro-biologist after going back to college on the GI Bill. I know of another nuclear electrician who would up becoming an architect and an ELT who is now running a marketing company.

Without a doubt many ways exist to making a living whether you are using your nuclear training or not. I find it fascinating on many occasions it is more interesting to look at where guys have gone after getting their DD214’s rather than the path got us into the MEP’s office in the first place.

Are you doing something drastically opposite what you did after your time as a nuke?

Who else but nukes would you expect to work here?

Diablo Canyon Power Plant

I was on a sales call at the Pacific Gas & Electric’s nuclear Power Plant at Diablo Canyon in San Luis Obispo, California.  My goal was to get them to purchase one of our partner’s auto transformers.   As with any highly engineered product in order to ensure the unit could be installed upon arrival we would need to go in and measure the cement pad to ensure our application engineers would be able to design a transformer of the correct size.

Diablo Canyon happened to be a nuclear facility; therefore, we would need to clear security in order to access the location where the transformer would go.  In order to get to the front gate you had to drive seven miles on road overlooking the Pacific Ocean and once you got parked in the Parking Lot and made your way to the administration building you had to pass hordes of Ex-Marines carrying high caliber automatic weapons.

The weather on morning of my arrival was a bit windy when I arrived so I took my Navy issued Pea coat along. It is the ONLY item of clothing left from my original sea bag which was issued to me during my first days in boot camp. The balance of my clothes including the dungarees and all went into a dumpster and soon as I walked through the Makalapa gate at Pearl Harbor for the last time.

As I crossed the checkpoint one of the staff asked if I had ever been in the Navy. Once I confirmed I had served he happened to be an ex nuke which surprised me at first. Later I thought, “I am at a nuclear power facility, where the hell else would you find ex nukes?”

Finally, he asked me if I might be interested in getting a job at Diablo Canyon. The situation was slightly awkward since I boss happened to be standing right next to me.  Once we went into the facility and made our measurements we returned back through the various security checkpoints to where we started. After we started the long drive back to the San Francisco Bay area I thought,” what would I do in a nuclear plant 12 years after my EAOS date and after having entered the dark side of technical sales and marketing?” What would the possibility be of standing some watch as RO after getting qualified?

Then reality kicked back in, since I had temporally forgotten I had been there and done that already thank you very much……

Image courtesy of http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/17/BUA01IDTUO.DTL