I took my PiCAT yesterday and scored an AFQT of 95. Apparently, this is good! The recruiter was pushing me to go into the nuclear field, but I was really unsure what that might look like for me.
My scores were: GT 131, EL 251, BEE 254, ENG 116, MEC 193, MEC2 198, NUC 262, OPS 252, HM 188, and ADM 124.
I'm 23 years old, and I have a wife and a 10-week-old son. I won't be able to ship until after he turns one, but I only have 45 days from when I took the PiCAT for the score to stay valid, so it looks like I'll be headed to MEPS soon and will just spend some time in DEP. The recruiter guided me to the Navy COOL website, and I spent basically the whole day reading about every rating on there.
Attached is a ranked list of all of the ratings I would consider signing for. It begins with a personal score out of 10, then the title, a brief description if necessary, the time at sea vs. at shore according to the rating information cards (which I know is over a 20-year career, and not a given. I'm just looking at it for reference), and a link to the rating information card.
The highlighting was done by my wife, where neon green is yes, faded green is maybe, bright yellow is unsure, faded yellow is no feeling, faded red is apprehension, and bright red is a no. She gave these answers just based on a brief description of each one.
I've always gravitated towards more blue-collar type work, I'd hate to just sit behind a desk all day, but my wife wants to see me do something with my mind, put that high score to use basically. I'm up for the challenge, but want to still enjoy what I do.
I think a career in the nuclear field could be really cool, especially on a submarine. The idea of being a part of a specialized crew, doing something I can genuinely be proud of, is a big part of the appeal of submarines as well as the Seabees for me. My understanding though is that in the nuclear field, you sign onto the field and you don't have control on whether you become MMN, ETM, or EMN. I feel my preference would be for MMN, so it feels hard to maybe sign on and get one of the others. Especially with it being a 6-year commitment.
Good family quality of life is definitely something I want to preserve as much as possible. I understand this is the military, and it's never going to be like a regular 9-5, but I'd like to watch my son grow up as much as possible, and to make it as easy on my wife as I reasonably can.
Given all that, what do you guys think? I want to have as good an idea as I can so when I go in to sign, I can make the most informed decision possible based on what contracts are available that day (I'm aware Seabees are a long shot). Thanks.