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Comment by NF Mom on May 7, 2013 at 5:57pm

William,  the selection criteria for subs that I found the most interesting were the psychological ones.

They wanted people who would make sacrifices for others on subs, and on the other hand, they sent anyone who they classified as a strong personality type who thrived on conflict to carriers.

Not sure how much truth there was to that, or if it was a major selection criteria, but I found it interesting.

Comment by NF Mom on May 7, 2013 at 5:48pm

hk,   sounds like you had this covered, either way :)

Please keep in mind Prototype is, for your sailor, about mind games and stress, not academics.  Different individuals find different parts of the nuclear pipeline the hardest.   It is a truism that individuals who made it through A school and Power school fail to complete prototype for other reasons.

Prototype is about completing hundreds of self directed tasks, living with, and working around, obstacles put in their way by both fate and design, and constant second guessing about how things could have been done better and faster. Second guessing by staff, fellow students and one self is encourage by the environment.

My son said almost everyone who dropped out in prototype did so because they chose not to live with the stress any longer - and they found a medical way to be released. Very, very few, in his opinion, failed because they could not do the work.

My observation is that my son succeeded, and qualified a few weeks early, because he made it the most important aspect of his life for the ten odd months he was at the prototype command after classing up for prototpe ( the MTS had lots of down time while he was there ).  Even from a distance it seemed like he should have had time to do some of the other things in life, but in his case he ignored most things about life that were not critical to qualifying.

Different individuals handle it different ways, but loved ones accepting and encouraging an attitude of the job comes first provide positive feed back to the self directed decisions all students at prototype are expected to make on their own; on the other hand negative feed back about how they spend the limited hours away from the prototype facility is the last thing they need.

The program, by design, provides enough negative feed back on the decisions they make every hour, of every day, about how they spend their time at work.

Enjoy Life,

You are only young once :)

Comment by hk1853 on May 7, 2013 at 10:40am

NF MOM- THanks so much for all your help!!! That was super informative.  My bf is going to be taking over my rent as soon as bah kicks in and my rent is a little higher than the bah they receive but pretty much takes care of most of it!!  I will make sure I have some money set aside to cover next month's rent just in case it doesn't come.  He might not be making money with his bah, but at least he has a happy girlfriend haha!

Comment by dianejane on May 7, 2013 at 9:48am

That is so great that you are celebrating everything with him before he leaves.

I know I did the same thing for my daughter who is in the Air Force.  The holidays are never the same without them, but we are always thinking about them.  Enjoy your time and your holidays with him.

Comment by bea darby on May 7, 2013 at 9:38am

My son finished prototype and he is now a ETN he will be home this weekend for his leave,can't wait to see him so we can spend family time. He has to report to the USS ROOSEVELT on June 5th so we will have his Birthday,Thanksgiving,and Christmas before he leaves.We are so proud of him.

Comment by NancyJo (NNPTC) on May 7, 2013 at 9:16am

Now, William, let me add here that all these sailors who make it through the pipeline are the best and the brightest. They make it through an incredibly difficult course of training. Some choose not to go sub, like my son. Subs aren't for everybody.

Comment by William in Nashua on May 7, 2013 at 8:53am

They only select the best volunteers for submarines and the Submarine Force gets first dibs so they pick and choose the ones they want.

Comment by Missy on May 7, 2013 at 5:39am

Thank you all for the information. I can't wait unil PIR on Friday! Looks like he has a long journey ahead. :)

Comment by NonnaB on May 7, 2013 at 12:52am

To ktrsbNPS1206 Nuke:  The drive to Ballston Spa takes about 16 hours.  If you take I95 north of Baltimore, you will pay an exhorbitant amount in tolls.  We drove up from Richmond using the 2 lane highways to avoid those tolls.  It's a very nice drive and some really beautiful scenery.

Comment by Adam'sProudMom on May 6, 2013 at 10:00pm

About subs, prototype, and welding training: My son is in welding training in Groton, right now. His is a ten-week course.

He attended prototype in Goose Creek. (He requested it, since we live in NC. Others, whose families live closer to NY usually request Balston Spa. Of course, since it's the military, they don't always get what they ask for, but apparently it is taken into consideration.) So, as NF Mom said, sailors seem to be assigned to subs from both schools.

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