Our kid returns home next week for three weeks of holiday break, and what an interesting four months she's had.
When I started my Navy career at USNA, most officers went into the "big three" line communities of surface warfare, submarines, or aviation. They all offer command at sea. Their officers were considered a cut above the restricted-line and staff communities, and they were easy to spot because they wore distinctive warfare insignia
tattooed on their chests pinned on their uniforms. In many cases, the only way to end up in another community was to be somehow declared "non-physically qualified" with color-blindness or other problems. Engineering Duty Officers might be a lot smarter, and Supply Corps officers might know more about finance, and Civil Engineering Corps officers might earn a lot more in civilian careers, but only the line officers were considered qualified to command at sea. Leading a
battleship squadron surface action group into combat became one's highest aspiration. Even today only line officers can be CNO or VCNO, and IIRC one of them still has to be an aviator.
There are other line communities but those three (SWO, subs, & air) consume the majority of officers-- perhaps as high as 75%. Very few ensigns are able to move directly into restricted-line communities upon commissioning. Almost everyone is expected to serve a few years in the "big three" to see whether they're really cut out for command at sea. Then they can
wimp out apply for a "lateral transfer" to one of the other communities.
Hey, it's the system I was raised on. It's not necessarily the right one, and I think the U.S. Marines and the British Navy do it a lot better, but it's an effective way to make sure you have enough sea-duty officers on the pointy end of the spear instead of in REMF billets. It's been in place for at least four generations.
Enter the next generation. Our kid picked up our home-improvement hobby as soon as she could swing a hammer, and in high school she discovered civil/environmental engineering. Now she's enthusiastically geeking out at one of the nation's top engineering schools and having a wonderful time playing with mud & concrete. She's also been raised around the Navy, so she thinks that getting a commission is a good idea too. She found enough information to make her own USNA vs NROTC decision and she seems to be very happy.
When we explained the line-officer system she decided that she'd prefer to drive destroyers out of Yokosuka or Italy for a few years (SWO) and then lateral to the Civil Engineering Corps-- the SeaBees. My spouse and I have been smirking as we think of the phone conversation she'd have with her first SWO assignment officer ("Lemme get this straight, Ensign Nords, you're VOLUNTEERING to go to a destroyer in Italy or Japan?!?") and we expected that she'd have no problem going to the SeaBees in 4-5 years when she reached the end of her service obligation. ("OK, Lieutenant Nords, if you're going to resign from active duty unless we let you go SeaBees, then I guess SeaBees it is.") NROTC sends midshipmen to sea on platforms of all three communities for a few weeks, so by the time she reaches her senior year she'll have plenty of info to make a decision. But for the last several years I've become accustomed to thinking of her as a SeaBee, and later on as one of Hawaii's top
sewage experts civil engineers.
We did our share of mentoring, of course. She knows the submarine force's history, she's toured the USS TEXAS (SSN 775), and she's heard my PG-rated sea stories. My spouse has shown her what the Navy can offer for oceanography, meteorology, and anti-submarine warfare. But by the end of high school our kid had decided that submariners & aviators were pretty much nuts (that's one way to put it) and she preferred SWO + SeaBees. Fair enough.
When she started NROTC, the Navy announced that it was going to open the submarine force to women. We all agree that this is a great idea and a wonderful opportunity, but she'd be breaking ground (as my spouse did in the fourth class of women at USNA) and the submarine force would not want to let her leave to be a SeaBee. They'd play hardball and she'd HAVE to resign to join the SeaBees from the Navy Reserve. Besides, submariners are nuts-- just look at your father. Listen to your mother.
Four months later I've been surprised by the skill of NROTC's persuasive marketing campaign. During one phone call our kid said SeaBees sure seemed like fun but that she'd never get
COMMAND AT SEA (her pronunciation) like she would in the SWO or submarine communities. (In her opinion, aviators are still nuts.) The other day I mentioned how well her engineering skills would server her in the SeaBees when she interrupted me to say "Or in submarines, Dad." Upon further inquiry I've learned that one of the NROTC lieutenants just reported to her unit from a Pearl Harbor submarine, and apparently his sea stories are a much more compelling view of being a nuke. He's the one who pointed out that SeaBees don't have
COMMAND AT SEA (technically correct) and that submarines are a much better deal than SWO. (Also $$$$ correct.) Yesterday my daughter told me that the NROTC unit's library includes a copy of Gene "Lucky" Fluckey's classic
"Thunder Below", and she loves it. Next she's reading my copy of Dick O'Kane's
"Wahoo". She's abso-freakin'-lutely thrilled at the idea of command at sea, especially as a submariner.
I guess it's my job to ensure the full disclosure that she's not getting from NROTC. In the first half of the 20th century, line officers could move fairly easily among the warfare communities. (Admiral Nimitz was a submariner.) Naval aviators commanded aircraft carriers. There was competitive rivalry, but it wasn't exclusive.
However since Rickover revved up, nuclear specialization has reared its ugly head. This is not a good thing. The "general submarine officer" community was phased out in the 1980s and today all submariners must complete nuclear power training. Since all aircraft carriers are now nuclear-powered, all aviators who aspire to carrier command must complete nuclear power training. (They won't make admiral without it.) SWOs can't command nuclear ships anymore because nuclear cruisers are no longer with us and the aviators have the carriers locked up, so nuclear SWOs are dead-ended and must eventually return to conventional ships for command at sea. Conventional SWOs are frustrated at being the "dumping ground" for submariner wannabes who flunked nuke power school. The inter-community rivalry has become a tad bitter & vicious.
Although each community has its cute pejoratives for the others (like "bubblehead"), submariners are more frequently designated as "f#$%in'nukes" (one word). Perversely, we seem to
deserve regard this as a badge of honor. Spouse has been living with nukes for over 30 years and has her own opinions of our
obstinacy tenacity and persistence, as well as our personal issues and our stunted social skills. She's not exactly thrilled to learn that she's bred another one. Once the submarine force has our kid in its clutches as one of the very few women, let alone a 2nd-generation nuke, I'm pretty darn sure that she won't be able to transfer to the SeaBees without resigning for the Reserves. To my surprise, my kid suggested that maybe she won't want to transfer to the SeaBees-- not if she wants
COMMAND AT SEA.
Of course these are her career choices, not my problem. This is not a gender issue with me, and in fact the submarine force will be lucky to get her. She'll have a week at sea on a submarine next summer and she'll probably get a few more weeks on one a year or two later, so she can make her own lifestyle choice. She won't have any trouble with the nuclear academics but she'll hear plenty of
horror sea stories about the training and the qualification. I guess I'm going to add a few of my "R" rated sea stories to that rotation. I don't want her to think she's been tricked by Dear Ol' Dad.
However I must admit to being a bit surprised to find myself thinking of my kid as a "f#$%in'nuke"...
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