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Alaia West

Ms.Hayes

Literature

14 November 2018

Senior Research Paper

What do I want to do as my future career? I racked my brain for days trying to figure it

out and I’m still not certain. Do I want to be a pediatrician, surgeon, teacher, I’ve pondered it all.

And just in the nick of time I think I’ve finally figured it out. Or at least for now. I want to be a

sailor in the navy. I know what you might say “A sailor why not do something like go to

college?” The truth is I’ve thought about this a lot. Being a sailor is a big commitment. And trust

me I know this. When I was researched jobs I saw just how much work goes into each job in the

navy. Now just saying I want to be a sailor is a broad subject. There are numerous careers in the

navy including but not limited to communications, nuclear matters, and even the medical field.

My family is made up of nurses or those who worked in the medical field and veterans.

They always told me that with my brain and how quickly I catch on to new concepts they just

knew I was going to be a doctor. I always thought one day I’m going to be the best doctor and

save everyone. But as I researched these careers I realized the medical field especially that of the

armed forces just isn’t for me. In the medical field you have to see things that no one ever should

and decide I’m going to fix this. That’s not me, I don’t like vast change and new challenges at

every front. So I went and spoke with my recruiter as well as my aunt a retired navy specialist

and they told me with my scores there were but two main career choices for me. I could either

work in the nuclear sector of the navy or work with intelligence. To be honest as of right now I
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haven’t an idea what I’m going to do but for the purpose of this paper let’s say I go into the

Nuclear sector.

According to navy.com the job of someone in the the nuclear propulsion sector includes

“operating nuclear propulsion plant machinery, to controlling auxiliary equipment that supports

Naval reactors” and numerous other things having to do with managing and up keeping the

nuclear reactors aboard the submarines and naval aircraft carriers. The training is different for

each individual job but the overall process is you would start by going to two months of boot

camp. At boot camp you are required to take pt classes which are relatively simple it operates

like a normal gym class. The main thing about boot camp is that you’re training and ranking up

overall in the military. Once you graduate boot camp you move on to NF “A” school and this is

the first course school for the nuclear officer's pipeline. This is a specialized training school that

will teach you all about your job in the nuclear branch. Each course here is just basic and takes

six months to complete. From here you move to Nuclear power school which teaches you the

“math and science of react operation.” They teach courses such as mathematics, nuclear physics,

and metallurgy. He next step is the reason I chose this path. The navy sends you to college for

free under STA-21 and you are no longer technically in the navy. After graduation, your contract

with the navy can be be bought by a private company where you can decide to work for more

money

From talking with my recruiter I found that this is one of the fields in the navy that needs

the most recruits. It takes a tier one score of a at least an 89 on the asvab to even qualify for this

position due to its difficulties. But as we know a recruiters job is to get you in the door so I spoke

with my aunt about it who informed me the the real reason that the navy needs so many people

for this job is because many of the new prospects who go in for this job don’t pass the schooling.
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The job outlook on this career is great but only because of how difficult it is for one to succeed in

this career. Not only that but those who do pass schooling are forced to live on a submarine for

upwards of six months at times sharing a bed with other specialist. This is one of the reasons she

an intelligence specialist decided to switch from nuclear training. Now if you know me you

know that this could present problems. I tend to need a fair amount of time to myself and away

from human beings. So why would I choose this position? One word, money. According to

payscale.com the average wage of a Navy nuclear operator is $58,723. Now this is untaxed pay

that does not include the yearly bonuses, the $30,000 signing bonus or the $100,000 per

deployment. I won’t do the math on that but it’s clear that it’s a substantial amount of money

especially for me a teen just out out of high school.

For the purpose of this essay, I chose to explore the career of someone in the Navy

nuclear propulsionsector. This job interests me because being in the military is a common career

in my family and this particular sector has a great outlook. I believe I am smart enough and

dedicated enough to achieve anything if I put my mind to it and though this job my not be easy it

is promising. Getting this job will not only be great for the navy but will provide me many

opportunities if I decide to leave the navy and enter another field. This if nothing else is a great

starting point for my future career.

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Works Cited

“Find Nuclear Operations Jobs in the U.S. Navy.” FInd Jobs & Careers in the U.S. Navy -

Navy.com, www.navy.com/careers/nuclear-operations.

“Average Nuclear Power Reactor Operator Salary at U.S. Navy.” Ecologist Salary,

www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Nuclear_Power_Reactor_Operator/Salary/61189c2

8/U.S.-Navy.