I have been asked quite a few questions about my career operating a nuclear reactor on a submarine.

Q - You were on a sub? That must have been kind of weird.

A - Saying that my experience was kind of weird is similar to saying that Adolph Hitler was kind of mean.

Q - Why did you volunteer to go on a sub?

A - Greed. Sub sailors get paid more. We also got barracks rooms, since living on the ship (like most sailors have to do) is impossible.

Q - What do you think of the Russian sub Kursk that sank?

A - I prayed that they died quickly. My worst fear was sinking to the bottom and being stuck there. It would be far better to sink deep, implode, and not suffer.

Q - How fast can they go?

A - Greater than 25 knots or about 28 miles per hour. Honestly, my ship was so old, it would have rattled itself apart at that speed. We usually went a lot slower to avoid detection.

Q - How deep can they go?

A - Greater than 800 feet. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I do know the real limit, but I'll never tell.

Q - How far away can they detect another sub?

A - It depends. On what you ask? Can't say.

Q - How fast can the torpedoes go?

A - Much faster than submarines can. How much faster? I'll never tell.

Q - What kind of sub were you on?

A - I was stationed on the USS Puffer (SSN 652). It was a Sturgeon Class Fast Attack sub. These are also referred to as "hunter-killer" subs. Their mission is to seek and destroy enemy ships and submarines.

Q - Do you know where I can get some schematics of a sub?

A - No. And if I did I couldn't tell you anyway.

Q - Do you have any schematics of a sub?

A - Only in my head.

Q - Did you ever chase any Russian subs?

A - The Cold War ended in 1991. So did the first Gulf War. I reported to Puffer in 1992. Do the math. My stint from '92 to '96 will go down in history as the four most uneventful years in Naval history.

Q - So what did you do on your "missions"?

A - Practice. Train. Run simulated casualty drills (fires, floods, reactor emergencies). We would play war games other ships in the fleet. They would try and detect us. We would hunt them.

Q - Did you get claustrophobic?

A - No. We usually found it best not to think about the 800 feet of seawater between us and the surface.

Q - What did you do for fun?

A - It does get pretty boring on long deployments, especially after one's qualification process is done. We had a TV and VCR in the crew's mess with a large selection of recent movies. We would usually watch one every night on the evening watch. It was a tradition to also watch the first half-hour of "Full Metal Jacket". We also had a library of donated books. I usually brought my own. On a six month deployment I read thirty novels. We also had a selection of exercise equipment, including free weights (greatly discouraged on subs because of the potential for noise transients), an exercise bike and a treadmill. We wore out the motor on the treadmill at least three times from overuse. We also had a few computer games to play if you could find a free PC. We also played a lot of cards, mostly Spades, cribbage and (unauthorized) poker.

Q - Did you have to learn how to SCUBA dive?

A - I did not have to learn, but I did get qualified as an open water diver in Guam through a civilian organization (PADI). A few members of my crew were qualified as Navy divers and had to go through a much more rigorous school.

Q - What were the living conditions like?

A - Very cramped. We often had to share beds, i.e.. three guys to two bunks so that one guy is always on watch. The beds were walled into compartments on three sides and stacked three high. The only entrance was via a sliding curtain. It is comparable to sleeping in a coffin. It could be worse. Some people even had to sleep out in the open in the torpedo room.

Q - How much time did you spend underwater?

A - We would submerge as soon as we were in deep enough water to do so. We would spend 95 percent of a deployment underwater, but we would ventilate to bring on fresh air once a week. I have personally spent a month underwater without surfacing.

Q - How could you stand to be away for so long?

A - It was not that bad. Fast-attack subs typically only stay out at sea for one or two weeks at a time before returning to their homeport. In my four years of sea duty, I only participated in two long deployments, one for three months and the other for six months. Of those, we usually spent only a week or two between ports.

Q - How long could you stay underwater?

A - Since nuclear subs do not require oxygen for power generation, and can make all their own oxygen and water, they can stay under water indefinitely. The only limitation is the endurance of the crew.

Q - Did you get a lot of radiation?

A - I got less radiation in six years than some people get in one day on some beaches. There were instances when I got more radiation than normal if I had to do work in the actual reactor compartment. It was always closely monitored then. By the way, the reactor was shut down during those times. Otherwise the heat and radiation would have killed me very quickly.

Q - Could you see out the windows?

A - Military submarines do not have windows. It was not "Voyage to the Bottom to the Sea". If we had windows, we would not have been able to see anything, anyway. It is simply too dark at those depths. Research submarines, like NR-1, do have windows and lights and go much deeper than mine.

Q - Did you have to go through any psychological testing before you could be assigned to your job?

A - I talked to a psychologist once for about five minutes in boot camp. I don't think that one can gauge well-being in this short amount of time. The training itself is the true test. If one can withstand the incredible pressure to perform in a controlled, academic environment, it's a good possibility they can handle the rigors of submarine life.

Q - So did anyone ever crack under the pressure in school?

A - All the time. The program is not for everyone. There were often attempted suicides, though thankfully none successful. One of these was actually in my class. He had previously jumped in a lake with all his clothes on just to see if his boots would stick to the mud.

Q - Did anyone ever go crazy from the stress on the sub?

A - Yes. Usually the cooks.

Q - The cooks?

A - Absolutely. We attributed it to the fact that the crew was often quite stressed. The cooks would often be the undeserving targets of our anger and frustration. And they were already being held to the same high standards as the rest of the crew.

Q - I saw a movie where a sub popped up through the water. Have you ever done one of those??

A - That is called an emergency surface or emergency blow. We had to do one once a year to test the system. It is a wild ride. To see one, click here.

Q - What did you think of that sub that hit the Japanese fishing trawler?

A - It was a tragedy, obviously. Sub commanders do everything in their power to prevent something like that, but they cannot be everywhere at once. The captain of the Greenville was ultimately responsible because it was his boat.

Q - Did you have to go to a lot of school?

A - Yes. I spent close to two years in training before I reported to my boat. The first school covered electronics, my specialty. The second taught nuclear reactor theory. The final school was actually an operating nuclear reactor in the Idaho desert. There I learned how to actually run a reactor.

Q - They have a reactor in Idaho?

A - They used to have two. They have since been decommsioned. All nuclear trained sailors now train on decommisioned subs.

Q - Was it difficult?

A - Yes. For academics, the Naval Nuclear Power program is the toughest school in the military. Only about half of those who start the program finish it.

Q - Where were you stationed?

A - My first station was a training base in Orlando, Florida, where I attended boot camp and my formal nuclear training. Then it was on to Idaho as mentioned above. My first (and only) sub operated out of San Diego, California, until it was decommisioned. We then moved it to Bremerton, Washington. My enlistment ended while they were in the middle of de-fueling the reactor.

Q - Did you get to visit any foreign ports?

A - I went on two deployments. On the first we went up the Bering Strait and under the ice cap. We surfaced through the ice in the Arctic Circle about twenty times. We came down east of Greenland and visited Scotland. We then went through the Panama Canal and came home.
On the second, we went to Hawaii, Japan(Yokosuka and Sacebo), Guam, Hong Kong and Fiji.

Q - How long was your enlistment?

A - Six years. Two years in training, four years of sea duty. All technical ratings typically have a six year contract. There is also another two years of inactive service afterward, but one doesn't really have any responsibilities during this time. I actually extended my enlistment another four years in the Naval Reserves here in Louisville.

Q - Did you get any college credit?

A - Sadly, no. The material we learned contained classified information about the operating parameters of navy nuclear power plants. The curriculum could not be reviewed, therefore no one will transfer the credits. The only college credit I got was through a correspondence course in American History that I took during a deployment. Technically, my education was the equivalent an Associates of Arts in both Electrical Engineering Technology and Nuclear Engineering Technology.

Q - Did your ship have nuclear weapons?

A - Fast attack subs have the ability to carry nuclear weapons. I cannot say whether they actually do. Ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) always carry nuclear weapons while on patrol.

Q - What kind of fuel did the reactor use?

A - It used highly enriched uranium.

Q - Could you see it glowing green?

A - No. The fuel was heavily shielded with lead and water (yes, plain water) inside the reactor vessel. Incidentally, uranium undergoing fission glows blue.

Q - How does a reactor work?

A - Ours was a pressurized water reactor. Basically this means that they used highly pressurized water as coolant and moderator (what controls the fission reaction). When uranium fissions, some of the resulting particles are highly energetic neutrons. The moderator, water, reflects some of these neutrons back toward other uranium atoms, which then undergo fission. The resulting chain reaction can be controlled by the temperature of the water and the amount of uranium that is exposed to it. Without going into too much detail, this reaction heats up the surrounding water. This superheated water goes through a heat-exchanger and heats up water in secondary system under less pressure. This secondary water flashes to steam which is used to turn the electrical turbines and the ship's propeller.

Q - Did you ever have a meltdown?

A - No Naval reactor has ever had an incident even close to that magnitude. The reactors are over-engineered for safety to the point of annoyance. Naval reactors, by design, will shutdown and/or cease to function at too high a power or temperature. We trained on what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. In both cases, the problem resulted from inattentive operators. While our reactors are inherently stable with plenty of safety protocols, the most important safety mechanisms are the operators themselves. I was astonished at the level of ingenuity that went into the reactor design. It was one of the factors that encouraged me to study engineering in college.

Q - Do they teach you about nuclear weapons?

A - No. All I know about nuclear weapons I learned in college and from Tom Clancy.

Q - You didn't actually control the reactor. Officers did that, right?

A - Wrong. An officer was present to supervise the enlisted men, but the Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW) is actually the most junior officer position on the ship. The enlisted men have complete control of the reactor control and electrical systems. We were expected to react to changes in the plant without orders from the EOOW. As such, the enlisted men usually knew quite a bit more about the system than the junior officers.

Q - So did you make more money than other sailors?

A - Yes. Submarine sailors get extra pay for being on submarines as well as pay for being on a sea going vessel. Sailors in the nuclear field get still more pay for that specialty. That being said, I still technically hovered around the poverty line. However, given all the benefits (free housing, free medical, etc.), the pay was quite fair. A disciplined person could save up quite a bit of money.

Q - Was boot camp hard?

A - Yes and no. It was often physically demanding, but since I was only expected to do what I was told and little more, I consider boot camp to have been the easiest portion of my time in the Navy.

Q - Why did you get out?

A - My time was up, and I wanted to go to college. I was offered several thousand dollars to re-enlist, but I wanted to further my education.

Q - Did the government pay for your college education?

A - I signed up for the Montgomery G.I. Bill in boot camp. I paid $100 a month into it for my first year. Upon release from active duty, I started college and received 36 monthly payments that were periodically increased for the cost of living. Payments were around $525. When my benefits were finally exhausted, I only had one semester left to pay for. So while it didn't pay for everything, it was an enormous help. It also helped that I was paying in-state tuition at a state university.

Q - How can I join a submarine crew and fire the weapons?

A - You can talk to your local Navy recruiter or call 1-800-327-NAVY. I've gotten E-mail from people recently who seemed unusually interested in weaponry. Make no mistake, the use of weapons on a sub is a very controlled team effort. No one person can fire a weapon under any circumstance. We only shot a handful of practice shots the entire time I was onboard. Mostly we shot water slugs, i.e. fill the tube with water and shoot that.

Q - Why do Sailors and Marines resent each other so much?
A - Marines think sailors have it too easy and have questionable sexual orientations. Sailors think that Marines are nothing but a bunch of slack-jawed, mouth breathing Neanderthals whose only purpose is to kill people and break things. Honestly though, I have more respect for what Marines do for our country than any other service, including the Navy. I know I'm not tough enough to be one. And I hope to God that that Tony hasn't read this far.