There's three primary paths to becoming an Officer in
the submarine force, there's the United States Naval Academy,
there's the ROTC program or Reserve Officer Training Corps,
and then there's the NUPOC program the Nuclear Power Officer Corps.
Nuclear Power Officer Corps, or NUPOC is somewhat different from that,
we go around the country and look for the best of the best at all the colleges
that are out there, uh, we focus on those with a technical background
either in science or engineering or math. NUPOC is a great program for anyone
that does not want to take the academy route or ROTC route to be able to
take the advantages of being a Naval Officer. I think we've done
very well in who we've selected over the years. Every officer who
serves on board a nuclear powered war ship has been interviewed by the
Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, that's some pretty good quality control.
As soon as I was accepted into the program I got a cash bonus,
started receiving a monthly check. So, you're getting paid pretty well
to go to school. You get your degree and then you become ah commissioned
in the United States Navy as an Officer. Your job and your only job is to
get good grades, focus on school and do the best you can in school.
They take care of everything else. They have no financial concerns,
they don't have to worry about job fairs and intern programs and interviewing
and those sorts of things, they can just focus on their studies,
get the most they possibly can out of their college experience.
We prize education, we prize those who are educated, carrying that back to
the fleet and the Navy's made it a wise investment in putting forth the
effort to pay for those things knowing full well what they are getting back.
The NUPOC program, in one sentence, the sweetest deal in the Navy.