<p>Back in my day, there wasn’t a quota to fill as I remember it. All those who wanted to go nuke sub would apply to nuke school, and those who made it went. I applied but didn’t make it.</p>
<p>As for SWO being “that bad”, a lot depends upon your view of things. I went into USNA wanting to be a pilot. My eyes were horrible, so I decided I’d be an NFO. Well, during Plebe Year the opportunity developed to take a boomer cruise that would allow me to qualifyu as an enlisted submariner. I took advantage of it and fell madly in love with the damned things. Never looked back. As such, when nuke school said “no” it was an earth-shattering rejection, and I still remember having to be pulled physically out of my room for noon meal formation that day because I didn’t give a damn if I was fried for UA or not. I just wanted to sit there in shock.</p>
<p>Fast-forward about a year…</p>
<p>Here I am stuck on a 1960’s-vintage cruiser that has been relegated to cutting slow holes in the Carribbean while looking for drug dealers. Instead of just shooting them down, we passed the information on to the Air Force and others and went back to sailing in circles. Pretty damned boring. Throw in that it’s not what I wanted to do anyway, throw in the six months we spent in the shipyards (nasty experience), and then throw in that my second ship also went into the yards almost as soon as I got there, and you’ll see why I take a dim view of it.</p>
<p>And yet, others positively LOVE it. With today’s newer technologies, it certainly can be more fun, and with actual combat operations going on, at least they get to do lots of boardings and task force maneuvering.</p>
<p>As with so many things, it all depends on the mindset you have when going in and what you do with the opportunities that present themselves in the meantime. I have generally fond memories of it all, but it pretty much sucked while doing it. But again, that was me. I knew guys who got all excited when the ship left the pier. Go figure.</p>
<p>Aircraft fly fast, drop bombs, and fight each other. Marines blow things up. Submarines crawl into places you never hear about doing things you’ll never dream about. Surface ships just… sail. BORING (for me)!</p>
<p>So there it is. :)</p>
<p>ETA: I should mention that at USNA in my day (populated by a swarm of unabashed elitists), openly declaring that you wanted to be a SWO got you looked at funny. It was automatically assumed that you had no ambition to do anything great or dangerous. Since SWO was the sump where all the others who DIDN’T make pilot, or NFO, or SEAL, or subs, etc., collected, it was considered the Hell of service selection options. </p>
<p>Trust me, having to choose SWO because you blew your opportunities to do what you really wanted is an incredibly difficult thing to live with, especially if you REALLY wanted to do that other thing. </p>
<p>**STUDY, PEOPLE! This is the voice of BITTER EXPERIENCE talking here! I may not know how the selection boards work with regards to recruited athletes, or how nominations are doled out by fat-assed politicians, or how DODMERB works internally, but I DO KNOW the AWFUL MISERY you feel when you go down to Smoke Hall to select your service, and all the Marines are walking around with their heads shaved, the pilots with their jackets, the nukes with their checks, etc., and you have to crawl over to the SWO table with a long face and pick whatever scraps are left on the board to serve in for the next FIVE YEARS because you didn’t apply yourself when you SHOULD have!! INTENT and DESIRE mean NOTHING! ONLY RESULTS DO! STUDY!</p>
<p>CONCLUDE THAT I AM KIDDING AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!!** :mad:</p>