Well…Helloooooo!!!

Hello everyone,

When I was 19 I started working for the government.
At a certain shipyard on subs and surface ships. I thought this is it, I did it. Even though I was painting and sandblasting and we worked 7 days a week 10-12 hour days. I knew if I worked hard and was respectful I could move up and transfer out of the paint shop.
I had paid sick leave and paid vacation and Health insurance. I was informed that the FERS(federal employee retirement system) had been ended.The old employees laughed and said good luck kid. The people who had FERS had it pretty good when they retired.
So the only retirement I would have is what I saved from my paychecks. I was told I could have a percentage of my paycheck put into the TSP(thrift savings program). They had 5 funds that had to do with the stock market. G fund was the safest but offered the least return. The other 4 funds were riskier but you could make a killing of you played your cards right.
Of course that’s as far as the information they offered went. I watched friends lose their whole retirement putting there money in risky funds. Usually the government would give advice. Oh put all your money in this fund right now. Usually the fund when then tank.
I thought I was in heaven working for the government.
9/11 had recently happened and I trusted our government. I felt like I was doing my part making navy vessels look good and painting the inside so the sailors home looked good when they were out to sea.
I believed in our government and George W.
After a few years I was asked if I would like to have more responsibility and join the brave few who got the privilege of working inside Nuclear Reactors.

I was told there would be a lot of schooling and radiological training to learn and understand the dangers of working inside the reactors and receiving radiation. I asked if it was safe and was assured that it was no problem at all. That NAVSEA and OSHA determined how much radiation a person could safely receive each year. I would wear dosimeters that would tell us how much radiation we received and turn them in at the end of shift. Also sometimes on hotter jobs, meaning higher levels of radiation. We would wear 5 dosimeters and one in our chest pocket we could look into to watch our dose of radiation so we knew when to leave the reactor.
A lot of responsibility and danger and no more pay.
This was deadly serious and everything had to be followed verbatim. If someone messed up you could cause an international incident. Which isn’t good at all.
We were told in school that around(don’t quote me on this I walked away 14 years ago) maybe 20 in 10 thousand of us would get cancer caused by our exposure to ionizing radiation.
We could recieve 500 millirem a year. 1000 millirem=1Rem. At least that is what I was told. After I started working in reactors I hit 500 millirem in a month and a half. I thought well that’s it I’m tapped out for the year. The next morning I come in and they say here is your new dose card. NAVSEA approved 500 more millirem. This happened over and over and over.
We are told ah it’s just like the radiation you recieve flying in a airplane across the country. Some years I received 2-3 REM.
I trusted my bosses and the government. Inside the reactors it was like another world. My buddies and I are painting bolts while staring down at the reactor rods moving up and down and in and out of the reactor. After 10 hours inside we would all be yawning and doing everything we could just to stay awake.
We felt tired all the time and after spending a week or so working outside the reactor we would feel better.
We asked about it and we’re told it’s all in our heads.
At times I would have to show Radcon the people who control everything radiological. My plan to enter the reactor exactly where I would go and the path I would follow. These times I could only stay for 10-15 minutes because the reactor was so hot. Then they would show me hot spots that were putting off enough REM or radiation to do you in quick.
So they would say when you are coming up in this spot really pick up the pace ok guy. Lean away from the source and get thru there fast and get your bolt painted and get the heck outta there.

At some point after doing this for years there was a break in up at the school where us nuclear people( or suckers) did all our school and training for radiation.
Someone broke into the school and into the locked file cabinets.
What they found was copied and posted to bill boards all over the shipyard.
The paper we were showed about 20 in 10 thousand of us getting cancer from ionizing radiation exposure.
It was a complete fabrication, a complete lie.
Hanging on the billboards and foam tack boards was the real paper that was not under any circumstances to be shown to nuclear workers.
It said that out of 10 thousand of us. Over 8,000 would die from different cancers from our exposure to ionizing radiation from working inside nuclear reactors.
It showed how much radiation one would need to receive and showed that what we were doing was way more dangerous then we were told.
I also found out during my years working in reactors that my shop was the only trade that got 500 millirem extensions from NAVSEA over and over and over again in 1 year.
In all honesty, and I don’t like to think about it.
The total amount of radiation I have received working for the government who has all our best interests at heart.
When I recieved my final total body scan they refused to tell me what my total lifetime exposure was.
Rumors started flying everywhere.
One trainer was overheard saying the painters have recieved well over what they should recieve working in a reactor for a lifetime in just a handful of years.

It took me about a month after that Information came out. To walk away. I came in to work one morning and they were saying that paper was a hoax. It was typed up to scare everyone. I asked if that’s true why are is upper management freaking out. How come we’re all getting lifetime radiation body scans over and over.
How come NAVSEA is saying they never gave us extensions throughout the year.
I got up and went to say bye to a few buddies and drank my last cup of burnt government coffee and walked out the gate of that shipyard at 27 and never went back.
I don’t trust our government or any government and I don’t trust our politicians or the media.
I’m here to talk to like minded people and find the truth about all the insane crazy stuff they are trying to force us to do.
They have already done this kind of crap to me before and I won’t take or do anything they say.

Glad to Be Here!

a reply to: Reedius


Welcome to the Madhouse!

Sounds like you'll fit right in.

Lol thank you!!a reply to: PatriotGames4u

Welcome aboard Matey!
I don’t know how to begin to respond to you're shipyard work except to say none of your word surprise me.
One word comes to mind, cannon fodder.
I’m sorry they did this too you!
I’m very happy you had the brains to walk away!
Ya know, I absolutely trust in our Lord.
With that said trusting in Him does not mean we won’t see bad times or suffer.
Our government, the governments of the world, hypocrites all !!
I wish you a bright, long, and happy future!
I hope you have fun here at ATS! I joined the end of August last.
If you like to write stories there are contests held throughout the year.
Take a peak at the Short Stories Forum. It may be up your alley.
You sound like you have many good stories to tell.

God bless you and yours!!!


PS: I worked as Chief Engineer aboard Tug Boats for a few years when it was near impossible to make money Commercial Fishing.
We delivered fuel oil for the power plant at the Groton Sub Base quite a few times.
It was awesome to be able to see some of the boats up close. We even got a very short tour inside a Sea Wolf class boat that was tied up on the other side of the pier we were unloading from.

Cheers……

da pirate 😎


a reply to: Reedius




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a reply to: Reedius

Sounds like you have plenty to offer here at ATS with your personal experiences and insights - welcome aboard!

a reply to: Reedius

welcome. Quick question, do you have a hand growing out of your forehead? I have heard that's a sign of too much radiation.

Enjoy this place, everyone is crazy, so here, we all seem normal. (in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king)

Nice to meet you Reedius. Well, you should have enough stored radiation to power a cell phone for the rest of your life stored in your bones already. Just need the right technology to make a charger to charge the phone.

Or you could hook up some LED lights onto your skin to show people how brite you are now that you worked in a nuclear facility.

Welcome to the site. Hope you are one of the people that won't have any problems from being around the nuclear junk.

a reply to: Reedius

That is quite the introduction. Thank you for sharing so much with us and welcome!

a reply to: Reedius


Hi There " Reedius ", and welcome to the Introductions Forum, a place to say hello to the ATS community!

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Some areas will require a thicker-skin for discussion and debating and they can get rather heated (in certain arenas). Other areas require you having an open-mind and a need to consider thoughts and theories that don't fit the 'norm'. If you like to tip-toe in to darker areas, you'll find 'like-minded' and curious members that are also into UFO's, the Paranormal, Cryptids and Conspiracies.

There's also places to just chill and cool-down from all the craziness and frustrations of this wild world. Whether it's showing off your artwork in Member Art, or sharing a piece of music you like or created in the Music forum. Maybe you'd like to toss in your "2 Cents" in the General Chit Chat forum.

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Johnny Anonymous,
Staff-Moderator.

a reply to: JohnnyAnonymous


Was this edited recently Johnny?

I haven't actually read one of these messages for quite a while and just noticed the significant improvement from the last time I did.



Well done, and thank you for always greeting our newest members!

(I've wanted to say that last part for a very long time)