Dive/SCUBA qual in submarine pipeline.

[kvnbaumann]

Going to be coming in from NUPOC --> OCS. I know every boat has to have x number of qualed Divers/SCUBA and I know officers can be a part of that. How do you request during the pipeline (heard OHARP works) to go there?

 

[webmaster]

Make sure you tell the instructors at dive school that you are already PADI qualified.

My partner in dive school was a sub officer, LTJG type. Good dude, he was already on his boat and had his dolphins.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I would ask but it has been a bit since I have heard of any nuke officers going to dive school, it could be there are just so few of them it just isn't noticed, but I would not expect to get a chance to go until after you arrive at your first sub, like anything the USN does they would want to know you have made it through the nuke pipeline, and there needs to be a need on that sub, they won't send people to a school that cost money just to send them.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Assuming it works like Surface Rescue Swimmers on ships, you have to have X qualified divers to get underway and they can be officers. If your boat needs someone to go (e.g., one of your divers is PCSing), and you're available, and they're confident you won't make the boat look bad by failing out or acting like a jackass, then yes, you could request to go. Earning your dolphins takes precedence over absolutely everything else, so I doubt they'd send you before that. The guys we sent to SRSS were the ship PT animals - one of ours went to BUD/S after his tour - see above about not failing out and getting stink on the command. So consider that too.

You'll go to schools when the command or Big Navy need you to go. Good-deal schools are very few and far between, and almost never (in my experience) because you just want to go. Doubly so for long, expensive schools with limited billets like Dive or RSS.

 

[Gatordev]

and they're confident you won't make the boat look bad by failing out

And even for SRSS, this isn't the end of the world. If you try but fail, you get to come back and no one is all that upset about it. If you try or (don't try) and quit, you don't get to come back (for a long period of time). If you're an ass-hat to the instructors (or cause issues during liberty) then like was said, people get irritated.

Obviously the ship is more upset if you fail since they need the green square to get underway, but that's a separate issue and usually is related to pre-training.

 

[xj220]

If you try or (don't try)

 

[kvnbaumann]

Thank you for the responses. I think I get the jist.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Hey NUPOC guy, want to give your OR a heart attack?

Tell him you're not shipping to OCS.

 

[LFCFan]

I met a JG with a dive pin, and nothing else. I assumed he was an EOD or BUDS attrite because he was an athletic dude with a dive pin who had just finished intel school. Then in a conversation he mentioned that nuke pipeline didn't work out for him...apparently they sent him to dive school while he was waiting to class up or between stages of the program. So it *might* be possible.

Or I could be remembering this wrong and things went badly for him once he got to his first boat.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I met a JG with a dive pin, and nothing else. I assumed he was an EOD or BUDS attrite because he was an athletic dude with a dive pin who had just finished intel school. Then in a conversation he mentioned that nuke pipeline didn't work out for him...apparently they sent him to dive school while he was waiting to class up or between stages of the program. So it *might* be possible.

Or I could be remembering this wrong and things went badly for him once he got to his first boat.

prime example as to why good deals go to qualified guys.

 

[webmaster]

I wasn't qualified on the boat. I arrived as a second class petty officer, but I had a completed dive package. The boat was hurting for divers and they sent me to the school before I ever went underway or started my pqs. A ganger that went to school with me flunked out in the second week. I vividly recall the COB calling me and telling me I had better make it through the training or not bother coming back to the boat. I got my dive pin, but needless to say getting one of the good deals on the boat while they did ORSE and TRE did not endear any of the other blue shirts to that FNG that got the good deal. Lol.

 

[Spekkio]

There are opportunities to attend Dive school, but it is a long shot:

1) If there is a hold at prototype due to maintenance, you can attempt to go then. However, at that point they are now sending students to SOBC between power school and prototype, so that might not be doable.

2) If you do the 'normal' training path, you can attempt to go between prototype and SOBC or SOBC and the boat. You will have orders to your boat, so this will depend on its needs. I will caveat that PERS will almost always fill the boat to have enough divers on the officer end, so your timing would have to align such that there is a class open in dive school prior to check-in AND the boat is almost about to lose a dive qualified officer, but he doesn't have orders off the boat yet and so there hasn't yet been assigned a new dive qualified officer to replace him. Thus by sending you they can undo an interlock at PERS and make sure they get ahead of the problem, but then they would also consider how many JOs they currently have on the boat qualified to stand watch/duty in the interim and whether they can afford the hit to your progress.

It is unlikely that the boat would send you to dive school after you arrive (NR requires you to be EOOW qualified in < 6 months after check-in, and dive school is too long to support that), and very very unlikely after you have dolphins. Shortly after you have dolphins, you'll be attending PNEO and then supporting the ship in a key role as a mission planner and watchstander for your last 12-14 months, at least on an SSN.