A discussion about submariners šŸ¬ āš“ļø

I was having lunch with DD and started chatting with a family seated next to us. I asked the son what he service selected. He said submarines and I said to him that obviously he has done well in school. He asked me if there was a sub draft back when. I told him yes there was, but it was never a concern of mine (if you catch my drift). My roommate volunteered for subs and met the man himself. Admiral Rickover. My roomie recounted the story on how Admiral Rickover yelled at him a threw him out of his office. During the interview he responded to question with "Yes, sir." Admiral Ricker told my roomie not to call him "sir". To which he responded, "Yes, sir".

My roommate served on a boomer (ballistic submarine). He left the service after a spat with his second CO. He had orders in hand to be an admiral's aide which would allow him to stay in Charleston. The new CO had him extended onboard, so he lost the orders. He went into the venture capital world and called me up when he was on business in the Silicon Valley. We had him over for dinner. Over wine we swapped "back in the day" sea stories. He talked about the time his boat was at sea and he was bringing it to PD (periscope depth) in rough weather. The whole time he was recounting the story it was like it happened on a watch he stood four hours before dinner. At the end of story, he said wistfully, "I wish I stayed in."
 
The Rickover Story sea chest overflows.

Back when there was a career path split in carrier command between conventional and nuke, aviators had to go see ADM R for an interview before they were allowed in his school pipeline for their ā€œnuke 101 for nuke carrier aviator skippersā€ course. If you didnā€™t go that way, you had a shot at going back to sea as an Air Wing Commander (CAG) bonus command, then a deep-draft command, then your conventional carrier. DH went for his interview, was told to sit and wait until R was ready for him, and under no circumstances to leave. After 2.5 hours, he went to the head. Within a minute R came storming in after him and said, ā€œI guess you donā€™t want to have nuclear carrier command, then.ā€ DH respectfully agreed he did not. He cheerfully went right back to sea duty as CAG, flying everything they had and definitely happy to not be in the nuke schoolhouse. He had air wing command, deep draft ship command, COS battle group afloat, then conventional carrier. Years of back-to-back sea duty with flying orders, and 4 at-sea commands over his career, including his Tomcat squadron. Happy as a clam, all he ever wanted since he did his first aerobatics hop in flight school and all plans for getting out and flying for the airlines vanished.

My OCS company officer had just come from being his aide. More stories. Legendary.
 
Every nuke in my class interviewed personally with Admiral Rickover and there are lots of stories told about it. Based on many that I've heard, I believe that most were just a few minutes with Adm R.
Personally I selected regular (conventional) SWO and never expected to have to see Admiral Rickover for even the few minutes that my nuke peers experienced. Then my order to first ship changed and I went to a precommissioning (brand new) nuclear powered Cruiser and when we went out on Sea Trials, I and my shipmates got to spend 3 days with him. I do have a number of stories including getting yelled at by him.

At that point in time the USN had three very old and retired Admirals who were on active duty because they were recalled. Admiral Rickover, Admiral John Bulkeley (Medal of Honor) and Admiral Grace Hopper. I was fortunate to not only experience two of them up close and personal, I also got my butt chewed by both, especially Adm Bulkeley. *

* In both cases, my CO understood my position and did not punish me at Fitrep time.

PS: Later, as a civilian, I served as aide to Admiral Wayne Meyer when he consulted at my company for a couple of weeks. He is widely known as the "father of Aegis" and was very similar to Adm Rickover and not easy to deal with.
 
My dad lives and breathes submarines. Iā€™m not sure I ever have or ever could meet someone who loves a submarine more than my dad. He served 30 years, interviewed with Rickover, has a salty sea story for just about every occasion and probably convinced DH it was the path he wanted. And it was for a while. Family lore is no matter the dinner conversation, dad can somehow circle it back to a submarine. I was born the day my dadā€™s boat was taken out of dry dock. In order to stay married he opted to be at the hospital when I was ā€œundockedā€ instead of the shipyard, and trust his XO. Iā€™ve done a dependents cruise both pregnant and when my mom was pregnant. 9 man racks are not built for pregnant bellies. There was no rolling over during a nap in that thing. His retirement speech started with how when he was a little boy he wanted to fly but didnā€™t have the eyesight. Instead he went on to make a significant impact in his area of expertise. His experience was included in ā€œthat bookā€. He was the first to do some things. He managed to find a contracting job for years after the Navy that kept him involved at the waterfront and with everything to do with Naval Reactors. His face lights up when he talks about the good old days. Thereā€™d be no need for a ā€œdraftā€ if my dad was put in charge of recruitment šŸ˜†. The sailors on board are some of the brightest you will find anywhere. The youngest sailor is typically the one actually steering the boat, with orders of course. My older brother served 20 years aboard subs and my husband just under 10 before his lat transfer. The Dolphin Scholarship Foundation is very important to us. The family community is much more cohesive than any other part of the navy Iā€™ve been involved with. Hubā€™s first XO and his wife are godparents to our youngest now. Itā€™s just ā€¦. Special.
 
Also in terms of training pipeline, 20yrs ago when DH did this there were nuke school classes forming up in June August and Oct. All in Charleston SC. There 6 months then half of the class go to upstate NY, half stay there for 6 months of prototype (practice what you learned). Then 12 weeks of SOBC (sub officer basic course) in Groton CT to learn how the front half of the boat works, navigates, dives, fires etc. Then report to first boat. Pretty standard to do one 3yr JO tour and still have to do at least a partial shore tour to hit the 5yr mark. But theyā€™ll try throwing more money at you first. At that point with your education and experience you are very valuable to a civilian nuclear power program. DHā€™s bff was a rocket scientist, funded MIT masters directly after USNA. Then five and dive (served on the USS Rickover and met his wife a few times) before being hired up quick by GE to work with ballistic something or other and then uranium enrichment after that. Now is the COO of a successful startup making big bucks and travels the globe doing something along those lines, way over my head.
 
I have a lot of respect for the professionalism of Officer and Enlisted Submariners. Great command opportunities --two of my company mates had submarine commands. Subs weren't for me ..I prefered ASW ! (and as a poli sci major never had to worry about a draft).

Funny nuke "interview" story .... Back in the day , part of Second Class Protramid included driving the YP's down to Norfolk/Little Creek, and doing ship tours for a couple days. We were having lunch in the wardroom of a CGN (nuke cruiser), and one of our officers who was a surface nuke (LT Bristow if I recall correctly) asked me what I thought about the ship and what it would take to get me to go surface nuke --I looked at him, kinda chuckled and said "the threat of having to go subs instead." He was one of the good Company Officers and had a sense of humor and laughed. (One of my Company Officers was also a surface nuke, probably wouldn't have had the same sense of humor).
 
DTT!FSA! said:
Interesting stuff here:

https://www.usna.edu/AdminSupport/_files/USNAINST_1301.5L_Midshipmen_Service_Assignment.pdf

Page 10 lists the ADSO for each community. Looks like SWO is still 5 years from commissioning.
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Minimum service obligation is currently 5 AD + 1 SELRES + 2 IRR. All officers must serve no less than 6 years of active duty or SELRES service and no less than 8 years total (i.e. OCS would be 4 AD + 2 SELRES + 2 IRR).

If you leave active duty before 8 years you must accept a reserve commission if offered.

NAVADMIN 303/23 made this change relatively recently; still hasn't caught up with some folks. It is also retroactively applicable to officers commissioning Oct 1, 2020 and later. DOD requirement is 8 years of service, and the Navy can change how 8 years are spent at any time.
 
Devil Doc said:
Submariners won the Cold War. Single handedly.
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This is the theme of at least 20% of dadā€™s stories šŸ˜‚. He likes to talk about how his command had an ā€œunlimited budgetā€ during the Reagan administration. I feel like theyā€™d cap it somewhere, itā€™s not the Air Force šŸ˜‹
 
Gnarlygoat27 said:
This is the theme of at least 20% of dadā€™s stories šŸ˜‚. He likes to talk about how his command had an ā€œunlimited budgetā€ during the Reagan administration. I feel like theyā€™d cap it somewhere, itā€™s not the Air Force šŸ˜‹
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I was E-4/E-5 during Reagan and remember the big pay raise. My memory is also added by research of the 600 ship plan. Congress signed off on funding the construction of more ships to rebuild after Vietnam. Then the submariners won the Cold War and congress backed out and the Fleet never reached the target of 600 ships. It came close however.
 
I went Air Force because I didn't want to see the world through a porthole or never see the world for six months. I could have gone with rank with Seabees as a former civilian heavy equipment operator but they were doing six month rotations to SEA. Got there anyway a few years later.
 
AF6872 said:
I went Air Force because I didn't want to see the world through a porthole or never see the world for six months. I could have gone with rank with Seabees as a former civilian heavy equipment operator but they were doing six month rotations to SEA. Got there anyway a few years later.
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John Wayne was a Seabee.
 
He was a lot of things {sergeant Stryker) never was a welder's helper on a gas pipeline ran a side boom on a pipeline dig seven days a week ten hours a day (big bucks) or a long boom Manitowoc or P&H on a nuclear power plant. He was still the best from Stagecoach on. Always loved the cavalry movies with John Ford but The Quiet Man was the best
 

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The Fighting Sea Bees: One of the better movies about WW2 made during WW2.

Flying Leather Necks: Really just Sgt. Striker in a Hell Cat, but as a kid I loved that movie

In Harms Way: A favorite ā€¦ā€¦.. Due for a re-make, with CGI it could be awesome

Westerns:
1) Hondo
2) Rio Bravo
3) Sons of Kate Elder
 
Interrupting this thread of great stories asking for advice on how to get where you all are. DS is sitting on the waitlist of his top 2 plans Nuclear Engineering/submarines, USNA and U Mich( has the NROTC scholarship). He has a solid high school resume and is concerned he will not be able to top it with leadership and extracurricular roles at a plan C college while waiting to reapply next year. Currently in hand, needing a decision soon, 2 out of state universities, USAFA, USMA, potentially enlisting Navy. He has not visited any of his current options. He knows if he chooses the other academies, Subs will be off the table. If he chooses another college, he feels it will be difficult to top his high school application. Can you offer parental or professional advice as he sorts through options this week?
 
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