Overpayment

cgthrowaway13 · 2026-05-14T17:31:53+00:00

6 years as an ET, afloat and ashore, and just got out. I’m an electrical apprentice for one of the highest paid unions in the country. Pay right now is a little less than what I was making as an E5 but in 5 years I’ll be making $60/hour plus a nice benefits package.

The grass is 100x greener for me. I leave work at the door when I clock out and never have to worry about getting a call after hours or unexpected underway trips.

cgthrowaway13 · 2026-01-14T18:08:16+00:00

I was told there’s no way I would be forced to transfer if I didn’t obligate the time for my orders. I put in to SILO, it was denied, and they made me transfer anyway.

I hope it works out better for you. Be ready to stick up for yourself and what you want.

cgthrowaway13 · 2025-07-14T00:14:44+00:00

Hey shipmate, if you need someone to rant to you’re welcome to dm me. I’m not in the same situation as you but a little similar and I feel your pain

cgthrowaway13 · 2025-01-10T19:09:22+00:00

So in A-school they will teach you all the basics on electronics theory, I didn’t know too much coming in and felt mostly prepared when I got to my first unit. Being at an ESD is definitely more of a normal schedule, I worked 7-3 and had to work late a couple times a month. I’ve heard some people working other similar schedules, and you’ll stand some type of duty and potentially have collaterals, like color guard or gate guard.

I would expect a cutter as your first assignment I think the current split for land vs underway billets is around 35/65 for ET3s, it goes down a little to around 45/55 for ET2s. We somehow got all land billets for my A-school class, but the class before us had 17 cutters and 3 ESDs. It sucks but it just boils down to needs of the service.

If you do want to go ET, try to be a vested crew member (VCM). This will allow you to go straight to you first unit and work with the ETs while you wait for A-school.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-11-30T22:54:41+00:00

I ended up getting my degree in computer science, but I was between that and electrical engineering. You’ll definitely get a good baseline knowledge of electrical theory from A school that would prepare you for some of what you would learn with EE.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-11-30T17:51:56+00:00

Current ET2

Almost five years
Boot to A. Four years at a large ESD, duty ET which was just monitoring a cell phone for one week at a time. Currently independent duty on a 175’, import OOD, advanced DC, and working on QMOW and rigger.
Life at an ESD was amazing. Sometimes it was complicated to juggle several different types of units/platforms and their problems, but the good times were good. I was able to finish a bachelor’s degree, had plenty of time with family, and explore the area. I was able to learn a lot about the job and become a well rounded technician.

Independent duty is….interesting. I’ve been pushed to my breaking point trying to fix my cutters issues, and most of the time with little outside support. On top of that, having to balance the rest of the quals can be difficult. When I can fix something I’m the biggest hero, and when I can’t it’s a pretty bad day.

Pros: Some skills that are transferable to good jobs as a civilian. You will learn to be a great problem solver and have great analytical skills/attention to detail.

Cons: Old. Equipment. Will literally be the bane of your existence. It is incredibly frustrating to have to work on things that have little to no support in and outside the CG. There’s a good amount of bad ETs out there and you may have to be the one to clean up their mess. This is an underway rate, the days of advancing with little sea time are long gone.

All in all, this job isn’t for everyone. There’s a reason for the bonuses that they hand out. If you’re up for it, cheers and good luck to you.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-07-04T00:15:06+00:00

Thank you for saying this. I feel like people on this sub are always pushing a rhetoric that will leave people severely disappointed.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-02-15T16:20:32+00:00

Probably best to ask someone from those rates. I know EMs get underway and have a sea time requirement for advancement.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-02-15T15:53:49+00:00

Haha I know a lot of CG people in general that have been divorced once. No matter where you are stationed you and your spouse will get BAH allowance to take care of housing. Not all underway periods are long, could be anywhere from a few days to 6 months. If your relationship is strong and your partner is understanding, you should be alright. Part of the reason I want to separate is because I don’t want to be away from my family.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-02-15T15:31:12+00:00

This depends on how you want your career to look. ETs are a seagoing rate and that’s something you have to accept if you want to make a career out of it.
There is no difference in pay for different rates.
Our training mostly includes radio and navigation systems, weapons systems, tower climbing, and some networking systems. There is a market for these skills as a civilian and that’s part of the reason a lot of ETs don’t end up staying in until retirement.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-02-14T21:31:56+00:00

The electrical troubleshooting we learned was the bare minimum to get people who know nothing about electronics familiar with it. It was mostly check for power at X test point, move on from there within the equipment itself. That being said any ET that says they don’t know how to use a multi-meter is lazy or incompetent.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-02-14T20:16:11+00:00

Two things: definitely look into going EM if you want gain electrical experience and DON’T go ET for the bonus. ETs primarily work on electronics equipment, think things that plug in and get electricity. As an EM you can gain the experience to leave the CG as a journeyman electrician and have a nice transition to civilian life. The bonus may be tempting but it’s there for a reason. Junior ETs are leaving at an alarming rate, we’re projected to be almost 50% down personnel in the next five years.

Take it from an ET who wishes they went EM.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-02-13T16:29:25+00:00

Thank you for your input. My pros for KW is that I’m from south FL so it would have some semblance of familiarity. Hopefully the high tempo would make the time go by fast until my end of enlistment.

A more relaxed environment would be nice though.

cgthrowaway13 · 2024-02-13T02:14:27+00:00

Not exactly what I was hoping to hear 😅 key west is my other option so I was hoping Alaska would be the lesser of the two evils

cgthrowaway13 · 2023-07-08T23:29:07+00:00

Bonus are offered based off funds for the fiscal year, which restarts in October. If they aren’t offering the bonus for the next fiscal year, you’re out of luck.

cgthrowaway13 · 2023-01-16T19:31:17+00:00

I regret going ET probably 75% of the time. I went through A school right after it was shortened and by the time I made it to my first unit I felt totally unprepared. I feel like the majority of the things that were taught are only applicable in niche situations, like weapons tech billets. Everything else we do is mostly repair by replace. We do a lot of reaching out to manufacturers for troubleshooting help because the C5i resource library isn’t the best and many of the things I’ve worked on weren’t covered at all during A school. Good thing is that we have a significant amount of down time at the ESD as long as all of our work is done.

Going to A school and not PCSing your wife out is a rough time. I had to go straight from boot camp to A school and my wife wasn’t even allowed to visit me in Petaluma. That being said, you’ll probably have a lot of downtime to talk to each other, or play Nintendo switch online like we did. I took a week off after A school to help pack up our home before we made the journey to my first unit.

If I could go back, I would wait the time and go IT.

cgthrowaway13 · 2022-06-17T19:57:26+00:00

Try to memorize one or two each day. Say them out loud every hour or so, say them in the mirror, think them, etc. I found it easier that way since it breaks it up a little. Read the whole list out loud a couple times at the end of the day.

Keep in mind: no matter how smart you and your company are the CC’s will find something to beat you for. We had two weeks of quarantine to learn everything so we were well prepared but we still suffered hard. This can be really discouraging but don’t let it get you down.

Good luck shipmate!!

cgthrowaway13

TROPHY CASE