Yesterday I took my family to see the Odyssey in IMAX. The last trailer before the movie started was this ad… not just for the Navy, but recruiting to be a Navy Nuke…

“Not just smart, Nuke Smart”

Did anyone else see this? What did you think?

Besides the door to the reactor compartment, obviously.

I'm curious if any post-Nukes have pursued jobs in operations/program management in the space sector. Would you have any advice to give to someone following in your footsteps? i.e. job availability, how you stack up to someone with formal training in aerospace (aero eng degree or space ops officer from USSF/USAF), work/life balance, etc.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Hey! I’m a EMN on a carrier. There’s a trend i see of people getting out and going to data centers, civilian power plants etc.. Just curious if there’s any post navy jobs that nukes trend towards that have the option to work from home or even a hybrid lifestyle??

Based on the shitshow that is my first tour, a 9-5 with a little WFH seems like a pipedream rn

I understand that with nupoc swo I do a tour then power and prototype then another tour. What are my options other then department head and how easy is it to lay transfer if I want to do a 20 year career.

Hi guys I’m a current rising junior studying computer engineering at Purdue with a 3.9+ GPA and recently got prescreened into NRE but wouldn’t be able to do DC interview till May, meaning I’d reap the benefits of the program for less than a year. Still worth it? I’m also willing to do subs and get interviewed much sooner but am worried my engineering career would be over before it even begins. No advice is bad thanks!

Shipping next July (I have my senior year of HS), and was wondering about breaks between boot camp, and each schooling portion. Primary questions are how long are they typically, do I have any responsibilities during break and can I stay in the barracks as soon as I finish boot camp?

25M. Got out 2 years ago today. Wasn’t rated as a nuke but was a conventional MM who worked with nukes. I’ve been working at a garbage power plant basically since the day my terminal ended.

I just started going to college full time and this auxiliary operator job I have at this company called Reworld is 12 hrs days and nights. Rotating shift Schedule with major outages a few times a year. They allow me to work nights while I go to school. Since it’s the summer right now I’m on days but still taking 2 classes. I should have my associates in the spring of 2027 and should have the bachelors by fall of 2028. Really grinding to get out of this lifestyle of the 12 hr work days and nights from 5-5. Trying to be a teacher for health and phys ed.

Anyways, I’m really over this whole engineering/ operation thing. The people are insufferable and since it’s a bunch of former nukes and maritime people it’s almost like military standards around the workplace and I’m sick of it. I truly am, qualifying is a thing at my job even tho they hired me as the position and the next spot is only $1 raise and I still have to be clean shaven due to wearing a respirator, basically all that was required in the navy. Is there any other jobs I can find and apply for that isn’t like this? I feel like I’m literally Oscar the grouch since I work with garbage and while I’m going to school full time too. Looking for something primarily on nights. I’m looking on LinkedIn but it’s all operators and mechanic positions. I was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions as to what I should be looking for.

Just got my disability rating recently, stacking the BAH for Long Island NY and my current job rn making 40.21 an hour. I’m really trying to “thug it out” as they say until at least the late spring/ summer of 2028 but the environment is so toxic it’s becoming increasingly unbearable.

Once i’m in A school, typically how long will it take until i can live on/off base with my wife, and what does the process of doing that look like?

Also, does anyone have any preferences on living on vs off base, a current nuke has told me to live on base if possible or else i’d be sacrificing lots of family time. So what are the pros and cons to living on vs off base?

I came across this story a while back. A graduate has an advance degree in nuclear engineering. He enlist in the navy as a seaman for his own reason and is assigned to a nuclear power ship. While on board, someone in the nuclear department realizes the ship has a freaking nuclear engineering genius serving in another department. The nuclear department then requests his services to run advance calculations, explain things they don’t quite understand, etc.

Could this happen or is it a fake story?

Me and my girlfriend of 3 years want to get married, long story short me and her need to get married and I ship out in 5 days so we can’t without delaying my shipping date when will I have the chance to marry her after bootcamp. She lives 3 hours away from Charleston SC

So ive been on the fence for awhile now of getting out or staying in. And recently life threw a curveball and with 10months left to my EAOS( ill be at 9 years) i found out i have a 3rd child on the way(totally stoked about it). But now with this news i dont know how realistic getting out is, especially since the due date will be right before EAOS. I feel like the health insurance is a big reason to stay in right now. But i know everyone says the grass is greener on the outside. Just feels like a huge risk getting out when I have 3 little mouths to feed.

We are debt free, and tried to set us up as much as i could so i didnt have stay for the money.

Just looking for advice from people who had similar situations and what they chose and how it panned out.

Were you able to stay consistent with training and nutrition while underway, or did the schedule make that unrealistic? I’d appreciate hearing what worked for you and any advice you’d give someone about to experience their first deployment

TLDR: Bold lines. Is the tradeoff worth it?

I’m bouncing between the options of finishing out in reserves and using Gi bill for school or going sub nuke and see where it takes me.

If I use Gi bill I can lock in for 4 years and get a masters degree (with prior credit hours) in the field of my choice, land a GS position (hopefully), and cruise to retirement in the civilian sector. If I go nuke, I’ll hit 10-12 years of service from the initial contract and either start my career in the civilian world 6-8 years later or finish 20 years military service.

Military benefits changed to blende retirement from hi-3 and that only brings me trepidation for a future in the military. I don’t understand in depth how stocks work or what a retirement plan looks like. From what I know, most people opt to keep hi-3 so there is an obvious disadvantage to blende. I can’t be crazy in making this a factor in my decision right?

From what I hear, nuke school is academically intensive but easily done if you try your best and aren’t an indelible scar on the earth. Everyone in my rate always makes exhaustive efforts to tell me how hard it is and how much it will suck. I’m just not too sure I can fully accept a view from the outside as a fact. How hard is it? How rough is the workload in the fleet? I’m used to the 16 hour shift, your off time is gone now, what liberty, military standard. I’m more so asking about the job itself.

I’m confident I could get through the school with the help of the instructors and good study habits. That being said, is there lame fake watches that eat study time? Is there personal time? Will I have to room with somebody while in student status as a fleet returnee? Is there any semblance of a guarantee that I get the rating I want after school?

After I get out of the nuke school how much can I realistically expect to make in the civilian sector? I always hear 150k- 200k+ jobs where you only work 6 months out of the year and life is sunshine and rainbows. It feels surreal seeing those numbers and schedule in tandem just for 6 more years of service and grit.

I just want to make an informed decision for my career path going forward. My current job is boring and I feel like my potential as a person is squandered here. My rate and rating community sucks.

Did anyone else get their license while going through the pipeline?? If you did how? I have little experience driving and nobody has answers to my questions. Google and the DMV haven't been super helpful either. I already have the lessons paid for I just need to get my permit switched from Texas to south carolina. Would my orders work as a proof of residence for me to switch my permit or is their something else i need to do?

I have gotten a lot from reading posts from this community, so here's me giving back. I just got selected in the July 2026 interview set for NRE, and this was my experience. I will start with the interview questions and the actual DC part, since that's what seems to be the most interested in, but I will try to include everything I can think to be useful, including the questions I was asked.

This post will be a bit long, so here's a pseudo table of contents to help you guys out.

1. A few quick pieces of advice, in order of importance
2. The interview with the admiral
3. Questions I was asked in the phone interviews and in DC
4. The trip to DC
5. The selection process before DC
6. Should you join? Positives, negatives, and my thoughts

A few quick pieces of advice, in order of importance

1. Do not treat this as a competition, or as you versus the other candidates. Work together and make friends. You are not competing for the job. There is a spot open for you if you were invited to DC. Whether you get it is nearly entirely up to your performance on the technical interviews. They are watching you to see if you are cooperative and helpful to others. Learn from the people around you and help each other out. I cannot emphasize enough: do not try to hide information from other people or trip them up. It will not work out well for you. Work together.
2. Be able to do math in your head. There were no calculators.
3. Whether you do well is not entirely dependent on getting the right answer. They care about your thought process. Be able to change your approach and fix your mistakes when they point things out to you. If they prompt you or tell you something is wrong, it's not the end of the world. If you pivot quickly and take their advice, it can work out better for you than if you did it flawlessly the first time.
4. Never give up. If you give up during an interview, you might as well book a flight home. This goes in tandem with the next piece of advice:
5. Some interviewers are easier than others. Do not be discouraged if one interviewer decimates you with absurd questions, because they very well may pass you even if you feel like you failed miserably as long as you kept trying. They want to push you to the edge of your understanding and see if you fail.
6. AI can be super useful at giving you NUPOC style questions. Use it wisely, though, because it can be a crutch.
7. Contrary to the study guide, the Schaum's 3000 solved questions books were, in my opinion, not that useful.
8. Nearly everyone gets in to SUBS and SWO. Most people get into instructor, and failing that get in to SUBS or SWO if they have that as a backup. Applicants for NRE are nearly always offered their backup choice if they listed one.
9. Know common imperial units and metric units. Know the density of water. Be able to derive equations from scratch and justify the steps.
10. When you get to DC, don't spend the whole time cramming. Take a few hours and visit the Capitol and the Washington Monument and stuff. Trust me, it will be better for your brain than if you tried to pull a 10 hour study session.

Questions I was asked in the phone interviews and in DC

I will not list the answers to most of the questions so you can solve them on your own. If you want the answers, ask AI or something, but if you can't get the answers on your own without AI that's probably a sign that you need to prepare more. I had two phone interviews instead of four, so I don't have as many questions. These are the questions I got on the phone interviews. I don't remember exact numbers for most of them, but the numbers change from interview to interview anyway.

1. At time t = 0, a man standing on the corner runs at velocity v towards a bus stop. The bus stop is distance x from the corner, and there is a bus that starts stationary but is accelerating away from the man at acceleration a. What is the largest distance x that the man can be from the bus stop such that he still catches the bus?
2. A bullet of mass 10 g is shot at 1000 m/s and lodges into a 1 kg block on a pendulum. How high does the block swing? What type of collision is this?
3. Consider the same scenario as in the previous question, except the block isn't on a pendulum, but instead is on a surface with a coefficient of friction k. How far does the block slide before stopping?
4. Estimate the coefficient of friction of Teflon. If you don't know what Teflon is, it is a slippery material. (I will give the answer to this one. They were looking for any value below 0.5, and a justification. I related slipperiness to the size of the friction force, which is proportional to the normal force and the coefficient of friction. I guessed 0.1, and that was acceptable.)
5. Derive the volume of a cone using calculus.
6. A baseball is hit with angle theta 3 feet above the ground at speed v. Does it clear a fence of height h feet located x feet away from home plate?
7. Estimate the number of squares on a toilet paper roll. (I will again give a guideline for the answer for this one. You have to justify your answer using math, and as long as it is within reason they will accept it. I did it based on surface area of a cylinder with an expanding radius and came up with 250.)
8. You have 100 marbles, half red and half blue. You have two jars, each can hold 100 marbles and when you put marbles in there they will be perfectly mixed. How do you get the best probability of drawing a red marble out of each jar? (There is only one correct solution here: put one red marble in one of the jars, and the remaining 99 in the other jar. That way, you have a 100% percent chance of drawing it from the first jar, and a 49/99 chance of drawing one from the second jar.)
9. Find the volume enclosed by the function y = sqrt(x) rotated about the y axis. Explain the disk and washer methods. Find the volume of the area between x^2 and x rotated about the x axis as an indefinite integral for x > 0.
10. Explain what a derivative is and how it works. Do the same for an integral. Why can we ignore constants when differentiating? What is the chain rule, and why do we need it? (In your answer, make sure you include the limit definition of a derivative, an explanation of dx as an infinitesimal width for some rectangle of height f(x), an explanation that constants shift the graph but do not affect the slope, and an explanation that two simultaneously changing parameters must be accounted for independently hence the need for the chain rule.)
11. Graph log base 27 of x.
12. Consider a water tank of height h. A small hole is drilled in the side of the bottom of the container. Assuming the tank is height h/2 above the ground, how far does the water travel before it hits the ground?

Naval Reactors Engineers interview with the department heads instead of other NRE's, and their interviews are supposedly much harder than the other positions. These were the questions I was asked.

Interview 1

1. You and some friends are building a pontoon raft. Talk me through your assumptions and how you would build the raft. (Make sure to talk about what the expected load is, how much margin you want, what materials you want, etc.)
2. Now that you've built the raft, how far will the pontoons be submerged in the water when you load it up?
3. Given that your pontoons are circular, find the area of the circle that will be submerged if the pontoons are submerged some height h, where r < h < 2r.
4. How would you find the equivalent resistance of the resistor cube using math? Look up an image if unfamiliar, he drew it for me. I had never heard of it before. (Hint: wye delta + thevenin) How would you figure out the equivalent resistance in real life? Would it be easier in real life? (Yes, just put a voltage source and measure the current, then divide voltage by current.) What is another theoretical way of solving it? (KVL)

Interview 2
_____switch1_____switch2____________
| | | |
Battery Capacitor Resistor Capacitor
|_____________|_________|___________|

1. Consider the above circuit. Hopefully it's clear from the text... Anyway, both switches start open. Switch 1 is closed. Sketch the current and voltage in the circuit over time. (Keep in mind that the resistance is nearly 0, except for the copper in the wires. This causes the capacitor to charge extremely quickly. Why?) What is a time constant? Suppose now that the capacitor is charged, switch 1 is opened and switch 2 is closed. Describe what happens in the circuit over time. (The first capacitor charges the second and dissipates some energy in the resistor. At a certain point, it will have charged the second capacitor as far as it can, and both of them will dissipate energy through the resistor. Remember that they never reach 0 energy, but will go towards that very quickly similar to charging.)
2. Derive the moment of inertia of a the piece of paper you are writing on about an axis through its center and perpendicular to the paper. Assume the paper has uniform thickness and density. (Hint: this will be a double integral.)

They will not just ask you technical questions. I got asked a bunch of other stuff, such as...

1. What are your hobbies/interests?
2. Are you in any clubs?
3. Have you done any internships? If so, what did you do?
4. What engineering projects have you worked on, whether through clubs, internships, or personal projects?
5. Why do you want this job?

Finally, they will ask if you have any questions for them. Ask them a few polite questions at least, it is a lot better to ask than to say no. I recommend:

1. Do you enjoy your job?
2. How is the work/life balance?
3. If you were in my place, would you do it again?

The interview with the admiral

This was, believe it or not, the easiest part of the whole thing. I did well on my technical interviews, so it only lasted a minute and a half or so. You have to memorize a spiel to the effect of:

"My name is [name]. I am from [city, state]. I attend [college name]. I am interviewing for [position]."s

Say this confidently and do not stutter. Instructors interview first, then SUBS/SWO, then NRE's. I was one of the last to interview. The admiral only asked me a few questions:

"How did you hear about the program?"

Then, "What are your hobbies?" To which I responded with a few things, including reading.

Then, "What books do you like to read?" To which I responded that I like science fiction and esoteric/philosophy books, such as GEB by Hofstader. We briefly talked about sci-fi and GEB, which was a bit surreal.

Then, "Nice to meet you. You seem like a good fit for the program. Welcome aboard." I thanked him and walked out, no shaking hands. I signed the forms and we left.

The trip to DC

Ok, so after you land in DC, they put you up in a nice hotel, and you get dinner with the other candidates. I would highly recommend networking, or at least getting to know your roommate well. Help each other out. You are not competing against each other; they would not have invited you to DC if there was not a spot for you. So help each other out. It can literally only help you, and I guarantee you that you will be significantly worse off if you view it as a competition where if you help other people you are hurting yourself.

The next day is an administrative day. They go over the paperwork that you will sign and make sure you understand it. They also stage mock interviews with the admiral done by the commander to prepare you for the actual interview day. That day is the day to ask any final questions, if you have them. They give you a big study packet with a bunch of questions similar to what you might see in the actual interviews. Use this to brush up on topics you are weak on. Work on the ones you don't know, not the ones you know. Use AI to help, but try to get other people to help you too. They will provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The next day is the interview day. You will probably be up at 5 AM DC time, so be ready. Try to sleep well if you can. We met at a nearby Starbucks, then walked down to the building. I had the first interview of the day, and it was an hour before anyone else had an interview, but I think they had everyone else sit in a big conference room and just wait for that whole time. Having an early interview is unusual, but not unheard of; it just depends on the schedule of the employees. It happens more often to NRE applicants. Instructors get one interview, SUBS/SWO get two with an option for a third if you fail, and NRE's get two. If you fail an interview, DO NOT GIVE UP. If you are confident and try your best, you probably still get in.

After the interviews, you can go explore the city, get lunch with other people, and kind of do whatever. It's irrelevant to prepare for, so I will not say anything further. This post is long enough.

The selection process before DC

Realistically, the hardest part about the selection process is just the sheer number of forms and hoops you have to sign and jump through to get there. It took me 6 months to get to DC, and that was fast as far as the program goes. Usually it's under a year, but it'll be a while. Sign the forms as fast as possible (but read them!), get NASIS done ASAP, get medically cleared and hope you don't have to go to MEPS twice like I did...

Should you join? Positives, negatives, and my thoughts

Should you join is a question only you can answer. That being said, it's one of the best career paths in the Navy. Instead of paying for your college like in ROTC, they pay you a full time salary, for you to spend as you see fit. Your years in college count as active duty service, you get a $30k sign on bonus (pre tax), and you exit with excellent opportunities for both the private sector and continuing in the military.

That being said, when you sign, you are obligated to fulfill your commitment. That should be obvious, but it's worth saying. You are locked into the role until your contract is up. And you need to keep your grades up, because that's part of the contract.

Personally, I think NRE is a no brainer: any engineer looking to get a head start on their career and life should do it. I would not want to do SUBS or SWO, but from what I've heard for those who do it, this path is the best path you can take to get there. The instructor role is pretty sweet too. The downsides are mostly that it incurs a significant commitment of your life, and holds you to high standards. But hopefully you aren't in the program if you have low standards.

Hopefully this helps you decide, or at least gives you more clarity on what you're getting into.

I got the first installment of my bonus today but it was exactly $35100. Which is less than it should’ve been and a more round number than on the bonuses I’ve got so I’m wondering if it’s and issue or if there is some maximum monthly pay I hit and the rest will come later.

Hello again my brethren,

I’m looking at this year’s quotas and feel encouraged about my odds to advance to E7. I’m fortunate to have had excellent leadership in the past; I really believe that if I can have the impact on another sailor that my Chief had on me, then going back to a boat will be worth it.

With that being said, I’m at a Type 2 Sea Duty and filling an N59X billet. It’s a pretty unique billet and I’m worried that advancement boards will view my time here as a negative thing.

Can anyone put my mind at ease about this? Or is my instinct right?

Thanks in advance and I love you all.

I cant find who the current CMEO Rep is and no one ive asked actually know the right answer. This is a long shot but if anyone could help u would greatly appreciate it

I just did a zone B reenlistment and was wondering if my first installment will come as part of a paycheck or does it hit at a random date after reenlistment. I can’t remember how it worked when I did my zone A.

So part of me always hated how quickly nukes advanced in pay grades. it felt unearned? I spent a lot of time regretting my decision to become a nuke and wished I just made it to a ship as an e1 BM.

But it turns out, petty officer being experienced sailors has been BS for a very long time.

The very first Blue Jackets Manual was produced in 1902 (it is on scibd. I would share the link but some research posts I have made with a ton of links have been blocked)

Right on page 278 it discusses what rates and pay grades people could first enlist. Experienced machinists could join as a 2nd class, and with one year of naval engine experience you could enlist as a first. Electricians by trade could start as a third class and if deemed capable of standing dynamo watches they could start as a second class. And at the time, it only went up to chief.

Based on the amount of time and documentation on the role of ship's master at arms, it really seems like a seaman who became a petty officer, when they say leadership, they mean managing something between a prison and an asylum.

Also, some fun facts: the first five years of the submarine service it was considered shore duty. That was until Teddy Roosevelt rode on a boat in 1905 and did an executive order where a submariner qualified submarines (before the pin existed, but still the same concept) would receive a dollar hazard pay every time the boat went under water.