View Full Version : questions about the Navy
Anonymous
12-31-1969, 08:00 PM
I want to join the Navy. I was wondering if anybody could tell me a job that I can wear Cami's and travel alot. OK I Love Cami's and I want a job to where I can travel alot. I dont like those blue uniforms I see. LOL sorry. But could anybody tell me what job in your opinion is the best in the Navy. I am interested in the med. I love the Dental fields. I also wouldnt mind a admin. job or communications or a aircraft mech. But I wouldnt want to work on the engines just eletrical part or I wouldnt mind like a nurse. Actually I love the dental field the best . But in your opinions could you tell me what you would do if you could go back and do it all over again.If you dont like your jobs now. Also can you tell me what you do? Also give me some advice for boot camp.Please email me at twbrdfreak@aol.com. Thanks , SARAH
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twbrdfreak@aol.com
Anonymous
12-31-1969, 08:00 PM
Sarah,** This is in response to your question about the EM rating.Here’s what I remember about being an EM.**I was an EM from E-1 to E-5, when I changed rates.**I went to Basic Electricity/Electronics school (BE/E, self-paced) in Orlando FLA after boot camp, then EM “A” school in Great Lakes Ill.**(About 6 weeks).**I went to a Destroyer Tender homeported in Gaeta, Italy.**We were the 6th fleet flag ship, and tended ships in the Mediterranean.**……**About**ships’ electrical systems:**It’s a 440 volt, 3 phase, ungrounded system. (vice civilian grounded.)**Of course, we also stepped down to 220 and 110volts, and we also had some motor-generators the IC rating maintained that provided 400HZ power.** Played with DC a bit, too.**My ship had a steam plant.**Steam generated in the boilers drove the turbines for the Main Engine and the Ship’s generators.**Newer ships use gas turbines & other methods, & the operators (you) sit in a nice air conditioned console room and press buttons to close & open valves, vice the old sweaty engine and equipment rooms.**…… About the fun work:**Troubleshot and repaired pretty much everything electrical aboard, including wiring & distribution, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration controllers, cranes, elevators, CHT (sewer) controllers, voltage regulators, galley (kitchen) equipment, laundry,**even**small appliances.**Troubleshooting is fault isolation, using prints, schematics, and your brains to solve the mysteries**…….**About the dangerous work:**Changed lightbulbs on the mast and other very high places where I had to “go aloft” in a harness.**Went “over the side” to change lightbulbs on the boat booms, and to connect shore power cables to the side of the ship.**Occasionally, (CO’s permission only, or so they say,) work on live (hot, powered on) circuits.** ……. About Hard/Heavy work:**Pulled & put back in place firepump, ventilation, and other heavy motors with chainfalls and elbow grease.**Heavy, miserable work with chainfalls, grease, sweat and scraped knuckles.** “Pulled” shore power cables between shore & our ship when inport, & to other ships when they needed power from us.**All-shop evolution; the cables are extremely heavy.** ….. About the worst work:**I remember hanging in the overhead in a harness tightening bolts into a ventilation motor over #2 boiler.**The motor’s what “cooled” (if you could call it that) this space, the “fireroom”.**The fireroom contained the boilers that heat the water to make the steam to run the ship (and I don’t know why she swallowed the fly).**Heat stress danger was so high we lined up outside in harnesses drinking water & rotated in somebody new every 20 minutes.**…….**About the best work:**Ship was “dead in the water”, & the Emergency Diesel Generator wouldn’t start.**We were entering “restricted manuevering” ( a channel).**No electricity = no steering.**(No anything.)**We troubleshot the Diesel’s voltage regulator, & I successfully soldered in 2 new diodes in a large bridge rectifier with the Captain anxiously looking on.****….. About the exciting work:**Troubleshooting electrical circuits & solving the puzzles.**Damage control.**Electrician’s are vital to the firefighting party.**We respond to emergencies on & off the ship whenever & wherever they occur.** ……. About the boring work:**“Electrical safety checks”.**Every piece of electrical equipment aboard must be checked at least annually, most more often.**(“Open, short, good, good, next…”)**Running cables throughout the ship.**PMS (Preventative maintenance.**“Clean and inspect uptiscratch equipment”.) Paperwork.**(Every job.)** ….**About watches/duty: Engineering electrician’s stand engineering watches, not guard-type watches.**Our watches were in the engineroom.**I’d monitor the steam turbine generators & ship’s switchboards, make adjustments to frequency & voltage, & adjust the ship’s amp/kw load between generators.**Brought generators up & down, & paralleled them.**Would isolate grounds and / or problems from the switchboard, and respond to fires or other casualties in the electrical plant.** Would also stand watches in steering, emergency diesel, the bridge, the mooring stations, etc.**Wherever vital electrical equip is used, an EM is usually there when in Special Sea & Anchor details.**……….About rewind:**Motor rewind is a great school.**Took it as a reservist after I got out.**DON’T take it while you’re in, unless you want to be stuck with what I consider the very tedious task of rewinding motor windings in a repair shop all day.**….About advancement:** It’s bad for them right now.**Promotion opportunities in the upper paygrades are terrible.**This may change, though.**….. About civilian skills:**Oh, you betcha.**Can definitely carry over to your civilian work when your military time’s over.****…..**About sea time:**Yep, you’ll do it.**It’s a very large rating, so you’ll likely have a lot of choices of places to go.**EMs are needed just about everywhere.**In general:**Electricians know their ship inside & out.**They have to, if they’re to be worth a damn.**They know everybody.**They work everywhere, in & outside the ship, in everybody’s work spaces.**They save the day & are the heroes when they fix the crew’s berthing thermostat.**They’re the villains of the day when they don’t get the galley grill fixed in time and everybody’s eating cold cuts.**They work inside & outside.**They work with their brains & also their brawn.**They’re called “fresh air snipes”, because although they’re an Engineering rating, they don’t spend all their time in enginerooms.**They work hard & play hard.**Personally, I loved being an EM.**My hope is that this gave you a little sampling of some of the good and bad things you might encounter.**P.S.**EMs don't normally wear cammies unless they're in security, which in my opinion is a yucky, boring, thankless job.**Sorry!**=)** P.P.S.**Hospital Corpsmen often get stationed with Marine units, & then they wear cammies.**Can't tell you a whole lot about that, though.
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wjungle@pacbell.net
Anonymous
12-31-1969, 08:00 PM
OK, now travel.**When I was stationed from the East coast in the Mediterranean area of ops, I visited most of Italy (Venice, Rome, Vatican, Naples, Milan, etc), France (Nice, Marseille, Paris, Notre Dame, Versailles, etc), Israel (Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Massada, Galilee, Wailing Wall, etc) Spain, (Palma, Barcelona, etc) Germany, Switzerland, Sicily, Cuba, Bahamas, Jamaica.**Others in the Med have also visited the British Isles, Turkey & Egypt, but I missed them.** When I was stationed from the West coast in the Pacific, I visited Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Japan, Guam, Hawaii, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong.** Others also hit Africa, Australia & some other cool spots.**Haven’t been there yet myself, but expect I will within the next 3 or 4 years.** I’m sure I’ve left out some countries I’ve been in, but I think you get the picture.** If you really want to see the world, it’s doable.** If you’re interested in a lot of foreign experience, consider a ship that’s stationed overseas, especially the Med.**There’s also some shore duty stations overseas.**If you take one in Europe, you can get around over there easily, cheaply & quickly on their train systems.** I think there’s a pretty big Navy hub in Naples.**Also, after “A” school, consider carefully which coast you choose.**It’s very hard to “switch coasts” down the line, unless you go to shore overseas in between, or**get a school on the coast you’re wanting to switch to.**It’s a funding thing.**After you get out, the Navy’ll send you home to your home of record if you want.**Kinda cool.**Don’t know if this helped or not- let me know if you want any specifics.**
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wjungle@pacbell.net
Anonymous
12-31-1969, 08:00 PM
Sarah:Whoa!**Slow down.... please don't make a decision based on uniforms... otherwise please be a marine... they do have the best uniforms but few of us have that special mind set required to be a good marine... plus I hate to tell you unless you are a stick, cammies are comfortable enough but make you look huge... not my idea of everyday attire...Sounds like you have a lot of interests... have you taken the ASVAB?? How did you do in school, are you in college, what do you LOVE to do???**Those are the things that need to be foremost on your mind...Getting a job that is a good fit with your personality and skills is a much better combination for success than anything else that I could recommend... getting up and going to a job that you hate, or even don't like, is a special hell on earth... don't go there... now, if you are going for a college fund or other noncareer purpose, focus on fun... but, if the Navy is a potential career move for you choose a rate that is not historically overmanned... this will make promotion possibility greater and widen your choice of duty stations... also, if you choose to be a corpsman or dental technican don't elect to get specialized training in a field such as Oral surgery, cardiothoracic surgery technician... these fields will tie you to larger and often US based facilities.Getting promoted in the dental and hospital corps fields is exceptionally competitive and will required tons of commitment and hard work... while those assigned to marine units get the option to wear cammies they usually wear the typical Navy uniform otherwise.**There will be opportunities to volunteer for collateral duties such as Auxilliary Security Force which will allow you to do law enforcement and wear cammies.After making second class (E5) you can cross rate, if the requirements don't change, to master at arms and have the uniform that you prefer...Anyway, take a look in your heart and if it is "beating Navy blue" go for it.... otherwise, don't do it.
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sprice1@home.com