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And then there are drills. Simulated equipment failures, fire, flooding, etc.; all of the alarms sound as if it were real, and the crew responds as if it were r

And then there are drills. Simulated equipment failures, fire, flooding, etc.; all of the alarms sound as if it were real, and the crew responds as if it were real (except that no extinguishers are discharged, no SCBAs lit off, no hoses pressurized). Scheduling drills without detrimental effects on the crew's sleep, but still making the drills a surprise and a challenge, is (like the reactor) critical.

brandmeyer 7y ago
Drill days were especially rough. We called them Vulcan Death Watches, although I have heard other nicknames as well. There's a lot of nukes in this forum, but for the all the non-nukes out there, drills use all three of the ship's shifts. The on-watch shift is normally assisted by the off-going shift in emergencies. The on-coming shift then supervises, runs, and observes the drills. So one way or another, all three shifts are going to be up and awake during the drill cycle. The typical rotation for us packed 3x 4-hours shifts in to the same time that would normally be occupied by 2x 6-hour shifts. So the pre-dawn shift and evening shift would have both of the off-watch thirds of the crew taking personal time while all three of the morning and mid-day drill shifts have everyone awake. It more or less takes your body clock and smashes it with a sledgehammer. It also prepares you mentally for just about anything.
- i_am_proteus 7y ago
  I think you meant "submariners" rather than "nukes." :) Coners (non-nuclear-trained submariners, who stayed in the forward compartment, or nose "cone") had drills too!
- _curious_ 7y ago
  "It also prepares you mentally for just about anything." I bet. Sounds badass!
  - LeifCarrotson 7y ago
    Makes me wonder why we're having such a hard time accommodating the social distancing rules mandated by the current pandemic. Humans are capable of a lot! I think it says something pretty impressive about our society that just being cooped up with our families in our McMansions, not being allowed to go out to the bar, seems to be the worst thing that many of my neighbors are capable of comprehending. Our ancient ancestors, many impoverished people around the world today, and some of our peers in jobs a little more extreme than a cubicle farm are making epic efforts on a daily basis, and you are incapable of just staying home for a month?
    - Kalium 7y ago
      When you select for capacity for discipline, and then train for discipline, you tend to get discipline. When you don't select or train, getting discipline is sometimes a smidge more challenging.
    - brandmeyer 7y ago
      There's a lesson to be learned here, but I don't think that this is it. The nuclear power training program takes about 2 years for enlisted sailors (which I was). Those two years are set up to deliberately filter out people based on their ability to endure various stressors. Academically, the most grueling stage packs a 2 year engineering technology degree into about 6 months. They start the process of flunking people out 4 weeks into this particular stage of training. Overall, roughly half of all the enlistees who start that program end up doing something else for Uncle Sam. Even after passing through that filtering and training function, life at sea is difficult and occasionally someone cracks. I recall an incident that happened in the mess deck. Its a compact room that can't serve more than a fraction of the crew at any given time, so folks have to go through it in a pipeline. Early in the pipeline, you pick up your silverware. One day, several months into a long deployment, a sailor forgot to pick up his fork. No big deal, right? He asked his shipmate a little ways back if he could pass up a fork for him. So of course, being a tight-knit crew, the shipmate was happy to oblige. But instead of being grateful, Petty Officer Exhausted became enraged, "This is a bent fork! What the hell is wrong with you!?", jumped back in the line and proceeded to assault his buddy! Its a packed space, so several people grabbed both participants and pulled them back immediately. Nobody was injured. A Chief got involved and helped straighten out Mr. Exhausted without ending his career. Humanity covers a pretty wide spectrum. Each of us is the the integral of all of our experiences leading up to this moment. As something of an introvert myself, I don't mind the social isolation all that much. But I can empathize with my colleagues that are having a rougher time right now. Its better to support each other through tough times than to berate each other for not being tough enough.

brandmeyer 7y ago

Drill days were especially rough. We called them Vulcan Death Watches, although I have heard other nicknames as well. There's a lot of nukes in this forum, but for the all the non-nukes out there, drills use all three of the ship's shifts. The on-watch shift is normally assisted by the off-going shift in emergencies. The on-coming shift then supervises, runs, and observes the drills. So one way or another, all three shifts are going to be up and awake during the drill cycle. The typical rotation for us packed 3x 4-hours shifts in to the same time that would normally be occupied by 2x 6-hour shifts. So the pre-dawn shift and evening shift would have both of the off-watch thirds of the crew taking personal time while all three of the morning and mid-day drill shifts have everyone awake. It more or less takes your body clock and smashes it with a sledgehammer. It also prepares you mentally for just about anything.

i_am_proteus 7y ago
I think you meant "submariners" rather than "nukes." :) Coners (non-nuclear-trained submariners, who stayed in the forward compartment, or nose "cone") had drills too!
_curious_ 7y ago
"It also prepares you mentally for just about anything." I bet. Sounds badass!
- LeifCarrotson 7y ago
  Makes me wonder why we're having such a hard time accommodating the social distancing rules mandated by the current pandemic. Humans are capable of a lot! I think it says something pretty impressive about our society that just being cooped up with our families in our McMansions, not being allowed to go out to the bar, seems to be the worst thing that many of my neighbors are capable of comprehending. Our ancient ancestors, many impoverished people around the world today, and some of our peers in jobs a little more extreme than a cubicle farm are making epic efforts on a daily basis, and you are incapable of just staying home for a month?
  - Kalium 7y ago
    When you select for capacity for discipline, and then train for discipline, you tend to get discipline. When you don't select or train, getting discipline is sometimes a smidge more challenging.
  - brandmeyer 7y ago
    There's a lesson to be learned here, but I don't think that this is it. The nuclear power training program takes about 2 years for enlisted sailors (which I was). Those two years are set up to deliberately filter out people based on their ability to endure various stressors. Academically, the most grueling stage packs a 2 year engineering technology degree into about 6 months. They start the process of flunking people out 4 weeks into this particular stage of training. Overall, roughly half of all the enlistees who start that program end up doing something else for Uncle Sam. Even after passing through that filtering and training function, life at sea is difficult and occasionally someone cracks. I recall an incident that happened in the mess deck. Its a compact room that can't serve more than a fraction of the crew at any given time, so folks have to go through it in a pipeline. Early in the pipeline, you pick up your silverware. One day, several months into a long deployment, a sailor forgot to pick up his fork. No big deal, right? He asked his shipmate a little ways back if he could pass up a fork for him. So of course, being a tight-knit crew, the shipmate was happy to oblige. But instead of being grateful, Petty Officer Exhausted became enraged, "This is a bent fork! What the hell is wrong with you!?", jumped back in the line and proceeded to assault his buddy! Its a packed space, so several people grabbed both participants and pulled them back immediately. Nobody was injured. A Chief got involved and helped straighten out Mr. Exhausted without ending his career. Humanity covers a pretty wide spectrum. Each of us is the the integral of all of our experiences leading up to this moment. As something of an introvert myself, I don't mind the social isolation all that much. But I can empathize with my colleagues that are having a rougher time right now. Its better to support each other through tough times than to berate each other for not being tough enough.