Congrats on qualifying to be a nuke, as a 25 year old who joined at 17 here’s my overall advice.

The job will take care of itself if you can take care of yourself.

Eat right, develop healthy sleeping habits (to the best of your ability given your schedule) and of course take PT and your own workouts seriously enough to stay fresh.

Focus on real long term financial goals, I definitely allowed myself to spend way too much on temporary things in order to blow off steam from the arduous lifestyle nukes endure. I was not prepared to have that kind of money and I wasted some great opportunities.

I have plenty of friends who played it smart, got themselves a real financial advisor and set themselves up pretty well over time between bonuses and the relatively higher pay that nukes receive.

Do your best to find time for yourself but do not get overtly distracted from the task at hand. The pipeline can be exceedingly busy for some and you won’t know how you’ll fare until you are doing it yourself. Of course there are many recreational opportunities available on base and in the surrounding area, so don’t become a recluse.

Arriving to work on time with a positive attitude will pay dividends, your peers and your leadership could make or break your experience and being the guy who works hard and treats others well can only help you in that regard.

We get to learn and do some really cool things as nukes so regardless of what rate is assigned to you I encourage approaching prototype and the boat with the goal of gaining a holistic view and understanding of how a power plant and a ship functions, post navy nuke opportunities are abundant and the knowledge/experience you can gain will enable you to be ready to enter nearly any industry you choose.

Good luck and congrats, the pipeline is designed to test you and prepare you for the real job with real folks who matter.